Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Active forest management restores Michigan’s historical habitat

October 7, 2021

Box turtle
One of the native species that benefits from active management is the Eastern Box Turtle. USDA Forest Service photo.

MICHIGAN — For seasonal wildlife technician Maille O’Toole, it has been eye-opening to see active management on the Huron-Manistee National Forests help restore Michigan’s oak-pine barrens after this ecosystem nearly disappeared from the Lower Peninsula following decades of fire suppression.

Before European settlement, when Native Americans maintained oak-pine barrens through repeated low-intensity burns, this ecosystem covered over 112,000 acres in the Lower Peninsula, according to the Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Today, oak-pine barrens make up just 0.005% of the Lower Peninsula’s vegetation, “a sixty-fold reduction,” per MNFI.

In its place, you’ll often see red pine plantations growing in neat rows, interspersed with stands of mixed hardwood trees. This conversion of oak-pine barrens to pine plantations has meant the loss of habitat for a multitude of sensitive, threatened and endangered wildlife species, including Hill’s thistle, wild lupine, Karner blue butterflies, dusted skippers, Eastern Box turtles and Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes.

A man holing a camera on a tripod
Seasonal wildlife technician Maille O’Toole working on another important project this summer on the Huron-Manistee National Forests - monitoring Piping Plovers. USDA Forest Service photo.

O’Toole’s seasonal work on the Huron-Manistee is a chance to see firsthand how prescribed fire and timber harvest play a role in restoring this rare ecosystem and ensuring that it is not lost to future generations. With her recent bachelor’s degree in fisheries and wildlife biology, O’Toole takes a special interest in the USDA Forest Service’s impact on endangered habitats.

To the untrained eye, areas with recent timber harvest may appear to have lost wildlife habitat. Yet this is typically not the case. Instead, technicians and professionals from multiple disciplines collaborate to set boundaries for restoration sites and select trees to leave behind during the timber sale, called “reserve” trees. These trees act not only as a seed source for future regeneration, but also as food and a place to nest for wildlife species.

After the timber sale, prescribed fire is one of “the single most significant factors,” according to the MNFI, to maintain an open canopy and deter woody vegetation from taking over the barrens again. Without prescribed fire, invasive species — St. John’s wort, spotted knapweed, autumn olive and Eurasian honeysuckles — can overtake the fragile ecosystem of these restoration sites, especially those with heavy foot traffic and off-road vehicle recreation. Reseeding the area with native grasses following a burn also aids in barrens restoration by providing the right mix of prairie and forest flora to the site.

The Forest Service is grateful for the contributions of seasonal employees like O’Toole, who is making a big impact through her work in the field before she decides where to pursue her graduate studies.

Forest scene
Beauty shot of the restored oak-pine barrens in the Huron-Manistee National Forests. USDA Forest Service photo.

 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/inside-fs/delivering-mission/sustain/active-forest-management-restores-michigans-historical-habitat