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| Subject Area | ||
| General Forestry | Weed Control | Tree Protection |
| Species Selection | Thinning & Growth | Fiber Farming |
| Northern White-cedar | Broadband Area | Logging |
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Click the triangle symbol
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Forestry Research in the Upper
Peninsula.
This document introduces Michigan State University's forestry research
program in the northern portion of Michigan. A brief history is provided
along with a summary of current facilities and research projects. Research
topics summarized include forest genetics, silviculture, and forest ecology.
(Document size: 71 Kb)
Regeneration
in a Heavily Browsed Northern Hardwood Stand Twelve Years After Scarification
and Fencing.
Although differences among treatments took about a decade to develop,
it seems clear that excluding white-tailed deer using electric fences
can increase the density, richness, and diversity of forbs and woody plants
in thinned northern hardwood stands like this one. Sugar maple regenerates
well under all conditions but requires some type of protection from deer
browsing to survive and be recruited into the overstory. In the absence
of fencing, species like ironwood, buckthorn, and American beech (that
are less desirable for both deer browse and timber production) dominate.
Mechanical scarification restricted the abundance and diversity
of all taxa and is particularly detrimental to sugar maple regeneration.
The flush of agricultural weeds that occurred during the first two years
following mechanical scarification may have been responsible for the lower
establishment rates of forbs and woody plants in these plots. Mechanical
scarification is quite difficult and expensive to accomplish without damaging
the trees that remain after a thinning. These data show that it would
be better to do nothing than to mechanically scarify stands like this.
(Document size: 956 Kb)
Imazaquin and pendimethalin use for weed control in hybrid poplar
plantations in Michigan: Second-year results
Abstract:
Hybrid poplar cuttings of DN-34 and NM-6 were
treated with combinations of imazaquin and pendimethalin at the start of
their first two growing seasons. Herbicides were applied to cultivated, bare
soil immediately after planting - before crop growth began. Herbicides were
reapplied over the top of dormant trees and weeds that had become
established at the beginning of the second year. Poplar in treated plots
grew significantly taller than in untreated controls but not quite as well
as in mechanically weeded plots. Crop growth increased as the application
rate of each chemical increased. Survival in all treatment plots was
excellent and better than in untreated control plots. No crop phytotoxicity
was observed and no interaction between clones and chemical treatment was
detected. Weed control was acceptable for all treatments and improved with
increasing application rates. Broadleaf weeds (principally common
lambsquarters, velvetleaf, and Canada thistle in the first year and
horseweed and broadleaf plantain in the second year) and grasses
(principally giant foxtail and witchgrass in the first year and quackgrass
and barnyardgrass in the second year) became established. Test plantations
were located in both Upper and Lower Michigan. (Document
size: 964 Kb)
Imazaquin
and pendimethalin provide safe and effective weed control in 1st-year
hybrid poplar plantations in Michigan
Abstract: Two hybrid poplar taxa treated with combinations of imazaquin
and pendimethalin in 1999 grew significantly taller after one growing
season than untreated controls. Test plantations were located in both
Upper and Lower Michigan. Herbicides were applied to cultivated, bare
soil immediately after planting and before growth of the crop began. Weed
control was acceptable for all treatments and improved with increasing
application rates. Broadleaf weeds (principally common lambsquarters,
velvetleaf, and Canada thistle) and grasses (principally giant foxtail
and witchgrass) became established following application. No phytotoxicity
was observed and no interaction between clones and chemical treatment
was detected. (Document size 74Kb)
Herbicide
Screening for Phytotoxicity in Hybrid Poplars, Aspen, and Larch
Abstract: Six commercial herbicides were applied to four
taxa of hybrid poplars and one seedlot each of aspen and larch in 1998
at the Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center. Results of this test are
summarized in this document and presented below. (Document size 29Kb)
- Clopyralid, imazaquin, sethoxydim, and fluazifop can all be safely applied to newly planted, actively growing poplars, aspens, and larches in Upper Michigan. None of these herbicides had adverse effects on the survival or the growth of the crop trees at the end of the first growing season in the field.
- Prodiamine is not suitable for use as a pre-emergence herbicide in first-year hybrid poplar plantations. Three quarters of all poplar cuttings treated with this chemical died and those that survived grew poorly in relation to mechanically weeded control cuttings.
