forests for the future
Working Forest Reserves
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Through UPLC’s Forest Reserve and Forest for the Future program, we are working to nurture forest health, biodiversity, and resiliency through sustainable forestry practices. Our goal is to guide forests toward diverse, uneven-ages systems that can both adapt to change and support wildlife, soil health, ecological systems, and our own connections to these forestlands.
These Reserves are open to the public for low impact recreation, hunting, and fishing.
Shifts in our forest
To steward our forests responsibly today, we must understand the changes they’ve undergone through time. After glaciers retreated, complex, multi-generational forests developed over thousands of years shaped by natural disturbance and succession. This long period of ecological stability was abruptly disrupted in the 19th century from colonization and industrial expansion. As a result, two major logging eras significantly altered the UP’s forests. In the late 1800s, vast stands of white pine were clear cut, followed in the early 1900s by harvests for hardwoods for pulpwood. These events transformed resilient old forests into cutover landscapes and few remnants of original old growth remain.
Relation with forests
For millenia, Indigenous nations including the Anishinaabe lived in close relationship with these forests, which were central to their food, homes, and culture. The widespread clear cutting of the logging eras removed much of the forest, disrupting the land and the relationships maintained with it. Today, Indigenous communities continue to be active stewards of these forests. As forests regenerate, our work aims to support both ecological resilience and renewed connections between people and place through an ethic of reciprocity and responsibility.
the downsides of
monoculture
Much of today’s forest is second-growth and consists often of single-species, even-aged stands. While it can be economically efficient, monocultures reduce biodiversity, degrade soil systems and increase vulnerability to forest pests, disease, and climate stress. While this can be a highly profitable “crop,” it’s not healthy for the soil or the other forest dwellers who rely on those woods. It is also risky management practice, because if a threat was introduced that impacted that single species, all of the forest's trees could be wiped out at once.
Forests for the future program goals
Maintain habitats for diverse native species
Demonstrate restoration forestry and sustainable timber management
Outdoor recreation, conservation education, & connection to the land
Forests natural adaptation
As sustainable foresters, we can help the forest dance with change rather than strain to preserve and maintain one static state. Northern forests have been shaped by adaptation in response to natural disturbances: fire, windfall, insects, disease, snow loads, occasional floods, and droughts. These natural disturbances help open the canopy by allowing the sun to reach seedlings and other small plants & creates edges where two natural communities meet- this leads to a great abundance of of plant and wildlife diversity. As one area of disturbance grows up, another may be opened, creating a continued mosaic of ecosystems and diversity.
Legacy for the land
UPLC's Forest for the Future program is inspired and made possible through the generous donation of Fred Prince.
Fred – a lifelong outdoorsman and conservationist committed to reforestation – held several recovering timberland through Forests for the Future, his nonprofit dedicated to practicing sustainable forestry and demonstrating it through public education. When he died in 2015, he left UPLC a number of these properties to allow UPLC to further its mission of conserving critical forest lands for the Upper Peninsula community. To read more about how Fred's gift is continuing to support conservation projects today, click here to read our blog post.
Through thoughtful and careful management techniques, we can help nurture the forests adaptive resiliency after human-caused disturbances.
management plan
Our reserves use long-term stewardship plans that consider generations into the future. Through selective harvesting, species diversification, and climate-adaptive management, we are restoring natural mosaic and uneven aged canopy layers. This approach increases species diversity, strengthens resilience, improves habitat conditions, and helps forests dance with change rather than strain against it.
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Restoration techniques
Restorative forestry requires clear goals, thoughtful planning, and shared commitment and responsibility by those involved. We provide educational opportunities to help landowners and community members integrate sustainable practices.
Cutting or thinning monocultures allows slower growing and mid-canopy species a chance to intersperse
Careful timbering techniques ensure protection of the overall forest:
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clearly marked cutting boundaries
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ground-conscious harvest schedules designated skid paths of untargeted forest areas
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access roads positioned to avoid excess erosion
Removing diseased trees decreases chances of the disease spreading
Opening the canopy (via cutting or thinning) allows more sun exposure to the all the remaining plants and promotes growth.
Forest management education
UPLC Reserves currently host classes focusing on educating the public on forest health and sustainable forestry practices. In the future, the reserves will also be used as educational sites for both land owners to learn hands-on how to integrate climate change mitigation into their forest management practices. You can learn more about sustainable forestry practices by reading our interpretive signs installed at the Vielmetti-Peters Reserve.
Debelak reserve
Our Debelak Reserve is a delightful example of our unconventional harvest style: This large forest was once 98% maple of all the same age, and we are now slowly restoring to a much more natural, less crop-agriculture, type of UP forest. There, we have been selectively harvesting using the “Expanding Gap” silvicultural method, which allows for biodiversity restoration and an improvement of bird and wildlife habitat–and a reduction in high-value timber in the future. We remove the maple and plant and encourage all other native species (whether or not they have any “cash value” ). Since 2010 we have been conducting an annual breeding bird count to monitor any changes in bird species composition due to harvesting activities, and we are happy to report that with just two harvests, we are seeing an increase in both number and varieties of nesting birds at Debelak.
