(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Daily Bucket - Pioneers and Pollinators Redeem a Clear-Cut in Northern Michigan [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-29 My father arrived, at the age of eight with his parents and two siblings and a handful of other intrepid families, on a train from Indiana. They came to homestead. The land they settled on in northern Michigan was, as Dad would later describe it, “80 acres of sand hills and pine trees”. In order to maintain the connection of our family to that land, and to prevent the burden of ever-increasing property taxes from forcing an unwanted sale down the generations, my Mom arranged to have it registered as “forestry reserve”. In this part of northern Michigan that means we work with a registered forestry agent who manages the planting and harvesting of Red pine. And so it came to be that the “front valley”, as we call it, was due to be harvested. We visit the property once a year as a family which provides me with an opportunity to walk the clear-cut. In the second year following the timber harvest, the pioneers are really starting to take over including native plants, escapees from the farmstead as well as a number of weedy flowering perennials that were attracting the attention of a heartening number and variety of pollinators. Please enjoy this pictorial tour of an evolving community… Mosses tolerate sandy soils well and add organics that hold moisture in this very porous soil as a part of their year-over-year growth. Common oak ferns tolerate the acidic soils of northern coniferous forests and shade the soil, increasing moisture content for other plants that come after them. Common milkweed is a native plant in Michigan. It is one of the early pioneers in disturbed areas, providing forage for pollinators and shading the soil for shrubbier plants to establish themselves. Vetch is a member of the legume family and thus helps fix nitrogen in the soil via root nodules harboring nitrogen fixing bacteria. Vetch can spread into disturbed areas from adjacent grassy fields like the pasture areas that were maintained by my grandparents in this front valley. Pollinators such as this common eastern bumble bee were present in great numbers in these patches during my visit to this site. Disturbed areas present unique opportunities for escaped cultivars such as these sweet peas, which also provide a window into the life of my family on this land. My grandmother likely chose to populate her kitchen garden with these colorful and fragrant flowering annuals even though she knew they could not be eaten. They may have been included as a way to add beauty or to attract pollinators to her other garden plants or to enrich the soil with nitrogen as such legumes do. Another escaped cultivar that points to the history of this land. My father told many stories of berry picking and raspberries are hardy and drought tolerant. Fruits would have been relatively rare in their diet in this location and preserving those they could grow or forage would have been an important part of the work on this farm. The woody growth of these plants here today means they could be one of the first actual shrubs in this succession following this timber harvest. Islands within the clear-cut where the soil had not been so compacted by heavy machinery show the effectiveness of introduced flowering perennials (asteracea sp? and St Johnswort) at taking advantage of disturbed landscapes. Standing in the midst of several of these “islands” of flowers I noticed that there were other creatures who were also more than happy to take advantage of this newly available landscape — pollinators buzzed everywhere. quite literally as busy as bees! This worker bee had grown so heavy with pollen (notice the swollen pollen baskets on the rear legs) that she could hardly become airborne again. We humans may rue the invasive or introduced flower species but these pollinators have no such qualms and simply get on with their very important task in service to the hive. Walking this clear-cut annually allows me to eavesdrop on the work of nature in recovering this site. Each community, by its very presence, creates small changes in the environment that makes the next community more suited. The addition of organics, nutrients and/or moisture to the soil, the introduction of increasing shade all work to drive succession in this disturbed piece of earth. First cleared by a small group of families newly arrived by train in the early 1900’s and now a patchwork of landscapes in various stages of recovery, this “80 acres of sand hills and pine trees” is something of a case study into the process by which nature can reclaim it’s own. The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns. We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/29/2248564/-The-Daily-Bucket-Pioneers-and-Pollinators-Redeem-a-Clear-Cut-in-Northern-Michigan?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=community_groups_Backyard+Science&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/