Property committee meeting

The property committee met today to discuss the conditions and problems of the three SNRE-managed properties: Saginaw Forest, the Newcomb Tract, and Stinchfield Woods. I discussed the continued problem of falling ash trees, and the possibility of removing these trees in the forest - for issues of safety and access.

Similar problems are found in the other properties.

Other topics were discussed, too.

Warm(ish) weather, dog walkers, and leash laws

Saturday's weather was quite warm, and - as I made my rounds of the property - I came across several people who were walking their dogs off-leash. Each person that I encountered got the same message: please put your dog on its leash, and please come back when you want to follow the rules. The rules are - again - very simple: dogs must be on leash. Saginaw Forest is not a dog park. Saginaw Forest is not public lands. Saginaw Forest is a research facility of the University of Michigan. As such, failing to follow the rules of use of the land owner constitutes a failure to follow the law.

Even if it were public lands, state law requires that dogs be on leash in public unless they are working dogs. However, the only kind of dog that can be "working" in Saginaw Forest by visitors is a guide dog, which - by necessity - must be on its lead.

Again, if people do not like the rule (or the law that supports the right of the landowner to set the rules of use for the property), then they can make complaints to the appropriate people. However, the fact remains that if you are not following the rules, then you will be informed that you will be welcome to return to the forest once you care to follow the rules, but that until that time, you must leave.

If your dog does not like walking on leash (or you don't like walking your dog on leash), and you don't want to get angry at being informed you that you are breaking the law, then don't bring your dog to Saginaw Forest and let it off its leash.

Woodpeckers back

Last week, a flight of robins was rustling through the leaves near the cabin. The other day, a small "V" of geese flew overhead. Today, there are woodpeckers knocking through the woods.

Did I do a Rip Van Winkle? When was the winter?

Soggy ground

All the snowmelt has not yet drained through the already saturated soil, and so the paths and the lawn are - in places - quite mushy. It feels like March weather... on Groundhog Day.

BTW, the groundhogs probably stuck their noses out of their burrows today, thought that winter was already over, and called it a day. I kid, but with the way that the weather has been this year, I'm surprised that there aren't more buds on trees and spring flowers popping up.

Also, at some point last year (or perhaps in 2010) a large oak branch partially broke off of one of the oaks standing above the cabin. It had been hanging there, and it was questionable whether it would crash on the roof or just along side it once it fell. Well, last night it fell, with the thick part of the branch landing - with a thump - just four feet from the corner of the cabin and the rest of it being hung up on the electrical wire that runs to the barn. It was not the most fun place to wield the chainsaw, but thankfully, the electrical wire is reinforced by a support cable. After about 10 minutes the obstacle was cleared, about 1/3 of it going into the burn pile.

Snowy owl sighting?

I saw an owl flying through Saginaw Forest as I came home tonight. It was too dark to tell much from its silhouette other than it was an owl, and about the right size for it to be a snowy owl. This, of course, could have been me having snowy owls on my mind from the reported sighting almost 1 month ago. Imagine my interest when I saw this news story about snowy owls migrating southward in record numbers:

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Apparently, there is an "irruption" of snowy owls. From the USA Today:

Scientists say the likely reason for the explosion is that the owls' chief food source, small animals called lemmings, was abundant last summer, allowing the adults to raise more young. Now, in search of food, young owls are heading farther south.

Although there are a few snowy owls spotted in Michigan every year, "I can tell you this winter is highly unusual," said Karen Cleveland, bird biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

...

By early December, there were 60 sightings in 10 lower Michigan counties and 34 in the Upper Peninsula, according to bird experts who track sightings.

New ones are reported almost every day, although some may be the same birds.

...

In Michigan, the owls mostly eat small voles, mice and rabbits. Some are healthy, but others are weak and stressed. As youngsters, not all are good hunters yet.

The birds are federally protected, and possessing them without a special permit is against the law. People should keep their distance from the birds and be careful not to disturb them, said Cleveland, with the state Department of Natural Resources. Spooking them causes them to use up energy and weaken them. Unless a bird is clearly injured, it shouldn't be disturbed, she said.

