Friday, July 13, 2012

Where have all the great white pines gone? Part 2


I asked this question in http://magree.blogspot.com/2012/05/where-are-great-white-pines-of-northern.html.

All the great white pines have not been lost.  There are those in The Pinery on St. Louis County Rd. 2, several miles north of Two Harbors MN.  They are estimated to have started growing in George Washington's time.  They are beat by The Big White Pine in Itasca State Park; it is over 300 years old.


But they have to be protected by county or state officials.  And how many wind storms will The Big White Pine in Itasca State Park survive.  Although thousands of trees in the park survived the July Second storm, dozens and dozens of many species were snapped like matchsticks or were uprooted.

You can't go a few hundred feet without seeing one or more downed trees, from four inches to two feet in diameter.  Many that blocked roads or paths have been cut up, but there are many more that can be seen.  Will they be left for the woodpeckers and for nutrients for new trees or will they be removed?  Probably the former because of the amount of work to remove them.