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Northern Minnesota phenology report: February 2010

John Latimer — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:50:23 +0000

One of the the first signs that life is returning to the north is the
emergence of the pussy willows. These furry, white, flowers burst out of
their bud scales and dot the snowy landscape with tiny affirmations that
spring is on its way.

Pussy willow tree taken by Bittroot

Pussy willow is a sort of generic term since many species of willows sprout catkins. In Minnesota there are 18 native species of willows, three European tree species that are naturalized, and 5 species of poplars, many of which develop similar furry buds. The actual pussy willow is called Salix discolor, but for our purposes we will be referring to all species that display these furry flowers. Among tree species in the willow family the quaking aspen are the most common and easily observed trees with “pussy willows.” These flowers, called catkins or aments are defined as a scaly spike of flowers of a single sex. All of the willows have only one sex much like humans. They are either male plants or female plants. The first pussy willows we see are usually males. The females emerge later. What we see and often collect to bring into the house are the male flowers in their very earliest stages of development. Those soft silvery hairs act as a fur coat that aids in the flowers progression toward maturity. Sunlight warms the interior with radiant energy and the hairs trap the warmth speeding the development of the flower. If you bring some male pussy willows inside they’ll continue to develop and at some point become quite yellow with pollen.

Insect pollination, photo take by Bill Hails

Outdoors the pollen usually appears in April. At about the same time the female flowers will exhibit their flowers. In most cases where the flowers are not showy pollination occurs as a result of wind. Pollen grains are simply released into the wind and the plants rely on fate to bring the pollen to the female flowers. This is how the aspens get it done. The willows break the rules and enlist the aid of insects to get the pollen to the stigma. Though the flowers lack showy petals to attract the insects they do produce large amounts of very strongly scented nectar. At a time when newly emerging bees are struggling to find food the willows come through. The final stage in the spring cycle of the pussy willows is the development of the seeds. The carpels on the female flowers swell and grow as the seeds mature. Once they are ready, the capsules burst open and the seeds are released. This process runs from late February when the first blooms appear, until May when the seeds are released. If you are out for a walk keep an eye out for the first fluffy catkins and then watch through the spring as they move from pussy willows to fluffy seeds.

Woodpile newsletter: November 2009

MyMNwoods — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:25:06 +0000

Received from Kathleen Preece, publisher of Tree Farming for BetterFORESTS:

Attached is the premier issue of a new, on-line-only newsletter for woodland owners who have forest management plans. The newsletter was developed with support from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation and executed by the Giziibii RC&D, for projects focused on assisting Minnesota’s woodland owners with the management and enjoyment of their forests.

New issues will be published electronically and quarterly, for woodland owners who have been assisted in the development of management plans by both public and private forestry professionals.

Download the first Woodpile newsletter here. (PDF)

About the new MyMinnesotaWoods

MyMNwoods — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:05:12 +0000

We’ve just completed a major upgrade of MyMinnesotaWoods.

The changes will make it easier to find and discuss content, get to know authors, get new content notifications, and find and post material on the new discussion board.

We’d love your thoughts on the new site. Leave as little or as much info as you want on our fast feedback form.

Thank you!

Two videos: Natural disturbance-based silviculture and restoring late-successional structure

Philip Potyondy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:11:12 +0000

Back in June 2009, someone named Tom posted a great question about applying the Dauerwald concept in Minnesota. In a nutshell, the Dauerwald approach involves intensive management designed to maintain a high diversity of tree species and ages. This approach can be attractive to those interested in active management but less comfortable with more extensive harvests such as clearcuts or shelterwood treatments.

This month we feature a two-part video response to Tom’s question and the ensuing discussion from Tony D’Amato, silviculturist at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Forest Resources. Tony’s first video addresses the concept of natural disturbance-based silviculture. His second video addresses a somewhat related concept, of active management to restore late-successional structure. Tony discusses how ecological forestry can complement other approaches like production forestry and multiple use sustained yield forestry on the landscape.

Ecological forestry: Natural disturbance-based silviculture

Links:

Ecological forestry: Restoring late-successional forest structure

Links:

Restoring Late-successional Forest Structure, by Tony D’Amato and Paul Catanzaro (PDF)
More info and links on restoring late-successional and old growth characteristics from MassWoods.net.

Your turn

How does (or doesn’t) ecological forestry fit into your woodland plans? Why or why not? Leave a comment below or add to the initial discussion begun by Tom.

Northern Minnesota phenology report: November 2009

John Latimer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:30:36 +0000

By John Latimer, KAXE Radio, Grand Rapids

The last of the meadowhawk dragonflies will put in an appearance in early November. These small, bright red, insects are among the last to fly about in the fall. A warm day or two in the early part of the month will send them out in a last and probably fruitless search for other flying insects.

