Look Who Grew-Up

Meet Pinus strobus - the Eastern White Pine.  The largest of conifers in our fair state. 
Before European settlement the great and vast northern third of Wisconsin was dominated by ancient old-growth specimens of this species. 

Wisconsin Historical Society

 

Following the war between the states the Great Cutover began.  Logging then dominated Wisconsin’s economy.  By 1893 Wisconsin had become the king of the logging business and was a world leader in lumber production with more than 3.5 billion board feet produced annually.  Sawmills sprang up everywhere along Wisconsin’s waterways to transport logs to the mill and lumber to build cities like Milwaukee and Chicago.  At the height of the Cutover eight million acres of forest were clear-cut by 1898.  The white pine forest was largely gone.

Since then a fungus called white pine blister rust has killed many of this species and foresters and private property owners are contributing to efforts to resurrect this tree to its former glory. 

click on images tor a closer look

 

Last weekend we were out hunting sheds with the girls when we came across these.  When these trees were planted in 1998 they were one year-old bare root seedlings – not much longer than a pencil and slightly thinner.  Look at them now.  They grew-up! 

Raising a toast to sustainable forestry….