Well, the possible presence of snowy owls in the forest could explain why I haven't seen (or heard) too many small rodents around the cabin...

All snow melted (again)

The temperatures of yesterday (which rose into the 50s) helped melt all the snow in the forest (well... save for where the snow got piled up when the plow came... seemingly ages ago).

Insights about Minnesota lakes: implications about Third Sister Lake

Hopefully, no one is naive to the fact that this winter's temperatures have been far above the long-term average. In fact, although we reached a low of 10F (well below the mean temperature for the night of Jan 29/Jan 30), the trend for most the entire previous week was that of above-average daytime and nighttime temperatures (and 20 of the previous 30 days in January have been above average, too, and today through February 4 is supposed to be not only above average - which is a daytime high temp of 28F - but above freezing, too).

This has meant many things for the forest, but it has meant a very critical thing for Third Sister Lake: the ice cover this year remains un-set: a small open pool remains toward the center of the lake, filling in only when temperatures stay below freezing, but opening again once the snows melt (and the rain falls). It is with this reality in mind that I was interested to read this story from Greg Laden's Blog titled, "Global Warming is Ruining Minnesota Winter".

In the post, Greg points out a few things about Minnesotan lakes that appear to generally hold true for Third Sister Lake as well:

Since the water is cold at the time of freezing, there is more oxygen in some of the lakes than there might otherwise be. Since some of the lake surface is covered with ice but not a thick layer of snow, sunlight gets into the lakes during the winter promoting photosynthesis in the algae living beneath the ice, which enhances oxygen supply. The occasional break-through of ice during the winter, if there is a warm up and sufficient wind, adds additional oxygen.

Meanwhile, if the ice gets thick fast and stays thick, fishermen and women can ice fish early, often, and well into the season. Many Minnesota lakes sport regular fish contests and festival's during the winter that depend on this thick ice.

Third Sister Lake has seen similar trends over the past couple of years, being able to literally support some illegal ice-fishing on the lake. Last year's ice sheet was quite thick and stayed set up well into March (and the ice didn't go away until April). However, there was also a lot of snow; the 8th most snow recorded in Ann Arbor. In some Minnesotan lakes, high levels of snow actually led to fish die-offs:

In recent years, there have been some changes owing to global warming. In a warmer world, there will be some years (but certainly not all) where Minnesota experiences much more snow than it used to. This happened last year. Some lakes had so much snow on them last year that the algal activity was stifled and there was less oxygen in the water, and so those lakes experienced large die-offs of fish. Die-offs happen every year in some lakes, but it seems that the extra snow may have caused more fish to die than usual.

Luckily for the bass and bluegill, this didn't happen in Third Sister Lake, despite the additional snow in the region (although a die-off of Gizzard Shad did occur elsewhere in Southeast Michigan). This could have been due to the existence of groundwater seeps into Third Sister Lake, but this is merely conjecture on my part.

While we cannot definitively say that the 2010-2011 winter's snowfall was caused by global warming, scientists do recognize that, under conditions of global warming, greater amounts of snowfall is expected in regions where snowfall is possible, such as the upper Midwest. (For an explanation as to why, check out this article from Feb 2010.)

In warmer years, such as we are experiencing this winter (and in many previous winters) the lack of thick ice has caused numerous accidents and even fatalities as Minnesotans wandering around on insufficiently frozen lakes, falling in now and then. This, to me, is the ultimate form of Global Warming Denialism. One ignores through ignorance, or willful ignorance, the obvious change in our climate and as a result dies. The number of people falling through ice and drowning in Minnesota seems to be on the rise (though even with increased numbers, the quantities are small enough that a statistical test may be impossible). An excellent indicator of the increased dangers of ice with global warming can be found in what is happening with fishing contests. Contests on lakes in the central part of the state have been repeatedly canceled, and in the case of the Big Lake contests, permanently abandoned as an activity after being canceled several years in a row. In other words, global warming has caused Big Lake to no longer reliably freeze. It's simply a new reality. 

Third Sister Lake has not - yet - set up. There remains a small hole toward the center of the lake, which opens up when the weather climbs above freezing and especially when there is rainfall. It could cause problems not only for the illegal ice-fishers, but also for the ecology classes that come out in February.