John Wytanis, Tofte District Ranger, and Nancy Larson, Gunflint District Ranger, invite the public to learn more about the recently initiated North Shore Restoration Project. An open house to discuss the project is set for January 11, 2013. Comments on the project, orally or in writing, are due January 21, 2013.
“The North Shore is a treasured Minnesota landscape, attracting people to come view Lake Superior and the surrounding forest,” said John Wytanis. “Yet anyone who has hiked, skied or snowmobiled the trails along the shore has seen the dying birch and absence of white pine. This project we have developed is beginning to address the situation.”
The main emphasis of the project is restoration of conifer species such as white pine, white cedar and white spruce. To date, regeneration of conifers has been limited by factors such as heavy browse from deer and heavy competition from grasses and shrubs. Harvesting, reforestation, and installing deer exclosures are among the strategies suggested to overcome the limiting factors.
The open house is Friday, January 11, 2013 from 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Gunflint Ranger District office, located at 2020 West Highway 61 in Grand Marais. The open house provides an opportunity for members of the public to learn more about the project and discuss the proposal with the district rangers and other staff members who developed the proposal.
Activities in the proposed North Shore Restoration Project would occur only on national forest land, but the project is part of a larger collaborative effort. The Forest Service, with the North Shore Forest Collaborative (comprised of tribal, federal, state and county agencies, nonprofit organizations and private landowners) is working together to accomplish restoration activities across all ownership.
The Forest Service will use the comments received through the open house and other methods to finalize a proposal by this spring. Once an environmental analysis of the proposal is complete in the fall of 2013, area landowners, businesses, interested groups and others will have an opportunity to comment again on the project.
Detailed information on the project is available in the North Shore Restoration Project Scoping Report. The report is on the Superior National Forest website at www.fs.usda.gov/ goto/superior/projects and is also available by request from the Gunflint or Tofte District offices.
For more information, contact Becky Bartol at 218-387-3207.
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