Flickr photo “Ruby Meadowhawk” by Jim Frazier. Original.

If you have been observing them throughout the fall you may have noticed them flying in tandem with the female periodically touching her abdomen to the grass. She is depositing eggs. Her strategy is to place her eggs on stalks of grass that will be inundated in the spring. Once awash the eggs will begin to develop and the larval stages will terrorize the shallow ponds and lake edges until late summer when they will emerge and terrorize the flying insects.

Those eggs mistakenly laid in the grass that may be your lawn will likely never develop. No one is perfect and least of all the meadowhawk dragonflies, but what they lack in foresight about those areas likely to flood they make up for in sheer numbers of eggs laid. Some of them will end up underwater and the species will survive.

Flickr photo “Dragonfly” by Chris Coomber. Original.

In the case of the meadowhawk dragonflies they survive the winter as eggs or larvae, but what about the Compton’s tortoiseshell or Mourning cloak butterflies? How do they survive the cold? They over-winter as adults and without an approach to overcome the cold they would freeze and die. For many insects the strategy is freeze avoidance.

There are three elements to freeze avoidance. First, the insect produces an anti-freeze which circulates in the blood. These special proteins bind with any ice crystals that may form keeping them small and preventing them from doing damage.

Second, they produce sugars and sugar based alcohols which act to lower the freezing point of any water in the body. These typically take the form of glycerols that by mid-winter may constitute 20 to 25% of the insect’s total body weight.

Flickr photo “Chionea species” by C Wood. Original.

The final part of a freeze avoidance strategy involves finding a dry location. Staying away from water and the resulting ice is imperative. Ice can act as a nucleator for the development of further ice crystals. The butterflies must find secure dry locations, other insects might construct waterproof cocoons or some other personal protection, but the butterflies lack this ability. This perhaps explains why I find so many of them in my garage.

John Latimer is well known throughout northern Minnesota for his phenology work. He appears weekly on KAXE radio in Grand Rapids, and audio and twitter archives are available here. His work is a frequent feature on MyMinnesotaWoods. This article also appeared in the Duluth Senior Reporter. It is printed with the author’s permission.

Emerald ash borer and your Minnesota woodlands

Eli Sagor — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:02:30 +0000

A few months ago, we heard from a frustrated reader. Noting the abundant info about emerald ash borer (EAB) in urban environments, he could find almost nothing on managing ash in woodland stands. Philip Potyondy created this video to begin to answer that question.

The video has four sections:

First Extension’s Jeff Hahn reviews basic EAB biology, dispersal, and impacts on host trees.
Second, Keith Jacobson of the MN DNR’s Utilization & Marketing unit briefly reviews markets for ash wood in Minnesota.
Third, we head to the woods for brief comments from Paul Dickson, president of the Minnesota Association of Consulting Foresters.
We close with a summary of research and management recommendations for woodland ash stands from Extension’s Angela Gupta.

Special thanks to Jeff Hahn, Keith Jacobson, Paul Dickson, and Angela Gupta for their contributions to this video. You can learn much more about EAB in Minnesota at the UMN Extension EAB page.

What are you doing to prepare your woods for EAB? Leave a comment to let us know.

The Minnesota moose population

Eli Sagor — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:37:57 +0000

There’s been a lot of news lately about declining moose populations in Minnesota. According to NRRI, the northwest Minnesota population has declined from over 4,000 to fewer than 100 over the past 20 years. There’s some concern now about a decline in northeastern Minnesota as well.

The following announcement is from the KAXE radio website:

REPORT YOUR MOOSE SIGHTINGS
We talked with Mark Johnson, Executive Director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, about what he learned as a member of theMinnesota Moose Advisory Committee. The Minnesota moose population is facing a lot of biological and natural threats, and has seen sharp declines in the Northwestern part of the state.

While the decline has not been as dramatic in Northeastern Minnesota, biologists and others interested in moose populations are still concerned. Mark indicated that we have a lot to learn about what is affecting the population, and one of the ways that you can help is to report your moose sightings on a special website.Please report your moose sighting(s) here, or read why it’s important to report what you see.

Read more about what’s happening to moose in Northeastern Minnesota on NRRI’s Moose in Minnesota website.

Northern Minnesota phenology report: October 2009

John Latimer — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:01:28 +0000

By John Latimer, KAXE Radio, Grand Rapids

Fall color from Oberg Mtn. Allison Eklund photo.

The arrival of fall is best announced by the leaves of the trees turning color. For many years it was assumed that these colors were in the leaves from the beginning and that as the tree prepared for winter it stopped producing chlorophyll and the intrinsic colors were revealed. Recent studies have shown that the colors are not in the leaves and must be produced by the tree.

