MICHIGAN BOTANICAL SOCIETY
SOUTHWESTERN CHAPTER FIELD TRIP
Dry Southern Forest & Dry-Mesic Southern Forest
in Barry State Game Area
With Dr. Tyler Bassett, Conservation Associate – Botanist
Michigan Natural Features Inventory
Saturday June 8, 2024, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
The Barry State Game Area is just over 16,600 acres dominated by oak and mixed forest and includes wetlands, lakes, and grasslands. On this field trip, we’ll visit “The Hills”, which support high-quality examples of dry and dry-mesic southern forest. Both are oak-dominated forest types are mostly found south of the Michigan climatic tension zone and require frequent fires to maintain semi-open conditions that promote oak regeneration and ground and shrub layer diversity. Both occur principally on glacial outwash, coarse-textured (e.g., sand and gravel) moraines, sandy glacial lakeplains, kettle-kame topography, and sand dunes. The Hills occurs on exemplary kettle-kame topography along a portion of the Sturgis moraine, a coarse-textured end moraine associated with the Saginaw lobe of the Wisconsinan glaciation.
The canopy layer of dry and dry-mesic southern forest generally is dominated by black oak (Quercus velutina) and white oak (Q. alba), with white oak being the more frequent dominant in dry-mesic forests. Red oak (Q. rubra) can occur as a canopy codominant, especially where soils and topographic position favor less droughty conditions. Hickories such as pignut hickory (Carya glabra), shagbark hickory (C. ovata), and bitternut hickory (C. cordiformis) are often canopy codominants. In the absence of fire, “mesophytic” tree species are often common to dominant in the midstory and canopy. Mesophytes such as red maple (Acer rubrum) and wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) are fire-sensitive, shade tolerant, and create on shady, moist understory environment that is not suitable for the full suite of potential native diversity, including oak regeneration. On this trip, we will have a chance to examine the effects of a prescribed fire that occurred in late April 2024.
Hiking will be slow with no trails, and some steep hills. Insect repellent, sunscreen, water as well as suitable clothing are suggested. The trip difficulty level is rated moderate.
Tyler Bassett is a Botanist and Plant Ecologist with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory. He has 20 years of experience studying the plants and plant communities of the Upper Midwest. His work, in part, aims to document and conserve these species, and to restore, expand, and reconnect the diminishing fragments of habitat that they require for persistence. He holds a B.S. in Biology from Western Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in Plant Biology, and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior from Michigan State University.
Directions. We will meet at the intersection of M-179 (Chief Noonday Rd.) and West Peets Rd, Yankee Springs Township, MI. The coordinates are: 42.63866800988137, -85.44081142120028. From the Kalamazoo area, take US-131 north. At the M-179 exit, turn right (east). Go 11.5 miles then turn right (south) on to Peets Rd. There is off-road parking.