Progress Report on the Research Project Entitled Post-Fire Vegetation Monitoring of the Recent Stanley Ridge Burn in Isle Royale National Park
Janke RA. 1992. Progress Report on the Research Project Entitled Post-Fire Vegetation Monitoring of the Recent Stanley Ridge Burn in Isle Royale National Park. Michigan Technological University. Houghton, MI
This report summarizes the results of the 1991 post-fire vegetation sampling on the Stanley Ridge burn in Isle Royale National Park, a prescribed natural fire which occurred during the summer of 1988. The burn covered approximately 75 acres of the Stanley Ridge area located closest to Belle Isle. This was the first vegetation sampling effort following that burn. Ten plot reference points were established in the jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forested portion of the burn, and 10 additional reference points were established within the open rocky meadow on the south-east facing slope of the ridge. Thus 10 vegetation plots were established in each of two distinctly different ecosystems. Counts of tree and tall shrub species of sapling size and tree size were made within the plots and stems were checked for moose browse. Percent cover of ground cover plants was estimated and percentage of the ground area covered by exposed rock was estimated. Results indicated that no tree survived the fire in either ecosystem. Since the fire, large numbers of jack pine and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) have invaded the former jack pine forest, but in the open meadow seedlings are scarce. All stems had been browsed by moose. Ground cover on the ridge top is highly dominated by blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium).
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Janke, Robert
- Date of Issue
- 1992-03
- Publisher
- Michigan Technological University
- Units
- ISRO
- Keywords
- Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Flora, Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, Plants, Vegetation Monitoring