Curious Sights on Isle Royale (7th in a series about Isle Royale)

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures. 

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to 

http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

This May, I hiked my fifth Moosewatch Expedition on Isle Royale. 

And this time, I was thrilled to be a team leader.

Before we hiked out of Windigo into the wild island, I told my team, "Be curious. Be observant. If you see something cool, gather the team."

There is so much to see on the island. 

Over 700 types of lichen grow there!

Check out these curious things we noticed:

This strange growth on a tree was curious...

Fungi? Extrusion of sap? Alien life form?

Enormous bracket fungi (notice foot for scale!)

The garter snakes were waking in May

HUGE burl (a deformity on a tree caused by stress or injury)

A beaver cut this tree off about 4 feet up...did they stand on each other's shoulders? Use a little ladder?? Just extremely tall beaver???

Beech Bark Disease

From the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore website:

Beech Bark Disease has spread throughout the National Lakeshore, resulting in many dead and dying beech trees. Be aware of these trees and the potential for falling branches and trees.

This disease is initiated by a non-native insect accidentally introduced into the United States. Secondary attack by both native and non-native fungi further stresses American beech trees and causes an unusually large number of weakened and dead beech trees. The insect and fungus pose no direct threat to humans. There is no practical control method in large natural forests.

Ben and I saw the devastation caused by this tiny,

invasive insect throughout our hike.  

It is amazing how destructive invasive species can be.  

In this case it just weakens the tree's defenses so it falls prey to secondary attacks from fungi that would normally 

not harm the trees. 

Ben and a beech tree under attack

Beautiful, yet deadly

This last tree isn't a beech, but it had a large fungus on it