UP II

After another week at Michigan Tech, I was hoping to paddle the Potato River.  In the event, the wind and waves on the lake blocked our approach.  Instead, we decided to do some forestry on the Cranberry, and back up the river of chocolate milk we went.  At the little "S" curve just downstream from the small bridge there were three or four trees in the water that were making for a tricky run.  Mark used a couple of saws to do some thinning.  After that we paddled to the upper end of navigability and sipped some bourbon while skipping stones.  Mark and Kristi had promised me a barbeque and bonfire on the beach, but the winter weather squashed our hopes (there are still no leaves on the trees).  So, we had dinner inside by the fireplace in our long underwear.  Another great day at Camp Rubens.

The Upper Peninsula

The past week has been spent in the UP.  Which mostly means taking a class at Michigan Tech.  But, sometimes means paddling Camp Rubens with Mark and Kristi.  (Don't be fooled by the pictures.  It is winter here ten months out of twelve.)

Reforestation

Last week we were burning; this week we were planting.  (Or, I should say, the guys in the picture below were planting.  This crew of, well, non-English speakers, planted more trees, in worse conditions, in a shorter period of time than any, well, English speakers could have.)  The plan was to put 25,000 native Douglas fir and ponderosa pine seedlings on some of the steep slopes above the North Fork of North Creek that had burned during the Twitchell Fire.  Did I say steep?  Fifty and sixty percent slopes.  Rocky, too.  It will be interesting to go back in a few years to check on the survival rate.  On the other hand, there were plenty of large trees growing on these slopes before the fire, so we know that the site can support them.  It was also nice to see all the sprouting—aspen, oak, mahogany, kinnikinnick, rose, elderberry.  The early seral sprouting species certainly benefited from the fire.

Rx Fire in Pinyon-Juniper

The plan was to ignite a slash line built by the fuels crew last summer.  The heat and flame from the slash would ignite the adjoining tree crowns and the wind would push it from crown to crown.  There wasn't enough ground fuel to sustain a fire, so it had to be a crown fire.  Besides, it's always windy in southern Utah.  So, we each grabbed a couple of drip torches and hiked in to the slash line.  It was sunny and warm, but still.  Very still.  I got out my wind gauge:  Wind speeds of zero, with gusts to three.  The spot weather forecast had the winds picking up later in the afternoon, so we waited.  And waited.  By about 1500, I was getting winds of three, with gusts to seven.  Feeling like we had to do something, the firing boss sent me one way on the slash line, and sent Matt the other way.  It was a test fire.  I lit about 30 yards of slash and stopped to wait.  It didn't work.  Where the slash was piled directly against a tree, part of the live crown was consumed, but then it just went out.  Some gentle breezes swirled around, but not enough wind came up to push the flames.  Actually, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.  Conifer leaves are always flammable, and I figured we'd put enough heat into them that they'd pop, starting a chain reaction.  But, I guess the live fuel moistures were too high.  In any case, the burn boss called it off, and we hauled our nearly full drip torches back to the road.  That, as they say, is why you have a test fire.

Not Fuel Free

Last year, we were fuel free by April 22nd.  I don't think we're going to match that this time around.  We're still having nights in the 20s (it was 21F on Wednesday), and windy days in the 50s and 60s.  I'm still burning every morning, and sometimes in the evening, too.  And, of course, because it is April, we get a big snow storm just about every two weeks.  So, why write about it?  Because my brother-in-law, on the East Coast, invented the fuel free concept, and he sent me an email to celebrate it on April 8th.  Upstate New York enjoyed its first fuel free day of 2013 about two weeks ago.