Management of the Moquah Barrens in Bayfield County

Washburn Ranger District
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
Scott Posner
sposner@fs.fed.us

Pine Barrens
• The pine barrens of Northwest Wisconsin are a
unique ecosystem that once covered more than 2.3
million acres.
• Today, it is estimated that less than 2 percent of that
total remains. Because they are so rare pine barrens
are considered imperiled both in the state of
Wisconsin and globally.
• Pine barrens are ecosystems that are dominated by
grasses, shrubs, and scattered trees and occur on
poor-quality sandy soils

Location of
Moquah
Barrens and
Washburn
Ranger District
of the
Chequamegon
- Nicolet
National
Forest in
Wisconsin

Northwest Wisconsin Pine Barrens
http://maps.dnr.state.wi.us

Changes in Barrens Tree Species Composition

Witness Trees in Moquah - 1858
White Pine
Red Pine
Jack Pine
Red Oak
Birch
Aspen

Jack Pine in the Barrens Management Areas

Open Barrens
Note the single
mature red pine, scattered
young jack pine, lack of
brush, high proportion of
grasses and forbs, and
general openness.

Once barrens structure has been restored, it is maintained by prescribed
burning.

• Burning in the
open barrens
is designed to
kill brush and
much, but not
all, of the
conifer
regeneration.
• Regular
monitoring
helps us
determine the
effectiveness
of our
management
and when the
next burn
should be
implemented.

Savanna
Savanna ranges from 1 to 40 trees per acre. Note
how the distribution of jack pine can vary from
stand to stand, the low brush cover, high proportion
of grasses and forbs, and general openness.

Prescribed fire is used to reduce the density of
jack pine in areas where the desired structure is
savanna.

• Ignition tactics can be modified to leave evenly
spaced trees, but fire more often results in
clumped distribution

• Where the desired tree density has been achieved,
careful under burning maintains the desired structure
and fire associated ground flora.

• Timber harvest or under burning can be used
to create and maintain jack pine savanna.

Low stand density produces jack pine trees with abundant male flowers
throughout full crowns which often extend to the ground.
• Jack pine budworm photo credit: Thérèse Arcand, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service

Dense Small Trees
Note the dense
growth of jack pine in
the background of
this photo.

• Kirtland’s warblers nest in dense young jack pine
1400 – 1800 trees per acre is ideal, with small
openings interspersed.
• Suitable habitat should be in stands hundreds of
acres in size – preferably more than 1,000 acres
in isolated areas.
• We are starting with a 260 acre patch of intensive
treatment, next to the 12,000 acre barrens core
area that will provide the landscape context for
Kirtland’s warbler habitat.

Location of the Kirtland’s Warbler Project in
Relation to the Barrens Management Areas

• Stand replacing fires open
jack pine cones and
stimulate regeneration.
• The presence of aspen or
other sprouting hardwoods
can affect the density and
success of jack pine
regeneration.

• Although this stand is
high in species diversity,
it is not the species
composition or
vegetation structure for
which we are managing.
• In the Kirtland’s warbler
habitat management
area, we will “start
over” in stands like this,
using heavy equipment
and fire to prepare the
stand for planting.

• In the Moquah barrens core area, we use fire as the first option to
regenerate and maintain jack pine and other barrens vegetation.
• After the initial crown fire regenerated the jack pine in the
background, low intensity fire was used to maintain the fire
associated species composition

Fine-tuning is more difficult when burning at a landscape scale

• Large burns
can affect
local weather
conditions and
make
implementing
a burn
challenging.