- Unrooted cuttings of hybrid poplar treated with oxyfluorfen
survive and grow as well as mechanically weeded trees in Upper Michigan.
Weed control effects
spruce survival under drought conditions.
Abstract:A new plantation of spruce transplants was established
in Escanaba, MI in the spring of 1988. That year brought a severe drought
to the area. The inadvertent lack of weed control in one row of this plantation
resulted in much lower survival (24%) than in adjacent rows which did
receive weed control (98%). (Document size: 19 Kb)
Reducing
Deer Damage to Forest Crops
Abstract: There can be widespread damage to crops in
agriculture, Christmas tree plantations, and forest regeneration due to
deer browsing and buck rubbing. We can accept the damage or attempt to
control it by: modifying the habitat, managing the herd size and location,
applying repellants, or erecting physical or psychological barriers. We
have found fencing to be the only effective method under our control for
reducing deer damage. Fence installation and maintenance is expensive
and only economically feasible for valuable crops such as strawberries,
Christmas trees, research plantings, and high-value forest crops like
oaks. There are a variety of fence designs in use. Some of these in Delta
County are described and pictured in this document. (Document size 1.4
Mb)
Tree Shelters
Fail to Enhance Height Growth of Northern Red Oak in the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan.
Abstract: Deer browsing in some areas of the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan make hardwood establishment difficult, if not impossible. Tree
shelters have been found to be effective in other locations with animal
browsing problems. In the spring of 1990, 2-0 bare-root northern red oak
seedlings were machine-planted in an old field in Delta County, Michigan.
Four replications of four treatments were initially established: control
(no shelter or weed control), weed control only, I.2m plastic tree shelters
only, and plastic tree shelters and weed control. At the start of the
third growing season, weed control was initiated on all seedlings and
rigid mesh tubes were installed on previously unsheltered trees. After
six years, survival was 74% for all treatments and there were no significant
differences between the total heights of plastic or mesh sheltered seedlings.
Initial height gains with plastic sheltered seedlings were lost due to
repeated dieback of new growth in the fifth and sixth growing seasons.
Use of plastic shelters has not been successful for the establishment
of northern red oak on this site. (Document szie 626Kb)
Conifer species trial,
Chatham, Michigan: Survival and growth summary after 14 years.
Abstract: A plantation was established on a clearcut
hardwood site in Chatham Michigan in May of 1982 to compare the survival
and growth of red pine, Kellogg hybrid pine, European larch, Japanese
larch, and red oak. After 14 years, all species had adequate stocking
although red pine survived best. The larch species were tallest and had
the largest diameters. (Document size: 19 Kb)
Growth and
financial yield of unthinned red pine planted at various stocking levels
in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula after 34 years.
Abstract: Diameter, basal area, and volume growth was
examined in 2 unthinned plantations of red pine, planted at various stocking
levels, after 24 and 34 years in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula.
Diameter growth decreased and basal area growth increased with increasing
stocking as expected. Merchantable volume growth increased significantly
as stocking increased from 200 to 400 stems per acre but did not increase
significantly above that stocking. Financial return on investment was
computed for a range of stockings from 220 trees per acre to 820 trees
per acre. Given local conditions and markets, a maximum rate of return
on investment of 5.65% was achieved at 400 stems per acre after 34 years.
(Document size: 32 Kb)
Gentle Logging System Evaluation Quantitative Measurements Report.
Abstract: Partial cutting
of many productive hardwood forests in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with
traditional harvesting systems must be restricted to brief periods when
damage to the site and residual stand can be minimized. These stands occur
on sites that tend to be wet and vulnerable to soil damage most of the
year. Newer harvesting equipment may be gentler to the soil and present
the opportunity to extend the time during which operations may be safely
undertaken on these sensitive sites. This project evaluated five, newer,
cut-to-length harvesting systems as they operated on a vulnerable site
near Munising, Michigan in May of 2001.
