Wildland Fire Overview

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is located on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. Much of its area is characterized by dune and swale topography, which means it is composed of a series of parallel sand dunes that were formed along the former lakeshores when lake levels were much higher. This topography influences the moisture of the soil and the forests that grow on them, leading to a variety of forest ecosystems. Generally speaking, the forests can be grouped into three major types referring to how wet the soils are: wet forest, mesic or moist forest and dry forest. Wet forests include those forests that grow in swamps such as those dominated by white cedar, tamarack or black ash. Mesic forest types include Maple/Hemlock, Beech/Maple and other combinations that might also include red oak, birch, aspen and other hardwoods. These wet and mesic forests rarely experience fire unless the forests are blown over, in which case they may burn if conditions are dry enough. Fires that do start in these blown over forests are very hot and can destroy much of the seed stored in the soil. Therefore, the new forest must regenerate from seed from outside the stand.

The dry forests at the lakeshore are dominated by red, white or jack pine or some combination of the three with oak playing a secondary role. These forests depend on fire for their persistence and experience fire about every 20 years on average. However, there is evidence that some areas of the park were burned as frequently as about every five years. Given the high frequency, this was likely due to native American burning for blueberry production and other reasons. When burned frequently, fires in these dry forests tended to be mild with small pockets of more intense fire. These fires caused little damage to the overstory trees and lead to a “park-like” stand of tall pines with few lower branches and little brush. If left unburned for long periods, the forests will, depending on the soil conditions, convert to more mesic forest types or will become crowded with spruce and fir and accumulations of wood and litter, leading to severe fires that will kill much of the stand.

Learn more about wildland fire at Sleeping Bear Dunes by exploring the interactive story map.