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Estimated Primary Forest Extents of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)
No full textHere primary forest, also known as old-growth or virgin forest, is composed of forest communities that established following past disturbances such as wildfire or severe windstorms and not impacted by 19th and 20th century logging activities. This coverage depicts the best approximation of current primary forest with at least one overstory component of 120 years in age or greater (in 2015) that remains within the borders of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Embedded within the blocks of primary forest are patches of long-lived, fire-maintained red and white pine woodlands that are some of the most biologically rare community types in the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province of North America. The primary forest of the Boundary Waters wilderness offers unique visitor experiences, wildlife habitat, rare cultural features, and unmatched opportunities for the scientific study of forest processes. Because primary growth forests are of great scientific and social value, they warrant special management, particularly in regards to planned fire.This primary forest coverage was developed in 2014-2015 as an aid to tree-ring fire history investigations in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (Kipfmueller et al. 2021, Larson et al. 2021, Johnson and Kipfmueller 2016). The coverage is generally useful for research and stewardship of the forest communities within the BWCAW. The map is meant as a guide for presence/absence of primary forest and is not a substitute for on-the-ground assessments of forest age, composition, and structure. The coverage is still a work in progress and may be further refined with the help of coverage users. The coverage is best used to visualize primary forest extents and is not meant, at this time, to provide exact measures of remaining old-growth forest. Wildfires from 2015-2021 may have caused slight reductions in old-growth forest extents since this coverage was developed.National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences Program, awards 1359868 and 1359863.Johnson, Lane B. (2022). Estimated Primary Forest Extents of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://doi.org/10.13020/34k2-vm34
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