Ecological Review of Maxton Plains Alvar Prepared by: Jesse M. Lincoln Michigan Natural Features Inventory P.O. Box 13036 Lansing, MI 48901-3036 For: Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division; C/O Sherry MacKinnon February 19, 2019 Report No. 2018-24 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funding for this project was provided by the Wildlife Division of the Michigan DNR. We express our sincere gratitude to the numerous DNR staff that helped administer and guide this project, including: Michael Donovan, Mark Sargent, Sherry MacKinnon, Patrick Lederle, Ann LeClaire-Mitchell, and Steve Chadwick. This report relies on data collected by many present and former MNFI fi eld scientists, especially: Dennis Albert, Mike Penskar, Joshua Cohen, and Bradford Slaughter. For their support and assistance throughout this project, we thank our MNFI colleagues, especially Ashley Adkins, Rebecca Rogers, Helen Enander, Phyllis Higman, Kraig Korroch, Mike Monfi ls, Nancy Toben, Clay Wilton, Aaron Kortenhoven, and Brian Klatt. Joshua Cohen, Tyler Bassett, and Gregory Norwood provided valuable comments and suggestions during the editing process and their input is greatly appreciated. Gail Ledy at the Drummond Island Historical Museum off ered important information and connected me with Gary Cloudman. Mr. Cloudman provided invaluable insight into the history of Native Americans on the island and was very generous with his time. Tom Lincoln was an outstanding fi eld assistant. Suggested Citation: Lincoln, J.M. 2018. Ecological Review of Maxton Plains Alvar. Michigan Natural Features Inventory Report Number 2018-24, Lansing, MI. 28 pp. Cover Photo: Maxton Plains Alvar, Drummond Island. Photo by Jesse M. Lincoln, 2018 Copyright 2018 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, natural origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. .1 Ecoregional Context . .1 Natural Community Description . .3 History . .5 METHODS . .7 RESULTS . .9 Description of Vegetation . .9 DISCUSSION . .12 Element Occurrence Rank . .12 Management Considerations . .13 Conclusions . .17 LITERATURE CITED . .18 APPENDIX . .19 INTRODUCTION There are many important ecological features within Management Unit, Forest Resource Division (FRD) and is the Great Lakes basin. Among the more unique natural jointly managed with the Wildlife Division (WLD) and The communities is the globally-rare alvar. Known from three Nature Conservancy, which owns adjacent areas of high- areas of the world and found locally within the Great quality alvar. Lakes region, alvar is characterized by fl at limestone bedrock with absent or thin soils. Alvar in Michigan is a The purpose of this report is to update the Element critically imperiled community type with fi ve documented Occurrence (EO) data for Maxton Plains after an ecological examples. Alvar and related limestone bedrock ecosystems evaluation and provide ongoing guidance to the DNR are restricted in Michigan to the Niagaran escarpment in on managing the ecological integrity of this unique the southeastern UP and along the Escanaba River. The resource. This report provides descriptions of the alvar’s most extensive areas of alvar in the state occur in the current conditions, historic disturbances, and threats, northern portion of Drummond Island at the site known as and management considerations. The report is intended Maxton Plains, the focus of this report. Of all the potential to complement existing management plans as well as ecological reference areas on state forest lands, Maxton supplement past reports. Plains alvar on Drummond Island was ranked as the highest stewardship priority (Cohen et al. 2009). Ecoregional Context The various ecoregions of Michigan have been classifi ed The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), based on glacial features, climate, and characteristic owns and manages large portions of Drummond Island, ecosystems. Maxton Plains occurs within the Niagaran including some of the most signifi cant areas of Maxton Escarpment and Lake Plain Subsection and the St. Ignace Plains. The Maxton Plains Ecological Reference Area Sub-Subsection (VIII.1.1). occurs within the Sault Sainte Marie State Forest Figure 1. Maxton Plains alvar (in green) occurs in the northern portion of Drummond Island, which occurs in northern Lake Huron. Page-1 - Ecological Review of Maxton Plains Alvar. MNFI 2018 Figure 2. Statewide distribution of alvar (Albert et al. 2008). Page-2 Ecological Review of Maxton Plains Alvar. MNFI 2018 - Page-2 This Sub-Subsection is typifi ed by sandy lake plain and occurring on broad, fl at expenses of limestone (Kost et al. limestone bedrock at or near the surface. Variation of 2007, Cohen et al. 