School of
Forest Resources and
Environmental Science
 Managing Forest Resources in the 21st Century: An Integrated Approach
Field Trips
Revised:
July 8, 2004
North American Forest Biology Workshop
July 12-15, 2004
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, Michigan, U.S.A.
Update! Canceled due to lack of interest.
FACTS-II and Michigan Gradient Study Global Change Research
Sunday, July 11

Depart campus at 7:00 AM, rendezvous at Ford Center for cookout at 7:00 PM, return to campus in the evening.

Organizers: Drs. David Karnosky and Kurt Pregitzer

Cost: $50

Use of fossil fuels for transportation and industrialization, and tropical deforestation are changing the composition of the atmosphere in ways that will affect global climate and net primary production within the next 100 years. In particular, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and tropospheric ozone (O3), as well as nitrogen deposition, are increasing at unprecedented rates. Theses pollutants can sometimes have antagonistic effects on plant physiology and growth. Therefore, in order to determine the role of forest ecosystems in the global carbon cycle of the future, long-term experiments are needed that expose forests to these pollutants. The FACTS-II Aspen FACE Project is the largest FACE experiment in the world that uses state of the art technology to expose large, replicated plots of intact forest-soil communities to projected atmospheric conditions for the year 2050. Similarly, the Michigan Gradient Study is one of the longest running N-deposition studies in the world. These experiments are providing important long-term data sets on the physiological and ecological responses of important northern forests to multiple pollutants. The field trip will examine the control and exposure systems, and highlight some of the research findings since the projects began.
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
Sunday , July 11

Depart campus at 7:30 a.m., return to campus in the evening.

Organizer: Dr. Lee Frelich, University of Minnesota

Cost: $50

Parts of the Upper Midwest were settled by Europeans relatively recently and the first round of land-clearing did not occur until 1880-1940. Large tracts of land representing all important forest types of the region were protected from logging, and were influenced but not cleared by Native Americans. Naturally recurring wind and fire have been the main forces affecting these forests for the last several thousand years. Because mimicking natural disturbance regimes is increasingly recognized as an important component of ecologically sound forest management, reference forests such as occur in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park are of great scientific importance. This field trip will tour some of the amazing old growth hemlock-northern hardwood forests in the 60,000 acre Park. It will profile some of the long-term ecological research that has increased our understanding of how natural disturbance regimes affect long-term demographic processes in important north temperate forest ecosystems.
Carbon allocation in red pine and trembling aspen ecosystems: methods of investigation,
Atlantic Mine, MI
Sunday, July 11

Depart campus 1:00 p.m., return to campus in the evening.

Organizers: Drs. John King, Christian Giardina, Kurt Johnsen and John Butnor

Cost: $25

Environmental changes such as rising atmospheric CO2 concentration and global warming are focusing attention on the role of forests in the global carbon cycle. Forests naturally accumulate carbon from the atmosphere and store it for variable time periods in biomass and soil. In order to realistically assess the role of forests in the terrestrial carbon cycle, accurate carbon budgets that include the important belowground components are needed for most major forest types. This project, funded by the USDA Forest Service and NCASI (National Council for Air and Stream Improvement), is investigating carbon allocation in red pine and trembling aspen ecosystems along of chronosequence of sites from 0 to 60 years of age. The field trip will tour a local site and feature the methodology of inventorying coarse root biomass to a depth of 4 meters. Comparative measurements with an innovative ground penetrating radar system will also be made.
Update! Canceled due to lack of interest.
Michigan Technological University, Ford Center
Sunday, July 11, 2004

Tour begins at 7:00 PM, Cookout at 8:00

Organizers: Drs. Glenn Mroz and David Reed

Cost: $25

Fifty years ago the Ford Motor Company bequeathed a gift of 1700 acres of forest land and an experimental saw mill to Michigan Technological University's Department of Forestry. The Michigan Department of Conservation then donated 1800 acres to the School in 1957. Since that time, additional land gifts have increased the size of the School Forest to over 4500 acres. These lands have become a key component of the research and education missions of the School. Groundbreaking research on the silviculture and management of northern hardwood forests has been conducted here, and generations of forestry professionals have received their training in these woods. The Center has provided long term data sets on
forest and soil resources, and also a rich history for the School. As part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the gift from Ford, all field trips will rendezvous at the Center at the end of the day for a brief tour of current research and an evening cookout.