EPISODE 562 RED PINE FOREST STAGGERING TO DEATH
alan skeoch
April 15, 2022
NOT ALL PLANS WORK OUT AS ROBBIE BURNS SAID
Take our plan to create a forest refuge on our farm.
Seemed like a good idea 60 years ago.
“We will reforest the farm by planting 10,000
Red Pine seedlings.”
“Why would we want to do that?”
“The fields are not good….full of stones and pretty well worn out
from too many crops of hay. “
“You really mean there are no animals to eat the hay now that
Grandma and Grandpa are gone.”
“Could be both reasons. When we plow the hay fields we turn up
enough boulders to build a stone house. Better to reforest the land.”
(Decisions made around 1963)
And so the government arrived with 10,000 seedlings and a motorized
planting machine. Covered the farm except for two tiny fields.
Now we have a dense forest. Hard to push through as dense cedars flourish under the canopy
of the red pines.
Another reason for the planting was to create a refuge for wild animals.
There were already two ponds….one small near the barn and one huge
in the middle of the farm. We added two more ponds where the land was
really wet. Got them excavated by Ron Saunders from across the road.
“Wasting your time, Alan…never hold water.”
Dad was wrong as usual. One pond was big enough for Andrew to motor in smalll circles. The ponds are fine fringed with the backdrop of
a growing forest of towering red pines. But others now dominate…cedars, maple, walnuts…And wild animals thrive. Wild turkeys
are present but not seen too often…startled about 30 last summer..
And deer love the density of the forest and presence of water. Unfortunately
some hunters decided to set up a shooting platform…high up in a tee. Hardly sporting
And, worse, an act of trespass. Hunters even had a night camera tied to a tree
so they knew where the deer would walk. Cleared the $%^%$ out. but police
were no help.
Sadly the multi decade project of establishing a forest has not been a big
success; One stand of red pines picked up a root disease and about two
to four hundred have died. Maybe more. Right now we are trying to clear the dead
trees. Not an easy task as you can see. Must try to get the disease stopped.
Stumps and slash and fallen rees make the land almost useless except for rabbits to find hiding places from coyotes..
Now I wish we had planted maples and other hardwoods.