CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT 2011

• Common Goldeneye 8


• Ruffed Grouse 22


• Bald Eagle 7


• Northern Goshawk 2


• Rock Pigeon 249


• Mourning Dove 2


• Boreal Owl 1


• Downy woodpecker 49


• Hairy woodpecker 19


• Black-backed woodpecker 2


• Three-toed woodpecker 1


• Pileated woodpecker 4


• Gray Jay 17


• Blue Jay 68


• Crow 35


• Raven 476


• Black capped Chickadee 322


• Boreal Chickadee 34


• Red breasted Nuthatch 136


• Golden crowned Kinglet 1


• American Robin 18


• European Starling 224


• Cedar Waxwing 615


• White throated Sparrow 1


• Dark-eyed Junco 7


• Pine Grosbeak 471


• Purple Finch 113


• White-winged Crossbill 161


• Common Red Poll 1,173


• Hoary Red Poll 4


• Pine Sisken 244


• American Goldfinch 59


• Evening Grosbeak 436


• House Sparrow 50

Total of 34 species ; 5,029 birds; 29 people (7 feeder watchers and 22 in the field)

Accumulated total species = 75 (1994-2011)

Nipigon-Red Rock birding circle Christmas Bird Count 2011 .

THE END RESULT - Forest Renewal

" Trees have literally built our world."

"A world without trees would be a world without one very important means of sheltering itself, teaching itself,...and ultimately evolving itself."

"We care a lot about trees..."

"As we move quickly towards a miniaturized, mechanized, computerized, electronic future, we think it's a good idea not to forget just how important... a simple tree can be."

These four statements were published in 1980, not by "tree-hugging", green activists, but by forest industry giant, Abitibi - Price Inc. of Thunder Bay, Ontario. page 5, The Equipment Connection, forestry, mining, general contracting Vol. 4 No. 2 May 1980 Silviculture by Lakehead Printing and Stenographic Services Limited, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Forest renewal is the hinge for sustainable forests. Forestry operators don't just walk through the door, devour the trees and walk away. They close the door behind themselves but they also remember the address.

In closing the door, they have removed their footprint by closing tertiary roads, applying site preparation and forest regeneration - planting tree seedlings or trees, seeding or just leaving sites as "free-to-grow" natural regeneration.

With finite forest limits our companies must make their management units produce more wood. By remembering the address I imply that they tend and protect their work, making stand improvements by selective cutting, thinning, and pest control. Sometimes "pests" are insects, sometimes just other vegetation in competition for sunlight and soil nutrients.

"The end result of all that happens to the forest is what silviculture is all about." ibid p.4

" Prior to 1962, the timber operators themselves were responsible for reforestation, but Ontario's forest management system has changed more than once." ibid p.7

"Since 1962, the province planted the trees on Crown land." ibid p.7

Then, April 1, 1980, the New Forest Management Agreement required the forest users to carry out all regeneration. Their allowable cut rose or fell on how well they regenerated their cuts.

Warren Moore, chief forester for Great Lakes Forest Products, Thunder Bay (1980), said , "It gives us an opportunity to have secure tenure on the area, and to increase our allowable cut by good management."

M.N.R. Regional Forester (1980), Jack Flowers said, " We (MNR) believe that proper silviculture must include harvesting techniques, since these so highly influence regeneration costs, and even decide whether or not regeneration is possible." Harvesting techniques being: Clear cut, Selection cut, Partial cut. All standards : CSA, SFI and FSC allow clearcuts if used appropriately.

THE CATCH

Warren Moore saw a catch, " The new system is a pay-back plan, which means that the government will pay us (the forest companies) for work done - from funds that are subject to appropriations approved by politicians and legislators."

It's not like forestry wasn't paying its way. Pulp and Paper Reports : 1983 commented on the value of forests. " Natural Resources have always been the foundation of Canada's economy and none has contributed as much as the forest." " Converting the forest harvest into hundreds of useful products creates more income (1983) than any other Canadian manufacturing activity."

MONEY IN TRUST

Some provinces have a Forest Sustainability Fund that is used to fund regeneration activities on private land , funded by registered wood buyers.

