Botany At Minnesota Point

Today the native plant group gathered at Minnesota Point. We parked at the airport and walked to the shore of Lake Superior to talk about the plants and how the sand is swept here from the North Shore and the South Shore. We looked at the dune grass and the poison ivy. There is an abundance of poison ivy. Walking east we took a path through the dune grass. One section of dune grass was taller and denser that the first section. The second section was a restoration effort done more than twenty years ago when they incorporated dune grass seeds from a location in Michigan. Turns out the Michigan dune grass does very well here at park point but it is genetically different from the native species. Perhaps they made a mistake but based on the information they had at the time they did what they thought was best. Invasive baby's breath is moving in here. We saw many mounds of baby's breath. People at the Park Point Community Center are planning to dig it out. The area at the water's edge is not stable. Water, wind, and ice change the shapes of the dunes. Even sand dunes under the water are being reshaped every day. When the dune grass comes in it slows down the transfer of sand and makes the area slightly more stable. As we walked farther east juniper bushes mingled in the beach grass which makes the area more stable. Finally we hiked along into the red and white pine forest which makes up the  Minnesota Point Scientific and Natural Area. These trees are estimated to be between 120 and 200 years old.  Research with core sample and stump samples show that this area was intentionally burned about every ten years ending in 1854. There is talk of burning this forest again. There is a danger in burning poison ivy but I guess there are ways around the hazard of breathing poison ivy oils into your lungs. For two and a half hours we walked on Minnesota point talking about trees and plants and shrubs.