Brule River

Tonight I went to a lecture by a Wisconsin botanist on vegetation surveys along the  Boise Brule river watershed in northern Wisconsin. He had data from previous surveys in 1920-1922, 1940-1942, 1960-1962 and 2015-2017. The surveys included trees, shrubs and forbs. The reason for the surveys was to find out why the fish restocking wasn't successful. The speaker focused on the boreal forest, the pine barrens, and the white cedar swamps. The vegetation surveys shows plants have changed. The boreal forest is making a comeback. The pine barrens are down to 2 percent of what they once were. The cedar swamps were decimated because farmers used the cedars for fencing. Now it is illegal to cut the white cedar in the Brule watershed but the cedars are not regenerating. Paper birch is on the decline in part because it has a short life span, but also because of fire suppression and climate change. Paper birch does not like the warmer temperatures. Invasive species such as buck thorn and spotted knapweed don't help the situation either.  Some of this lecture was a little bit over my head. I think 80 percent of the audience work in the field of botany where as I am just a beginner. It is healthy for me to be out of my comfort zone some times and I enjoy spending time with intelligent, educated people.