From an evolutionary perspective simply turning color would be a waste of energy because the pigments produced are lost when the leaves fall. There must be a reason why the trees would invest in the color change. Two theories have emerged as possible explanations.

One theory is that the color is a signal to insects to stay away. Many insects approach trees in the fall to lay their eggs and in the spring these eggs will hatch and begin an attack on the tree. There is some evidence that insects avoid the most colorful trees. The trees with the brightest colors will self select because they will experience the least insult from pests. Ultimately these trees should come to dominate the forest. That they don’t is the source of much conjecture.

The problem is that some trees do not turn color in the fall. Rather they just drop their leaves while still green. Scientists that support this protectionist theory contend that there is always going to be some natural variation within the plant community. Research indicates that those trees under the greatest pressure were the ones that evolved to have the brightest colors.

Jack pine needles about to drop in fall. Esagor photo.

Other scientists have noted, especially here in the far north, that by the time trees begin to turn color the majority of their insect pests have perished. Where then is the pressure to turn color for defense? They contend that the trees turn color to mitigate the effects of sunlight on the leaf as it shuts down.

The entire photosynthetic process must be shut down in the fall. The tree needs to carefully dismantle the chemicals used in the process, nitrogen, and phosphorus among others will be maintained in the tree to be used again in the spring. All this housekeeping requires energy that comes from photosynthesis, yet this is the process that is shutting down.

Leaves cannot use all the energy striking their surfaces in the fall and the excess can cause damage. Anthocyanins, those molecules that cause leaves to turn red, act as a sunscreen allowing the leaf to get its work done without destroying the chemicals the tree is trying to extract.

Scientists produced trees in the laboratory that were unable to produce the colors associated with fall. While these trees prospered in the greenhouse they were unable to ship nutrients to the tree for storage in the fall. This supports the sunscreen theory, but the sunscreen is only present in those trees that produce anthocyanins. The trees that turn yellow manufacture a chemical called carotenoid and this has no effect on sunlight. Currently they are arguing that there is another, as yet undiscovered, chemical doing the screening.

So it goes, the two sides concede that the other may be partly correct. Possibly the leaves turning color may accomplish more than one task. I am just glad that they do turn color in the fall. Whatever the reason it is a time of stunning beauty.

New Itasca County Private Woodland Committee website

Eli Sagor — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:36:41 +0000

By Julie Miedtke, University of Minnesota Extension, Itasca County

Looking for local northern Minnesota woodlands information? The Itasca County Private Woodland Committee has a brand new website that features:

a calendar of upcoming classes & events in and around Itasca County.
landowner resources with information to order trees etc.
a local ‘forum’ section for questions and answers about Itasca County woodlands.
photos of landowners, woods, wildlife and more.

Perhaps the nicest feature on this site is the opportunity for you to share information about your land. If you want to, you’ll be able to upload photos, tell us about your hike in the woods, pruning your trees or deer milling around the food plot.

The site will also be your hub for new Minnesota woodlands info: Towards the bottom you’ll notice headlines and links to new content from MyMinnesotaWoods.

Take a quick surf, join the site as a member (it’s optional and free) get involved! If you have questions, send them to miedt001@umn.edu.

Check out the new site now.

Comments sought on state invasive species management plan

Eli Sagor — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:26:04 +0000

(Released by Minnesota DNR on September 3, 2009)

A draft Minnesota Statewide Invasive Species Management Plan (PDF) is now available for public review and comment until Sept. 22.

The plan was developed by the Minnesota Invasive Species Advisory Council, co-chaired by the Minnesota’s departments of Natural Resources (DNR) and Agriculture.

It is designed to provide a framework for addressing both aquatic and terrestrial invasive species issues in Minnesota.

The plan includes strategies and actions to address the main issues related to invasive species: prevention of new introductions into the state; early detection and rapid response to new introductions; containment of populations; and management of established populations to reduce their harm.

This draft plan reflects several years of work by many organizations from the local, state and federal government levels and a number of nongovernmental organizations.

“It will be a good framework for addressing the invasive species issue,” said Jay Rendall, DNR invasive species prevention coordinator. “However, we want to have more input on strategies and actions that could be taken in the future.”

Comments from individuals and organizations will be used to refine and expand the actions identified in the draft plan. When completed, the plan will also provide opportunities for improved coordination and partnerships between federal, state and local governments, tribes, conservation organizations and others working to minimize the impacts caused by invasive species in the state.

The draft plan and information about submitting comments is available on the DNR Web site. Printed copies can be requested by calling 651-259-5100. Written comments can be submitted in writing to Invasive Species Program, Minnesota DNR, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155, or by e-mail.