RE: [ENTS] Re: Mt Tom and red pinesMike,
Yup, unprotected areas were cut hard here. Practically the entire state of
Wisconsin was high-graded. A 6" limit was mandated by the federal government
on indian reservations such as the Bad River and I believe similar numbers were
used on other federal and state lands. (Fortunately, the Menominee followed
different policies.) During the early part of the century, some seed trees
were intentionally left behind. In unprotected areas, the smaller lumber
companies moved in and cut the seed trees. In many areas, land sale contracts
that opened land for farming included clauses that all trees and stumps would
be removed before the sale. In other areas, slash fires killed off seedlings
and saplings, then aspen took over and the pines slowly disappeared over time.
When not burned, other hardwoods took over. During the same time, hemlocks
were felled for bark for the tanning industry and the logs left to rot. I've
found lots of 2-3' dbh trees, and a few up to 4'+ dbh, still decaying to this
day. White cedar or arborvitae was cut heavily down to 10" for foundation
pilings for cabins and outbuildings. Spruce and tamarack/larch was cut down to
3-4" for fence posts and other uses. On unprotected lands, all conifers of any
appreciable age were removed and farming was attempted on all corners of our
state.
I once tried to find places in Wisconsin that were more than 1 mile in all
directions from any remnant of a road, driveway, or logging road. Only a
half-dozen or so places met that criteria. Half were in large bogs, and only
one was larger than a few hundred acres,and it has since become a state natural
area. A few private landowners protected the virgin forest and old growth
fragments survived in lost fortys or in parks. Missed patches were identified
during the depression during what was called the Bordner Survey, or Wisconsin
Land Economic Inventory. Men were sent to survey the entire state from
1927-1947. They walked a half-mile grid and finer in areas of interest. Tree
species mix and dbh were noted. Any significant groves that were missed in
previous logging were now documented and became known to logging companies
which obtained them. By about 1954, nearly all unprotected stands were cut.
However, the state and federal government, as well as private landowners,
including Universities in and out of Wisconsin, including Notre Dame, had
protected groves from 40 acres to several hundred acres each throughout the
state. The majority of those that I'm aware of in government ownership have
lost the oldest trees to windthrow events in the last 50 years.
Paper companies do have extremely large tracts that are in short term
rotations. Much of Douglas County in the northwest corner of Wisconsin is in
short term jackpine rotation by big paper companies. Plum Creek, Packaging
Corporation of America, Mead International, James River + Fort Howard = Fort
James, and many others are well known here for histories of large tracts in
aspen clearcut management or short rotation jack pine. The jackpine forests on
paper companies lands benefit the endangered karner blue butterfly and the
recent return of Kirtland's warblers to our state. Much of the lower yield
aspen forest has recently been sold off to the state and other interests such
as the Nature Conservancy, or conservation easements obtained from the state
with a change to sustainable forestry.
Paul,
Whoa the timber industry really scalped that area if everything above 6
inches was cut. So after the magnificent stands of white and red pine were cut
then a lot of areas grew back to hardwoods right? Isn't a major industry there
managing poplar on short rotations for the paper industry now?
Mike
Mike,
The biggest native Wisconsin red pine that I've seen was about 40" dbh
but only about 70' tall. The tallest that I've seen approached 120', but under
30" dbh. I think that I recall that it had an irregular trunk that led to it
being passed over. In that area, if the trunk was clean, any large pine would
haver been logged prior to 1910 and anything larger than 6" would have been cut
by 1940.
PJ
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