Reading a Field Wayside

The "Reading a Field" wayside on the Dunes Trail.

Reading a Field

Have you ever “read” a field? Like books, landscapes can tell stories. What stories does this old farm field tell? This land’s tory includes thousands of years of human use, from the native Ojibwe people, to loggers and homesteaders.

Many years ago, this field was a homestead. In the 1970s, this land became part of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. From there, this field began the slow process of habitat change, called succession. Notice where trees and shrubs have moved into the field. As they grow, they will replace the grasses and other sun-loving plants.

The next chapter…

Only time will tell how this land will change in the future. One possibility is that the forest will reclaim the field, and it will disappear.

A story shared by many old fields is one of invasive species. Most of the grasses and flowers here are not native. Once a natural area is disturbed by human activity, such as farming or building, invasive plants can aggressively move in. Invasive plants like spotted knapweed impact more than fields. Seeds carried on shoes and clothing of hikers can end up in fragile environments, like the dunes.