FIBORN KARST PRESERVE
Mackinac Co., Michigan
Michigan Karst Conservancy - Project No. 1


    The Fiborn Karst Preserve, a property of the Michigan Karst Conservancy
(MKC), was created in 1987 to protect and manage the unique natural features of the area, which include extensive outcrops of limestone, the longest known cave in Michigan and its associated streams and sinks, and the plants and animals that occupy a variety of marsh, woodland and cave habitats. The preserve is managed as a natural area and is available to the public for scientific study, educational programs, and nature appreciation activities that cause no damage to its features. Two interpretive nature trails with trail guides commence at the Emma Kalnbach Pavilion area.


HISTORY

    The limestone outcrops and caves were indentified as a potential economic resource in 1898 by Chase S. Osborn (1860-1949), editor, prospector, writer and politician (Governor of Michigan, 1911-12), who, with William F. Fitch (1839-1915), general manager of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad (1888-1911), bought the land and opened the quarry in 1905. The name Fiborn combines the names of Fitch and Osborn. The land and quarry were purchased by Algoma Steel Co. in 1909. The village of Fiborn Quarry existed between 1905 and 1936, when the quarry closed. Remnants include a number of foundations. Historical records of the village and quarry operations, and early descriptions of the caves, have been partially collected by the MKC in its ongoing Fiborn History Project. A display of historical documents and photographs is now located at the Emma Kalnbach Pavilion at the Preserve.

    The first known studies of the caves were in 1901 by Michigan State Geologist A. C. Lane, who mapped and described one of the caves and numerous openings and
other surface features that existed prior to being quarried away. Beginning in 1975, the Michigan Interlakes Grotto (MIG), a chapter of the National Speleological Society, mapped the remaining caves and conducted hydrological and biological studies. At the same time, the caves became more widely known and more heavily visited. Increasing vandalism and concern for their future led eventually to the incorporation of the Michigan Karst Conservancy in 1983, and the purchase of the land in 1987.


GEOLOGY AND HYDROLOGY

    The Preserve is on a portion of the Niagara Escarpment - a band of resistant outcrops (mostly dolomite) of Silurian age that form prominent hills from the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin to Niagara Falls (and beyond). The escarpment is subdued here, but the limestone is close to the surface and drops off quickly further north. The quarry is in the Fiborn Limestone member (type locality) of the Hendricks Dolomite (Burnt Bluff Group). An extensive swamp to the south is "perched" on the escarpment at this point - aided by the activity of beavers. The South Fork of the Hendrie River is cut into alluvial deposits to the east and north, forming a local base level.

    The caves formed by ponded water from the swamp dissolving joints and bedding planes in the limestone between the levels of the swamp and river. Most of the cave enlargement probably occurred following the fall of the post-glacial Lake Algonquin, about 10,000 years before the present, which had earlier covered most of Mackinac and Chippewa counties. There are ancient sand dunes and shore features in the area.

    Water from the swamp currently goes underground at several sinks located over a distance of about 2.0 kilometers east-west, and resurges at a spring along the river (not in the Preserve).

    The longest cave in the Preserve (620 meters) is Hendrie River Water Cave. It carries about half of the karst drainage from the swamp. The stream flows north in the cave, against the dip (which is ca.8 m./km. to the south), over a 3 meter waterfall formed on a resistant dolomite stratum, and disappears into a sump. The stream then turns east and flows 1.6 km. to its resurgence. The cave below the waterfall floods after heavy rains.

    The Fiborn Karst Origins Project, under the direction of Rane Curl, was initiated in October 1998 to gather and interpret geological and geochemical data to establish the time frame for the development of the karst hydrological system.

    Opportunities exist in the Preserve for studies in stratigraphy, hydrology, water chemistry, sedimentology, speleogenesis etc. Proposals for such research are invited from institutions and individuals.


BIOLOGY

    The surface, having been timbered near the turn of the century and again, in places, in the last few years, is either second-growth maple forest, open fields, quarry-waste dumps, or quarry bedrock. A few old-growth trees remain in the western part of the Preserve. The alder-willow swamp to the southwest has not been investigated, but should be a rich area for wildlife. Some 105 species of vascular plants in 36 genera have been identified in brief surveys between 1978 and 1980. None are rare or threatened in Michigan. The limestone sinks may provide a habitat for rare mosses, but these have not been studied. The primary current interest botanically is in the recovery of plant communities in disturbed environments.

    One brief study of the invertebrate fauna of Hendrie River Water Cave found only common surface species, including planaria, leeches, snails, beetles, several genera of flies, and crayfish, frogs and fish (stickleback) are present. No true troglobyte (species that require the cave environment) have been found, but only cursory studies have been carried out.

    Both the Little Brown Bat and Keen's Bat have been found using the caves for swarming or hibernation. Keen's Bat was most common in the swarming studies. Following the winter of 1978-79 a large number of dead Little Brown Bats were found in Kochab Cave; they had possibly been trapped by an ice block at the entrance for too long after they emerged from hibernation. Studies of the bats and other small mammals are being conducted by scientists from Eastern Michigan University.

    While the primary significance of the Fiborn Karst Preserve is geological, the plants and animals of the Preserve are important components, and their protection is part of the management objectives. The MKC would welcome further biological studies in the Preserve.


MANAGEMENT

    The Fiborn Karst Preserve is managed by the Fiborn Karst Preserve Committee of the MKC.

    It is the purpose of the MKC to manage and protect karst areas for scientific study and conservation education. These purposes are implemented by making MKC Preserves available, without charge, for public uses that are compatible with long-term preservation. Protection of natural features of a Preserve, and the safety of visitors, are major concerns. For these reasons the following policies have been adopted for the use of the Fiborn Karst Preserve:

  • 1. The preserve is open to the public, except as noted below:
  • 2. The following are not permitted in the preserve: fires, camping, littering or dumping, alteration of any natural features, collecting of firewood, vehicle use off-road. firearm use except during firearm hunting season, trapping, or pollution of soils or streams.
  • 3. Permission from the Preserve Committee is required for climbing or cave

    • exploring, scientific collecting (of minearls, flora or fauna), excavation or
    movement of soil or rocks, and installation of instrumentation.
  • 4. Climbing and cave exploration in the Preserve are permitted only if an experienced climber or caver (as determined by the Preserve Committee) accompanies each group, and a liability release and acknowledgement of the Preserve Use Policies is signed by every visitor.

    •     The Preserve is available for both research and recreation by interested persons and groups. Classroom projects, theses, individual growth experiences, nature study and appreciation, photography, and art work, are all activities that are encouraged by the MKC, so long as they are conducted in a manner to protect the natural features of the Preserve.

        The work of the Michigan Karst Conservancy is carried out by volunteers, who believe in the value to the public of protecting examples of karst features in Michigan for educational and scientific uses. Donations to the MKC are tax deductible in accord with federal law. For further information about the MKC, and membership in it, write:

    Michigan Karst Conservancy, 2805 Gladstone Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

    (e-mail: mkc@cyberspace.org)

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