Lee E. Frelich is the Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology. He received a Ph.D. in Forest Ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1986. Frelich has authored 234 publications with 360 coauthors from 26 countries, including major works for Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. He is listed among the top 1% of all scientists in the world in the Ecology and Environment category by the Web of Science. His research has been featured in the news media 600 times, including such venues as The New York Times, Newsweek and Washington Post. Current research interests include large-scale fire and wind, earthworm invasion, and climate change in temperate and boreal forests.  

This presentation will include: 

Mapping and dating fires show that large, high-intensity crown fires that regenerate jack pine, black spruce, birch, and aspen forests every 50-100 years have been common in the BWCAW over the last 4 centuries. Parts of the landscape have had smaller, lower-intensity surface fires every few decades that regenerate white and red pine forests. Variations in fire frequencies due to changing climate, activities of indigenous people and European settlers, and in recent decades, large-scale windstorms, have had significant impacts on the composition of forests that we see on the landscape today.  

All presentations are family-friendly and free to the public. Donations are always appreciated. Take your time driving up the Gunflint Trail National Scenic Byway.