What is a forester to do when your soils are almost always dry and sandy and low in nutrients? Skip the black walnut for sure and embrace the sand… or perhaps the pine barrens! Pine barrens were once an expansive natural community is Wisconsin’s northwest, northeast and central sands, but today occupy a limited area due to past management and changes in fire disturbance. These savanna communities were characterized by a variable density of jack pine and oak, with a ground layer of prairie grasses, forbs, and heath species. To restore and maintain these disturbance-driven communities, foresters and ecologists are joining forces to find creative silvicultural solutions. Join us on this episode of SilviCast while we talk to Jennifer Boice, forester for the Black River State Forest, and Armund Bartz, Wisconsin DNR regional ecologist, about the challenges and fun of managing jack pine barrens.
