Old Growth Forests, scars

 Most readers will be very aware of my love for forests and the trees that make them up. And of course, prairies and wetlands as well. But perhaps trees and forests have been the most impactful. Growing up in extreme southwestern Ontario where agriculture was a principal industry, the majority of forests had been cleared by the time I arrived. I recall reading parts of what the early visitors described, and in particular Anna Jameson, who described the area between Morpeth and Blenheim in her book Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, published in 1838 following her travels here. She referred to that area as “the ten-mile bush” at what is now Hwy 3/Talbot Trail where the trail was faint but passable through a very dense forest. 

The farm that I grew up on was about mid-way between Morpeth and Blenheim and fronted on that trail. Of course settlement resulted in the majority of woodland being cleared for agriculture especially over the century since Jameson passed through. Our family planted trees in various places while I was living there, and even afterwards, and today as you drive past it, you can barely see the large brick house, pond and other buildings due to the trees.

 One of my early summer jobs while a student at university was as a seasonal naturalist at Rondeau, and after graduation it became a full-time job for about ten years, before that changed. I have discussed this time and the transition in a previous blog post.

 But I was always interested in trees. While I was in my next career, as the District Ecologist, I tried to promote a focus within OMNR on old growth forest, and had a bit of interest from my colleagues in other districts, but it didn’t progress as I had hoped, as there were too many things we were all involved in.

 After I retired, I took it upon myself to document as many trees of various species in Rondeau that I felt would qualify as ‘old growth’. And so after many trips to Rondeau in the leafless season over about a three year period, accessing part of the park that I could easily get to along the existing roads and trails, I assembled a data base of more than 300 trees of more than a dozen species. I included the species name, the diameter at breast height (dbh, the standard in the forestry industry of 4.5’ above ground), GPS coordinates, and a few photos. A book that inspired me to some extent was one called Ontario’s Old Growth Forests, by Michael Hendry and Peter Quinby, and it includes Rondeau’s forest as an example of quality old growth.

 One of my thoughts at that time was to write a pamphlet, or even a booklet, featuring old growth forest in overall terms, and emphasizing what was at Rondeau. It was one of several topics I planned to write about regarding natural history, and of course I did produce the two books in my retirement “Life On A Sandspit” and “Natural Treasures of Chatham-Kent”. I have a first draft completed of a third book featuring the Prothonotary Warbler, as it was first discovered nesting in Canada at Rondeau back in 1929, and Rondeau is still arguably the stronghold for this endangered species nesting location. But due to Marie’s declining health and eventual passing, that book and others have been on the back burner. Fortunately I did cover some of the more important aspects of old growth forest in both of those two books.

 Here are some of the largest trees I documented at Rondeau that certainly qualify as old growth.

Sugar Maple, 107 c, dbh

This next one is the largest tree I have come across to date. It is an Eastern Cottonwood, at about 158 cm dbh. The vines growing up the trunk made it a challenge to get a fairly accurate diameter.

Next is a Red Oak, 135 cm, dbh.

Silver Maple, 130 cm dbh

Next is another Red Oak, 134 cm dbh.

Silver Maple, 122 cm dbh

 Next is a fairly large Tulip Tree, at 102 cm dbh. Note the balding at the base of the trunk, which is typical of older growth Tulip Trees. Okay the person beside the tree is showing some balding as well, but maybe he is as old as the tree??

And finally for now, this is the largest diameter Tulip Tree I have found, at 125 cm dbh.

 But what is it about trees?

God loves trees, no question! He created them! I even read recently that God loves them to the point of giving each one a ring on its birthday :-). Trees, and parts of trees are mentioned in abundance throughout the Bible. There are thousands of references, beginning in the first chapter of Genesis to the end of Revelation. They are featured as a fully grown tree as well as fruit, buds, a rod such as the one that Moses used to part the Red Sea and perform many other things resulting in the Israelites being able to leave Egypt, a vine, branches, shade, many things made of the wood of trees, and of course the cross that Jesus was crucified on.

 Trees continue to be an important part of God’s creation. At least some of the countries that are in dire straits economically are largely treeless. Planting trees has so many benefits, from providing shade, enriching the soil, retaining important water sources, purifying water, protecting soil from erosion, etc.

As I wander through places like Rondeau, or Clear Creek Forest Prov Park, I am always reminded that trees are a lot like people. Even though there is, in this part of the world, quite a diversity of species, no two trees are alike, even within the same species. Trees undergo their own challenges for survival. The older a tree gets, the more scars it likely shows. Some are external, such as the scrape of a fallen branch, or a cluster of lichens that scar the trunk, or the workings of a woodpecker. Other impacts are internal, such as the Emerald Ash borer that works beneath the outer covering and eventually kills the tree. Not sure what caused this next, unusual tree trunk, looking somewhat like a pig’s snout on an American Beech tree!

Lichen mix

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes

 We all have scars of one sort or another. And sometimes the scars stay with us for a long time, and perhaps contribute to our demise. Such was the case for Marie, my wife and best friend, who was scarred at a very young age, and I intend to discuss that in more detail in a future post. This next photo shows a Pileated Woodpecker beginning to chisel out a hole in a White Pine, presumably to feast on the insects it could detect inside. I took this photo in February of 1995. The following photo shows the same tree, which I photographed in January, 2023, and of course the scar is still there. What this second photo doesn’t show is that about a metre above this spot, the trunk has broken off and the tree is dead. Scars can eventually kill.

 

 

Sometimes a tree has what appears to be a twin. It isn’t certain that the two Red Oak trees in the following photo are genetically twins, but they seem to be growing from the same source and are somewhat the same size. But even identical twin trees likely have some differences, depending on what they have been exposed to in growth. Maybe one gets more sunlight due to the angle it is growing at, so has different branching and leaf production.

Others seem to be growing from the same root stock, but in this next photo, the larger tree on the left is a Tulip Tree and the one on the right is a Red Oak. Perhaps they both sprouted at about the same time, and were so close at the beginning, they became best buddies growing together, but were clearly different. I have seen that happen in another pair, where the trunk of a Sugar Maple is almost entirely engulfed by the bark of a larger Red Oak.

So enjoy the trees, as an incredibly important part of God’s creation, but not likely as important as you are! God loves you with His perfect love!

 

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