What is a Forest

WHAT IS A FOREST?
Only trees? A community? An ecosystem? Includes animals? Fish? Streams & lakes? Houses? How big of an area?
Rapid River Schools
Regeneration areas? Plantations? Christmas tree farm? Ecological processes like nutrient or energy cycling?
- Note: forest include special kinds such as industrial forests, non-industrial private forests, plantations, public forests, protection forests, and urban forests, as well as parks and wilderness.
Source: Great Lakes Assessment web site: http://198.87.4.38/gla/index.htm U.S. Forest Service. AVHRR satellite data collected in 1990, and processed by the Southern Forest Experiment Station.
ANOTHER DEFINITION
Rapid River Schools
Forest - An ecosystem characterized by a more or less dense and extensive tree cover, often consisting of stands varying in characteristics such as species composition, structure, age class, and associated processes, and commonly including meadows, streams, fish, and wildlife.
25%
U.P. TIMBERLAND BY OWNERSHIP-1993
OTHER CORPORATE FOREST INDUSTRY STATE FEDERAL PNIF
Rapid River Schools
1% 15% 18% 19% 20% 27%
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Personal reasons. We’ll take a look at the U.P. a bit later. Community reasons.
Rapid River Schools
“The land is mine”, said the Creator. “You may not sell it permanently.” “You are merely my tenants and sharecrBY FOREST TYPE-1993
NORTHERN HARDWOOD
Rapid River Schools
44%
SWAMP HARDWOOD ASPEN
6%
14%
OTHER PINE
3%
LOWLAND CONIFER
8%
Source: FIA-1993 Excel: FIA/TimberUP-Type
FOREST TYPE DISTRIBUTION WESTERN & EASTERN U.P.
MILLION ACRES
Rapid River Schools
3.0
W.U.P.
2.0 1.0 0.0
E.U.P.
Source: FIA-1993 Excel: FIA/TimberCo-Type
WHY ARE PRIVATE FOREST HOLDINGS SO IMPORTANT?
How much wood is harvested in the U.P. each year?
harvest
Annual U.P. Harvest About 1.7 million cords
Source: USFS FIA, 1992, Periodic Annual Removals, 1980-1992
GROWTH, HARVEST, AND MORTALITY 1980-1993
Rapid River Schools
Growth Harvest Mortality
SOFTWOODS
HARDWOODS
Source: FIA-1993 Excel: MWM/UP Growth
Rapid River Schools
Rapid River Schools
Much of the forest was simply cut and burned for farms. Pines and other softwoods were harvested for lumber for growing cities. Softwoods float better than hardwoods, so could be river run. The hardwoods were cut in the second wave for charcoal, mine props, car parts, furniture, and other products. Did you know the monetary value of the wood harvested from Michigan exceeded the monetary value of all the gold taken from California during the gold rush?
“That portion of a geographically large area dominated by trees. As an ecosystem, it is meant to include all plants and sometimes the animals dependent upon the trees and plants. What is a Smaller area of largely homogenous tree compositions are Forest called stands”.
U.P. FOREST AND LAND COVER CLASS-1993
Rapid River Schools
TIMBERLAND
77%
RESERVED FOREST OTHER FOREST
3% 1%
NON-FOREST & WATER
19%
Source: FIA-1993 Excel: FIA/LandUseCoUP
PINE OTHER OAKNORTHERN ASPEN SOFTWOOD HICKORY HARDWOOD OTHER HARDWOOD
Source: FIA-1993 Excel: MWM/Vol Species UP
Note: X-axis labels are species groups, not forest types
THOUSANDS OF ACRES
Source: FIA-1993 Excel: FIA/Up Owner & NonForest
VOLUME BY SPECIES GROUP 1980 & 1993
1980 1993
Rapid River Schools
MILLION CORDS
50 40 30 20 10
How much total wood is STANDING in U.P. forest? Standing Wood Volume in the U.P. About 156 million cords!
Rapid River Schools
Grow Stock
Around the world 4.7 times!
How much wood is GROWN in the U.P. each year?
Rapid River Schools
Annual U.P. Growth
Growth About 3.7 million cords
Source: USFS FIA, 1992, Periodic Annual Removals, 1980-1992
Rapid River Schools
Forest History ...
FOREST HISTORY
Cut ...
Source: “Michigan’s Forests”. DNR. 32 pp.
Burn ... Farm ... Recovery ...
EARLY LOGGING & LAND CLEARING
-Society of American Foresters
FOREST DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES
Rapid River Schools
FOREST DISTRIBUTION
Data compiled by: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station, Starkville MS, December 1992
Source: Great Lakes Assessment web site: http://198.87.4.38/gla/index.htm Early settlement vegetation was obtained from the Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Vegetation mapped by P.J. Comer et al. (1995) using General Land Office surveys dated 1816-1856.