First trees planted...

Windy, warm.  A red flag warning of potentially harzardous windy fire conditions issued today.  The forests have had little rain since the snow melted.  The giant Lake Superior iron ore ships are following the shore.  They are cautious as a strong northwestern wind is gusting up to 30 mph.  A black wall of cold superior wave trains pushing them out to the great lake.  In the woods, the warm air is heavy with the pungent smell of pine.

The great canoe waterways of the Border Country are open early.  We loaded the canoe with a day pack and lunch and entered the wilderness at Baker Lake.  We paddled north to Peterson Lake.  At the northern point of the lake we landed for a shore lunch.  The first paddle of the year feels like running into your childhood best friend for the first time in years.    There is a level of comfort that I feel in the wild places of this world that I would feel closing up the house for the night.  It's like going home.

After a rest at the Kelly Lake portage we paddled back south.  Amy showed off her strong draw from the bow while shooting the rapids between Peterson and Baker.  The move kept us in the current and away from a rock garden and grounding in the middle of the run!

Back home I planted the first trees on the property this week.  Two white pines have found new soil just below the spruce knob on the north western corner of the property.  After logging hundreds of trees during the winter it felt good to start the other half of my forestry plan: replant species with succession into a warmer climate.  Red and white pine, white spruce, sugar maple and red oak will dominate the landscape.  And with these two 10 inch tall white pine saplings my replanting begins.  

Since these first pines were planted one has disappeared.  Deer: I'll hope for a 50% survival rate.  

White spruce, northern white cedar and tamarack have also been planted.  Nonetheless I intend to keep planting... 

The implications of a dry, early spring...

The past month has been one of the warmest and driest Marches in recorded history. Insects are already in the air!

The winter of 2009-2010 on the North Shore was marked by below-average precipitation and above average temperatures.  A high-pressure air mass has loomed over lower Canada and the upper midwest for most of the winter and spring. Consequently there is a fire ban until "green up."  This weather certainly has its impact on the forest.  Most of the minor creeks are drying up by the day.  A large percentage of the lakes have washed out their ice.  In places by the shore, the snow wasn't deep enough to matt the grasses down.  As a result the grass is upright and dry.  

The fire danger is high. In 2007 a large fire called the Ham Lake Fire ravaged the upper Gunflint Trail during similar conditions.  The fire grew quickly burning through the upright dry grasses.  The fire was huge compared to other recent fires such as the Cavity and Alpine.

So, I haven't burned slash in over three weeks.  My piles are about as tall as I am and growing daily.  There are four piles at the corners of the cabin site about 100' away from the future structure.

I have been slowly thinning balsam fir from the cabin site. Right now I have a continuous 30' perimeter around the site that has been thinned to 10' spacing of aspen and white spruce. It is amazing how much different the forest feels when void of 2-6 inch fir every foot or two!

Before I make any cuts I cruise the timber and flag the "keepers".  I prioritize white spruce, birch, aspen, and balsam fir.  Nowadays if you're a balsam, you have to be the prettiest ol' balsam around or else...

I've been cutting every few days or so.  The days following the cut, I limb logs, pile slash, stack timbers and plan the next move.  To date, half a dozen healthy and straight grain aspen and spruce "keepers" are within 30 feet of the structure.  My goal is to thin the 50' perimeter around the structure before the driveway is built.  Next year I'll thin the next 50 feet.

I've been learning quite a bit about forestry practices through these last four months of logging.  The idea about the distance between trees is to avoid crowns touching.  The strategy to promote the healthy growth of trees means you have to remove the competition.  If the tree has adequate soil for nourishment and plenty of room at the crown to grow, you're giving the tree its best chances for growth.

I've found some spruce budworm in the balsam around the property.  Budworm is a communicable disease that is often carried by balsam but can spread to other species.  The sickly trees are characterized by dead trunks, missing low limbs and a sea-foam green moss growing on the dead branches.  This forest has been taken over by balsam, which increased competition and led to a decline in the aspen.  You can tell that this is happening by the darkening of the bark at the base of the trunk.  Some trunks are completely black.  

At this point I have accumulated a couple cords of 6" thick, 10' long Balsam timber.  My hope is to mill them into posts for the shed.  I hope to mill onsite with a portable Alaskan mill. 

The forest behind the property offers a lifetime of exploration. Slowly, but surely, I have been wandering further and further out from the property.  The land has become such a familiar setting, it has dominated my thoughts and energy for some time now, so exploring new turf is a great change of pace!

I'm hiking new trails everyday and have begun building mountain bike trails...

The lower Devils Track River gorge.  3/4 of a mile directly west of the property.

Site plan

Here's the scheme:

To date the driveway, garage and cabin sites have been cleared. I have thinned the forest in a 50' perimeter around the cabin site.

We have been contemplating rotating the cabin so the gable ends are aligned East/West to maximize a southern exposure. There may no need for a privy as we are still entertaining the option of a composting toilet for the cabin. Other than that this depiction accurately illustrates our plan.