The Forest Renewal Trust was a financial mechanism established to ensure there would always be funding available for forest renewal.

The Silvicultural Renewal Fund is financed through contributions from each company based on the cubic metres per species cut - different species, different rates.

Forestry Futures Trust came from a portion of area charges paid to the Crown. This is an important Trust for us in this century as mills are closing down. It can be used for renewal of land where a licensee becomes insolvent. It is also used for renewal of trees killed by fire; forest protection from insects; and intensive stand management related to critical wood supply.

In 1995 that Trust was getting $8 to $10 million per year. In 1996 -97 $46 million in stumpage fees was paid to the Crown. and $42.4 million was paid to the Silvicultural Renewal Fund.

WIN SOME

In 1996/97 the provincial (Ontario ) total area for tending (95,867 hectares) and protection (24,682 hectares) was 120,549 hectares.

In 1995/96 a total of 9.7 million trees, and 35 million seedlings were planted equalling 28,000 hectares and 12,000 hectares were seeded.

LOSE SOME

In 1995/96 19,147,700 cubic metres of wood were lost through insects, disease and severe weather.

SEEDS OF A FOREST

In 2006, 1 billion conifer seeds were used: 20% for tree planting (seedlings) and 80% in seeding operations of which 5% were Jack Pine.

Oldest Jack Pine Tree

Just as a point of interest: The oldest know Jack Pine tree is 230 years old, found East of Lake Nipigon. Unpublished date: Roland Schoenike, U. of Minn. School of Forestry

SEEDS

From 2001 to 2005 , 23,000 hectares per year were seeded. About 7,000 hectolitres of conifer cones per year are collected and sent to seed-extraction plants. They heat the cones to near 50 degrees centigrade to melt the resin (the petroleum ether extract of the bonding material has a melting point of 122 degrees F), that keeps the scales of the cone together. The seeds fall out. Forest fires will do the same thing. Scorched seeds from burned trees have a germinated within 4 days of sowing. Normal harvested tree seeds takes 15 to 60 days to germinate.Jack Pine cones can remain closed for ten to twenty - five years. Northern Minnesota Jack Pine trees (good stand) hold 13 pounds or 2 million cleaned seeds per acre. The seed average is 13,000 per pound.

Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management in Canada, National Status, 2005, CCFM and CFS Indicator 2.5 : Proportion of Timber Harvest Area Successfully Regenerated

This Indicator reports on the extent of successful regeneration on over 18 million hectares of Crown forest lands harvested under even-aged management, 1975 - 2001

Page 68: "Prompt regeneration of harvested areas is necessary to maintain ecosystem productivity and ensure a sustainable flow of wood products." Age rotation for Jack Pine is 70 to 80 years on geed sites; for Pulpwood that could drop to 50 year rotation.

REGEN is a 1990 developed National Forestry Database Program that reports on the forest regeneration activities and conditions on harvested lands.

Since 1990 most jurisdictions in Canada have signed agreements or passed legislation that requires logging companies to manage the regeneration of their sites.

Natural Regeneration plays a much larger role in Canadian forestry than planting or seeding. (85% of the estimated 16.2 million hectares from operation 1975 through 2001)

When "stats" list "non-stocked" it refers to "areas that have not regenerated with enough trees of timber commercial species in the year their status was reported ."


These areas are not barren.

They could have a variety of woody and herbaceous plants but do not contain sufficient trees of commercial species. Also " It is important to understand there will be a natural lag period" during which the regenerating land will be considered non-stocked even though it may be regenerating adequately". Sot of like if we ignored everyone under the age of 21 in our Canadian census. By 1993, 2.4 million hectares was considered non-stocked. By 2001, that number was down to 2.1 million hectares and shrinking.

Some provinces such as Alberta, prevent the use of "alien " tree species. Nova Scotia on the other hand has the largest proportion of any Canadian jurisdiction of harvested land planted with "alien" trees. Most popular "alien" in the Eastern woods is the fast growing, drought resistant Norway Spruce.