2015). historic lake levels has led to features originating from wind-blown sand along historic and current shoreline, such Alvar is characterized by shallow, mildly- to moderately- as sand dunes, dune and swale complexes, and transverse alkaline soil over bedrock. These systems are typically dunes within historic lake plain. The entire Sub-subsection subjected to seasonal environmental extremes of soil is underlain by sedimentary bedrocks, principally limestone saturation or inundation in the spring followed by drought and dolomite (405 to 500 million years old). Areas of in the summer. The combination of shallow soil and limestone bedrock form the Niagaran Escarpment, which extreme fl uctuations in soil-water availability plays an is locally exposed as cliff s and natural pavement along the important role in controlling the establishment of trees and Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shorelines. Alvar exists patterning of vegetation. Historically, fi re probably also exclusively where limestone bedrock is exposed or occurs played an important role in limiting tree establishment and under very shallow soils. Natural communities associated maintaining open grasslands (Albert 2006). with shallow soils over limestone or exposed limestone bedrock, including alvar, are concentrated on Drummond Alvar is dominated primarily by grasses and sedges. Island (Albert 1995, 2006). Mosses and lichens dominate in the driest areas and on exposed bedrock. Scattered shrubs and trees persist in Natural Community Description areas where soils develop, especially in cracks that provide Alvar is a term applied broadly to describe a suite of natural additional moisture. The system grades into limestone communities occurring on limestone bedrock (Reschke bedrock glade, limestone bedrock lakeshore, boreal forest, et al. 1999). This report uses MNFI’s specifi c natural wet meadow, northern shrub thicket, and Great Lakes community description of alvar as a graminoid-dominated marsh. community with scattered shrubs and sometimes trees Photo 1. The open, graminoid-dominated alvar occurs where the limestone bedrock is exposed or overlain by shallow soils. Cracks in the bedrock are visible as long, linear features. The system transitions to limestone bedrock glade and boreal forest where soils are deeper. Page-3 - Ecological Review of Maxton Plains Alvar. MNFI 2018 Photo 2. The limestone bedrock that is responsible for the existence of alvar is visible across the island. Sometimes the outcrops are quite visually dramatic, as with the northeastern shoreline (pictured above). The collection of limestone bedrock communities on Drummond Island are unique within Michigan and very rare across the world. Photo 3. Fire scars are visible on some trees within the alvar and in adjacent forests. The trees were never older than 100 and the fi res likely correspond to European settlers burning the alvar for cattle. Compartment 45001, Stand 1. Page-4 Ecological Review of Maxton Plains Alvar. MNFI 2018 - Page-4 History The alvar areas surveyed for this review have a long and of fi re within the alvar can be supposed given the proximity complex human history. Archeological investigations to a large settlement, the propensity for indigenous cultures have provided evidence of Native American presence to manage landscapes with fi re, and the presence of many on Drummond Island for at least 1500 years (Branstner plant species within the alvar that occur in other fi re- 1992) until settlers forced them off of the island around dependent natural communities. 1830. Michigan State University conducted extensive archaeological surveys and determined that there was There is a long history of logging on the island and state a large and permanent settlement on the north shore of forest lands continue to be harvested. The focus of these Maxton Bay at the current residence of Gary Cloudman logging eff orts has been in the areas of deeper soils that whose great-grandparents settled the property in 1894. support maple, oak, and pine. Many nearby islands were His family had uncovered evidence of the settlement cleared to make charcoal for steam ships in the Great Lakes for years, including hundreds of artifacts and a burial and the expanses of boreal forest on the Drummond Island mound. The discovery of the burial mound led them to may have been cleared for that purpose, thereby potentially contact university archaeologists and subsequent surveys altering the extent of the alvar within that matrix. established the current timeline of occupancy (Gary Cloudman, personal communication 2018, Branster 1992). The earliest available aerial imagery for the island is from an eff ort to survey the entire state during the 1930s.