Research

FIRE HISTORY | SUCCESSION | CLIMATE VARIABILITY | FOREST HISTORY | HUMAN IMPACTS

Current Projects

Our laboratory group primarily focuses on research topics requiring the development of new tree ring-based data sets to address a variety of environmental issues. Our work examines the factors that lead to changes in forest communities over long time periods, such as fire and insect outbreaks, but also interactions among various forest species. The lab's most recent focus has been on Great Lakes red pine landscapes, with a central theme being the relationship between forests, people, and fire over the last several centuries. Our work largely focuses on the reconstruction of past fires using information recorded by remnant red pine stumps to better understand the causal factors leading to differences in the spatial and temporal patterns of fire across the Great Lakes.

Setting the Straits on Fire

We have recently begun a collaborative project with Little Traverse bay Band of Odawa and Michigan Natural Features Inventory to develop fire histories in the Straits area of Northern Michigan. The aim of this work is to identify spatial and temporal variations in fire activity over the last several centuries to model vegetation patterns under different fire regime scenarios. This work is focused on the eventual reintroduction of fire in culturally-important landscapes where fire was used as an important stewardship tool prior to widespread colonization and fire/cultural suppression. We are focused on developing fire history sites on 1836 ceded tribal territory and thus far have collected fire history data from several sites in and near Wilderness State Park. We are working closely with a number of different groups that have an interest in developing thoughtful approaches to developing careful stewardship plans that reconsiders the role of fire in these landscapes.

Fire History of Star Island in Gaa-miskwaakokaag (Cass Lake), and red pine landscapes of central Minnesota

We continue to work on our collaborative project with the Chippewa National Forest, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and others to investigate fire history on Star Island in Gaa-miskwaakokaag and other important sites. Althoguh this work began several years ago with a focus on Star island, we have continued to add additional fire history sites. While we have strong interests in understanding fire history, an important part of this project involves a collaborative knowledge sharing effort that is respectful and inclusive. For more information regarding a portion of this work, see the following short Storymap.

Red Pine Growth Response to Climate and Fire

The fire-dependent nature of red pine presents important challenges to understanding longer term climate variability (i.e., reconstructing past climate). Most research suggests that red pine tree-ring growth is limited by summertime precipitation, mostly during the month of July. However, fire activity might also influence ring-width patterns by reducing competition or damaging trees. It remains challenging to separate the influence of climate on growth while accounting for the potential influence of fires on growth patterns. Led by M.A. student Sophie Pitney, our group is comparing ring-width patterns in red pine forests where we have also collected fire history information to develop methodologies to identify and potentially segregate the influence of fire in an effort to reduce uncertainty around climate reconstructions in the Upper Great Lakes. This information is a critical part of working towards understanding how climate and people have influenced fire regimes in the past while also improving our understanding of fire-climate relationships that are useful from a management perspective. Our efforts are all also exploring the potential use of other tree species growing in the area that may be less prone to fire and/or capture other climate-growth relationships. Much of this work is being supported by the Chippewa National Forest.

Fire History in the Upper Great Lakes

Our research group is involved in several ongoing project developing fire histories using fire-scarred stumps and logs throughout the Upper Great Lakes Region. Beginning with work in Voyageurs National Park and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota, our group has been developing fire histories in many different areas since ~2010. Much of our focus has been on working toward understanding the relative impacts of human land use practices prior to the 20th century on fire regimes and vegetation patterns in red pine forests. Our efforts are aimed at disentangling the complicated relationships and interactions that occur between climate-driven fire patterns and modifications of the fire environment by Indigenous peoples. Part of our effort is to develop a foundation for fire management activities that recognize the importance of cultural burning on forest patterns prior to Colonization. Currently, we are developing fire chronologies in Itasca State Park (MN, D. Brumm), Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (N. WI), Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore (N. MI), Quetico Provincial Park (J. Stachiw), Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Michigan's Upper Peninsula), Wilderness State Park (MI), Fife Lake, MI, and several areas of the Chippewa National Forest in north central Minnesota. These sites represent multiple projects and approaches and are/were being funded through a variety of sources and agencies including the National Science Foundation, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. There are many other sites that have been explored, but that have not yet been sampled. This work is largely field-based and involves time-consuming data collection, data analysis, and interpretation. There are many people involved in contributing knowledge to this work across many agencies and organizations. More information regarding our broader collaborative work focused on Great Lakes fire history can be found at Ishkode.org

Alpine Climate Variability in the Northern Rocky Mountains

Alpine environments are experiencing unprecedented change as a result of anthropogenic induced warming. Increasing temperatures have cascading implications for alpine ecosystems and population centers that rely on snowpack as a water source. However, contextualizing the magnitude of change is difficult because of limited direct observations in remote mountainous regions.

Evan Montpellier, a PhD student in the MDL, is leading a project that seeks to use tree-rings from subalpine larch (Larix lyallii Parl.) to understand environmental change in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Subalpine larch are a high level deciduous conifer that are endemic to the Northern Rocky and Cascade Mountains. Their unique ecophysiology allows them to survive in pure stands above evergreen treeline. However, alpine warming threatens their survivability as evergreen treeline encroaches on the highly shade intolerant subalpine larch. Evan is using the millennial length chronologies of subalpine larch to shed light on their environmental controls and resilience in a changing environment. Using this information, temperature, snowpack, and upper-level atmospheric variability over the last millennium can be reconstructed. The information garnered from this project is far-reaching and is intended to inform local water and forest management practices, with an eye towards scalable outcomes in other geographic settings.

Forest Dynamics of Coastal Red Pine Communities

Coastal red pine is a somewhat rare forest community that has disappeared over the last several centuries. Previous work has highlighted the importance of many of these communities to Indigenous groups including the Ojibwe (Chippewa), and Odawa (e.g., Loope and Anderton 1998, Anderton 1999). With support from the National Park Service, we are examining the forest dynamics of several coastal red pine communities to aid in developing strategies for management of these unique ecosystems. We are reconstructing fire histories of pine barrens/coastal red pine forests in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northwest lower Michigan. We are also beginning a new project to include coastal red pine communities in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Past harvesting activities have made the dating of past fire scars collected from remnant stumps exceedingly difficult, highlighting the need for more immediate action to develop fire histories before materials are lost.

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