Allowing
for variation of initial soil and stand conditions, all systems performed
reasonably well; leaving the site fairly undisturbed and causing minimal
damage to residual trees. The larger systems deviated slightly more from
the forester's prescription for the stand than did a smaller system, but
these larger systems were more productive in terms of cost per green ton
harvested. Skid-steer prime movers disturbed a greater proportion of the
ground than articulated prime movers but in no case did rutting or compaction
exceed acceptable limits. Harvesting systems like these may provide the
means for managing productive hardwood stands on sensitive sites where
logging has previously been considered too risky.(Document
size: 6.5Mb).
Gentle
Logging System Evaluation Participant's Questionnaire Report.
Abstract: Five,
new, cut-to-length harvesting systems were demonstrated to a group of
several hundred loggers, foresters, and other interested individuals in
a northern hardwood stand in Upper Michigan. The site was typical of many
in the region where productive hardwood stands grow on soils that are
wet and vulnerable to damage much of the year. We asked the participants
to evaluate the harvesting systems as they carried out a thinning in our
test stand. Participants shared their impressions of system operability,
productivity, and ability to minimize damage to the site.
Some
expressed the concern that these new harvesting systems were too big for
this type of thinning but most felt that size was not a problem. Logging
company owners and equipment operators tended to feel that they could
do an equally good job with equipment they already owned, but foresters
and resource specialists tended to think that these newer systems would
do less damage to the site than traditional systems. Most agreed that,
although this equipment would be best suited to large, conifer, clearcuts,
it was versatile enough to be effectively used in thinning jobs like this.
Owners and operators indicated that this equipment would be slightly more
difficult to operate than existing equipment but felt that it would have
average productivity and better than average reliability. In general,
most participants were favorably impressed with the performance of these
new systems, although loggers were apparently not as convinced of a need
to change as were foresters and resource professionals. (Document Size:
730Kb).
Gentle
Logging System Evaluation Observer Report.
Abstract: Five observers
(a forest engineer, a forester, a soils specialist, a logger, a forest
landowner, and a sustainable forestry expert) evaluated five modern harvesting
systems during a two-day thinning in a productive hardwood stand on a
site with a high water table. Operations were conducted in early May,
when the soils were wet, near Munising, Michigan.
The
observers felt that all five systems adhered closely to the thinning prescription
and that damage to the residual stand and disturbance of the soil was minimal.
Operator skill seemed to be more important than equipment design in producing
acceptable results. Although there will still be times of year when logging
on wet sites is not possible, these newer harvesting systems can be safely
operated for more of the year than traditional systems. (Document Size:
1.3Mb).
Fiber Farming:
Alternative Crops For Michigan
This brochure offers a brief description of the use of poplar hybrids
for the rapid production of wood fiber in intensively managed plantations.
(Document size 340 Kb)
Fiber
farming using Populus hybrids, aspen, and European larch in Michigan's
Upper Peninsula
The rapid production of wood fiber for paper and other products can be
achieved using carefully selected taxa grown under intensive cultural
systems on the best sites. This study grew some promising taxa under growth
optimizing conditions and examined the yield and incidence of damage under
replicated conditions in the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan. After
six growing seasons (half-way through the rotation) Populus nigra x P.
maximowiczii was producing significantly more biomass (in excess of 3.6
dry tons per acre·year) than other taxa tested and was relatively
free of insect and disease pests. Nine percent of these trees suffered
wind breakage but they seemed to be recovering well from that damage.
The study will continue for another six years to see if initial observations
bear up over time. (Document size 313 Kb)
Growing Aspen
Fiber in Michigan: A rational for producing this material in short rotation,
intensively cultured plantations on abandoned agricultural land in Michigan's
Upper Peninsula
Abstract: This document is a brief summary of the importance
of aspen fiber to Michigan's economy and suggests a way to fill a projected
gap in the supply of materials over the comming decades. (Document size
13 Kb)
Workshop Proceedings:
Northern White-Cedar in Michigan.
Abstract: MSU Agricultural Experiment Station Research Report 512.
104pp [PDF file version]. These workshops were held to review the status
of northern white-cedar in Michigan and to allow representatives from
various user interest groups to discuss problems and possible solutions.
