Hazardous fuels management in mixed red pine and eastern white pine forest in the northern Lake States: A synthesis of knowledge

Abstract

Fuels reduction decisions are made within a larger context of resource management characterized by multiple objectives including ecosystem restoration, wildlife management, commodity production (from timber to nontraditional forest products), and provision of recreation opportunities and amenity values. Implementation of fuels treatments is strongly influenced by their perceived influence on and compatibility with overarching management objectives. In some cases these objectives may be complementary while in others they may involve difficult tradeoffs. Such tradeoffs are only further complicated by institutional mandates, limited availability of information, and complex ownership patterns. Like natural resource managers across the United States, those in the northern Lake States must balance these competing demands as they seek to build their management programs. However, there is limited information available to support these management decisions in the mixed red (Pinus resinosa Ait.) and eastern white pine (P. strobus L.) forests of the northern Lake States. This report informs fuels management decisions in the northern Lake States by synthesizing existing knowledge from the fields of silviculture, forest ecology, wildlife ecology, forest economics, public acceptance, and decision science. We provide an overview of forests and fire regimes in the northern Lake States followed by a description of different fuels treatment techniques and their expected outcomes. We then include a discussion of comprehensive management principles to consider in developing fire and fuels management programs for the region.

People, Fire, and Pine: Linking Human Agency and Landscape in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Beyond

“…Recent research linked high stand density in red pine to a greater susceptibility to the deleterious effects of extreme droughts (Bottero et al 2017), an environmental factor that is becoming more frequent around the world (Allen, Breshears, and McDowell 2015). The development of ladder fuels is linked to an increased likelihood of high-severity, stand-replacing fires at sites supporting centuries-old trees and open conditions historically maintained by surface fires (Toman et al 2014). Together, the fire scars, CMTs, and forest demographic data provide direct, site-specific evidence of land use over the past four centuries that explicitly links people, fire, and pines in the BWCAW.…”