ISLE ROYALE

From the Lakehead Cities The News Chronicle January 2, 1937 page 4
THE MYSTERY AND FASCINATION OF ISLE ROYALE
Port Arthur people as a whole fail to realize that within sight of their homes , on a clear day, is one of the most interesting as well as one of the most mysterious of islands in the world.
It is Isle Royale, regarded principally as a summer resort characterized by cool weather from the surrounding waters of Lake Superior and the home of moose which have lately been so numerous that they consumed all the available food and thus necessitated steps to move them off to the mainland so they would not starve to death.
Isle Royale has much more than that. It has had a history which even the scientists have been unable to reveal. The mystery is in the evidence of occupation left by some prehistoric race or races. Some of things these people left behind must have come , it is believed, from far off sections. Who carried them and their purpose is among the things unknown.
Question after question concerning this island which is part of the State of Michigan, closer to Canada than to any other main land and reached from this country as well as from Minnesota, remain unanswered.
The island is full of historic lore - abandoned copper mines, empty logging shacks, weed-covered gravestones.
Scientists still do not know why there was no copper in use among the Indians when the country was found, and yet there are ancient copper mines there which were undoubtedly worked by aborigines of the island.
They do not know how long ago those mines were worked, nor by what races.
They have found thousands of hammer stones, and they are still unable to explain why none of the rocks from which they are made are found on the island.
They have found an obsidian "point" - knife, ax, arrowhead - on the island, yet they know that obsidian cannot be obtained nearer than Yellowstone Park.
They have found a chalcedony point, and they know that chalcedony must have come from Ohio or Illinois.
No quartz implements have been located, and scientists wonder why, because there is plenty of quartz on the island.
Bones have been discovered. Yet the skulls show a thicker bone structure than that of either the Indian or the white man, and only give scientists another problem.
Historians wonder why Ben Franklin, in the Treaty of Paris in 1773, stipulated that the island should belong to United States. Some say he had heard reports of copper being found on the island, and his experiments with electricity made him deem this important.
Historians wonder, too, why recent Indians were in awe of the island and only journeyed there after dances, appeals to the spirit and ceremonies on the Canadian shore.
They hazard the guess that this fear may be the same which prompted the primitive copper seekers to abandon their mines after digging huge pits with labour comparable to that involved in erecting the pyramids. Or it may have been a storm on some far-off day while the tribe was en route to the island, or a sweeping pestilence - or only tradition.
THE GEOLOGY
The island occupys a northeast and southwest position fourteen miles from the nearest Canadian shore. It is forty-four miles long, varies from three to nine miles in width and is the largest island owned by the United States in The Great Lakes.
Within those 205 square miles of area are more than 25 inland lakes, occupying twelve square miles. About it are hundreds of small islands with rocky coasts.
Geologists believe the island, or islands, were formed by ancient lava flows, placed one on the other. The lopped-off edges of those flows form long ridges parallel with the length of the island, and extending from end to end.
Only twelve to fourteen inches of humus, foresters say, is on the island for trees to dig their roots into. So when fire ate through the woods, it easily killed the roots and felled the trees.
The birds on the island are those of the mainland on both sides of the lake. Animals include those of Northern Michigan and sub-Arctic Canada, notably the Canadian Lynx, the timber wolf, the woodland caribou and , of course, the moose. The woodland caribou , it is said, is found nowhere else in the United States.
During the summer the island is one of the beauty spots of the world. Steamers make weekly visits from Duluth, Port Arthur and Houghton. Tourists hunt greenstones, the only semi-precious stone found there or in Michigan.
During the winter the island is desolate. A fisherman, or some island "character", may shovel himself in for the long Winter and wait for the cracking ice to tell him it is time to face the world again, but it is otherwise deserted.
The most feesible form of transportation during the close season of Navigation is the airplane. The ice forms on the lake it is true but often, due to water and wind action leaves cracks or open spaces along the shore. Last Winter (1936) when the Newaygo Company was operating timber camps, Al Cheesman made a number of flights from his Port Arthur base. The Newaygo Company quit the island after bad forest fires spoiled the timber lands last Summer.
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