In addition to the written summaries produced by each discussion group,
the editor has summarized these comments. Six papers are included to cover
a range of background issues. The document is no longer in print but can
be downloaded here in a format that has been slightly modified for web
distribution. (Document size: 1.2 Mb)
- The importance of cedar in Michigan's forest history, W. Hoover
- The ecology of northern white-cedar, K.S. Pregitzer
- Wildlife values of northern white-cedar, R.V. Doepker and J.J. Ozoga
- Michigan's cedar resource: Timber supply, value, and related employment, G.H. Grossman and K. Potter-Witter
- Condition of the northern white-cedar resource, W. Botti
- Northern white-cedar: Stand assessment and management options, R.O.
Miller, D. Elsing, M. Lanasa, and M. Zuidema
Annotated Bibliography of
Selected Literature Related to Vegetation and Wildlife Management in Lowland
Conifer Stands of The Lake States Region.
Abstract: This document has been complied to provide a cross-section
of the literature produced by people working in many fields. It is by
no means exhaustive. It was distributed at the February 1998 meeting of
the Michigan Society of American Foresters and the Michigan Wildlife Society
in Escanaba, Michigan. Most of the articles are available from libraries
or from their authors or editors. When an article’s source is obscure,
we have tried to provide the information you will need to obtain a copy
for yourself. (Document size: 114 Kb)
Northern white-cedar regeneration:
promise and problems.
Abstract: This document is based on a field tour of cedar sites
at Michigan State University's Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center.
Photographs of highlighted features are presented together with narative
informtion. The information here is directed toward a general audience
and avoids technical terms as much as possible. (Document size 1.2Mb)
Topics reviewed include:
- How can we keep deer from eating cedar while we try to regenerate it?
- How many deer can a stand support?
- Is there any type of cedar that deer don't like to eat?
- How did the current cedar stands get here and how have they developed?
- What roll does the surface of the ground play in the regeneration
of swamp conifer stands.
NORTHERN WHITE-CEDAR:
Stand Assessment and Management Options
Abstract: This paper summarizes the important factors for assessing
northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.) stands when considering
various management objectives. The shortcomings of the system now used
to prescribe management are discussed and suggestions are made to refine
and improve upon this system. Possible management options are examined
and evaluated for effectiveness and feasibility. (Document size: 48 Kb)
Ecology and Management of
northern white-cedar
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of northern white-cedar
ecology, silviculture, and management. It includes information about
wildlife use of these areas and makes an attempt to calculate carrying
capacity for swamp sites. (Document size: 182 Kb)
Guidelines for establishing animal exclosures
for research in cedar stands.
Abstract: This article is a review of the design requirements for
animal exclosure plots used for cedar regeneration studies. Plot size
calculations are reviewed and fence designs are suggested. (Document size:
217 Kb)
Site Preparation for northern white-cedar
Abstract: This article provides a brief review of burning,
mechanical scarification, mounding, and herbicides as site preparation
treatments for swamp sites on which northern white-cedar regeneration
is desired. (Document size: 185 Kb)
WARNING: Documents stored in this area are large and are best viewed only with high-speed internet connections.
Soil amendment using wood ash
in an intensive culture system for poplars and larch
ABSTRACT: Land application can provide
an attractive alternative to landfilling of wood ash, a solid waste product
of wood and wood waste combustion. The potential use of wood ash as a
soil amendment is being explored on a field-scale intensive culture system
of poplars and larch on an abandoned agricultural site in the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan. The cooperative research-demonstration project uses conventional
farming practices and herbicide application for site preparation and weed
control.
Four poplar taxa, one source of aspen, and one source of European larch were used to establish the plantation. The study follows a split-plot randomized block design with wood ash application rate as the main plot treatment and taxa as the sub-plot treatment, replicated four times. Wood ash, with the neutralizing value of 41 to 48%, was applied in the fall at the rates of 4 and 8 Tons/Acre; planting was done in the following spring.
The survival rate at the end of the first growing season was high for
all taxa but ash application had no effects on tree survival. All hardwood
taxa grew well. The application of wood ash significantly affected soil
properties--soil pH and soil exchangeable cations such as Ca, K, and Mg
increased with ash treatment. The improved properties persisted throughout
the first growing season. Analysis of foliage of trees of all taxa sampled
during the first growing season indicated that no additional fertilization
was needed for the second growing season.
Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center
6005 J Road • Escanaba, Michigan 49829
Tel: 906/786-1575