Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Storm


On the evening of July 1, 2011 a severe
storm ripped through St. Croix State Park and
surrounding areas.
Along with a deluge of rain, winds in excess of
60 miles per hour struck the park. Pockets of
wind estimated between 80 and 100 miles per
hour uprooted and snapped trees across the
park.
Approximately 11,000 acres had at least 50%
damage to the trees , and
9,600 of those acres lost 75-100% of the trees.

Park roads, trails and facilities were blocked
and damaged extensively by this storm. St.
Croix State Park was closed to the public for
two months to prevent endangering any park
visitors.  Of 197 park buildings, 74 experienced tree damage.
The roads and trails in the park
were blocked in many locations by
walls of fallen trees. The initial
clearing of roadways leading to facilities
took crews two weeks to accomplish. Clearing
of trails lasted through August, with extensive
work by chainsaw crews and backhoes.
Mother Nature has dealt a catastrophic blow to one of Minnesota most prized and popular state parks.
The volume of timber down is enormous. If left
the trees would become a very serious wildfire
hazard and a breeding ground for forest pests
and diseases. Contracted logging through strictly
regulated timber sales is still going on in the Park a year later.  We went our for a ride on the eastern portions of the park  to take a look.  Come on along...







 

The damage was extensive in significant areas  of Minnesotas largest state park. But after taking a look I'm confident that the cleanup has reduced much of the future fire danger.  Areas will change from forested to savanha and even prairie. There were more diveristy of habitat but it will still be a beautiful place.....

14 comments:

  1. That's a significant amount of tree loss! That's more tree damage than some hurricanes cause, at least to one area.

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  2. Sad to lose all those trees. Such devastation.

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  3. It will regrow..but that was some bad storm. I did not realize that so much damage was done. A year plus ago and they are still clearing trees..:(

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  4. I'm sure it will come back-Ma Nature always "covers" ground up with something, but what a devastating loss of trees. Such a shame....

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  5. I am always humbled by the forces of nature. In our modern human societies, we show arrogance in our belief that the world is "controllable" and are shocked when we see strong winds, tsunamis, and earthquakes devastate our surroundings. We all need to retain a healthy respect and reverence of our natural home although we may live rather detached from it in concrete and plastic cocoons. In their symbiotic relationship with the natural world, the aboriginal people knew well the patterns and the vagaries of the natural environment and respected and honored our Mother Earth. Climate change deniers, indeed, have the biggest disrespect for our Mother Earth.

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  6. That was a strong storm. I do know that things grow back quickly there but it is tough to see it all cleared.

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  7. I wonder what it will look like there in ten years. I hope you document that too! Good job. :-)

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  8. glad they are doing their best to clean up and restore.

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  9. Always sad to lose so many treest.

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  10. That was a lot of damage. It is so frustrating when this happens. So much work and time to clean it all up.

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  11. It is sad to lose those trees. Mother Nature is a serious woman.

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  12. How terribly sad to see all those beautiful trees gone!

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  13. What a ferocious windstorm to cause so much havoc in the park. It's unfortunate about the tree loss, but on the other hand, there are so many species that will take advantage of the new open habitat now.

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