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David, we agree for the most part
Posted by bushrat on Mar 10 2006
Hi David,
Just a quickie; gotta hit the snowy trail and lots of windblown trail to break out.
Definitely agree on the natural fire regimen. And it's happening, as is evident with the past two summers in a row of massive wildfires. Of course, it's in response to so much fire suppression in the past and the huge stands of mostly black spruce habitat that have been allowed to form.
One thing I want to clarify on your paragraph on successional growth and climax species: "The natural progression of Interior Alaska forests following fire is grasses and forbs, brush, willows, birch, aspens and poplars (depending on location and seed sources), spruce, and finally black spruce after a couple of hundred years."
Probably just the wording, but as you know both white and black spruce have differing habitat requirements. You implied that black spruce will succeed white spruce in areas where white spruce are now the climax species. Post wildfire, areas that were dominated by black spruce will come back with picea mariana as the climax species and areas dominated by white spruce will come back with picea glauca as the climax species. The natural progression of interior Alaska forests following fire is wholly dependent on the habitat. On south-facing slopes and well-drained uplands and river terraces and floodplains, we have one habitat, and on the poorly drained bogs, flats, uplands, and north-facing slopes (many of which are underlain by permafrost), we have an entirely different habitat and forest ecology dominated by that incredible black spruce. Interestingly, black spruce can regenerate without fire in certain areas by cloning and layering. Another interesting aspect of really hot fires that burn down into the moss is that this allows the millions of seeds dispersed by black spruce to more quickly root, grow, and thrive and recolonize the area post fire.
I feel for the dilemma faced by BLM and AFS fire officials with outlying cabins or rural subsivisions. The state has informed those remote, such as ourselves, and rightly so, it is wholly up to us to protect cabins and property. They cannot and will not protect every remote structure anymore as they did in the past. I agree that is the best policy overall. It gets tougher with rural subdivisions like those north of Fbks. And those high-end remote fly-in parcels owned by those who have friends in government <grin>. "I just phoned Frank and he says to get your butts out here!"
I'd like sometime to talk about the effects of widespread wildfire on caribou movements and range productivity. I found it odd we'd pick now to try to boost the Fortymile herd (again, after we just doubled their population in the last decade) after such extensive burning of their current and former range in Alaska and the Yukon. The lichen the caribou favor takes about fifty years to regrow. When biologists measure the health of a caribou population, one of the parameters they use is the amount of mosses and/or lichen in the fecal samples of caribou. When lichen is the predominant matter it implies good range forage and herd productivity, but when more mosses are found it implies possible near-carrying capacity and poor range productivity. I realize the mosaic pattern left by wildfires but there were millions of acres burned within the Fortymile herd's range. What are the effects of this on caribou migration patterns and carrying capacity?
Hey, you don't like those spindly picea mariana? Sheesh...they've always been my favorite for their hardiness and ingenuity. Originally, I had surmised that perhaps you were one who was favoring some ideas espoused by many forestry professionals who are now advocating a change to Alaska's boreal forests...they want to hybridize certain species of spruce to make our forests more productive. Some biologists are working with them on this idea to determine how it may affect wildlife populations. I don't favor this kind of tampering. Some believe we can turn the taiga into something else to benefit mankind with more wood of better quality (they are now hybridizing sitka spruce with white spruce, for instance) and more animals. I am all for natural fire regimen and glad to see it finally happen over the past two summers, though it was scary as hell and nearly burned us out. If one lives long enough, hopefully he will get to experience the successional nature of our forest ecology. Paleoecology is a big interest of mine, how Alaska came to be the way it is after the last ice age. The speed at which both white and black spruce "migrated" and "colonized" the far north is more than incredible. If you think biologists disagree amongst themselves on much, you should hear some of the arguments among paleoecologists <grin>.
Okay, kids watering the dogteam which means it's time to get my winter garb on and head out. Appreciate your time...just stop bashing my favorite AK tree species <grin>.
Best, mark
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