8/25/2014

White Pine: Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus L.) The Tree that Built America

No other tree has had such a great economic impact on a nation than that of white pine on the United René Germain, Professor States. SUNY ESF August 19, 2014

Our Focus Today: Our Focus Today: White Pine Management White Pine Management

1. A little history

2. Ecology and Silviculture

3. Wildlife

4. Economics

Background About Myself • Historically, a staple of the forest products industry in the Northern Forest region (Abrams • BS – Forestry, University of Vermont, 1983 2001). • MS – Business Administration, Boston University, 1988 • Ph.D. – Forestry, ESF, 1997 Experience: – 5 seasons as forester with Forest Service – 1 year as forester in Germany – 8 years Woodlands Manager, Ward Lumber Co. – 14 years as Assistant/Associate/Full Professor, ESF 5

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Background Background • White pine stands can grow 300 to 800 board feet/acre/year depending on site and stocking. The Huntington Forest study site volume per acre • Potential yields for white pine at maximum represents among the stocking have been documented at 67,000 board highest producing forest feet per acre (Frothingham 1914; Lancaster and stands in the Northern Leak 1978). Forest (of any species) and • The high quality Huntington Forest study site is the inspiration for this supports a 98-year old white pine stand with 60,000 workshop and study. board feet per acre. Huntington Forest white pine

White Pine Restoration??? White Pine Restoration??? • According to Forest Service FIA data (based on 2009 inventory), in New York white pine represents • Lancaster and Leak (1978) warned “the very less than 5% of forest cover. This is down from 10% existence of white pine as an important component in 1970 (Ferguson and Mayer 1970). of our forests is threatened” due to lack of • In fact, most regions within its range show a deliberate management. decrease in white pine composition, in several cases • Planting is problematic due to weevil extirpation, particularly in the Great Lakes region • Attempts to regenerate white pine naturally after (35% decrease) (Abrams 2001). harvests are often not deliberate • For instance, Minnesota went from 3.5 million acres of white pine cover in 1837 to 67,000 acres in 1990 • When regenerated, white pine is relegated to poor (Wildlife Research Institute 2011). sites characterized by sandy soils.

Consequences History • Due, in part, to poor site conditions, the quality of Ironically, white pine white pine has declined. relatively small component • Sawmills have adjusted their wood procurement of pre-colonial forests when practices over the decades and avoid buying low compared to hemlock, beech grade logs that they cannot afford to process. and sugar maple. • Sawmills no longer buy timber sales “log run”, but focus on the higher grade select logs. White pine’s dominance greatly exaggerated • Regional loss of white pine has significant because high concentrations found on light, consequences for landscape diversity, wildlife habitat, and commodity markets. sandy soils along rivers – travel corridors.

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History: The 1500s Global Economy

• Early settlers marveled at the size and height • First sawmill in York, Maine in 1623 • 6-8 feet DBH, 200-ft in height • By 1645, regular shipments of • In 1605 Captain George Weymouth of the ship masts and lumber to England British Royal Navy impressed with combination of size, light weight and strength • “Masting” became New England’s first major (far better than Scotch pine) industry • Three centuries of exploitation – Frames, planking, spars, pitch, turpentine all from WP • By 1675, over 50 sawmills in the region begins • A major trade pattern: lumber to West Africa, African slaves to West Indies, sugar and rum back to New England

White Pine Builds A Nation The British Navy • To maintain world dominance, Britain needed • Lumber light, strong and versatile the strongest and fastest • Easy to cut, shape and finish ships • Relatively decay resistant • Access to wood critical for • Used for houses, businesses, endless structures, a strong navy • England’s forests cut-over for furniture, bridges, looms, matches, firewood in Middle Ages (anything made of • Central Europe also deforested wood) – and yes, • Timber famine ships • New World white pine was key

The Battle Over Wood King William III Declares Dominion • English constantly at war Over New England Forests with Dutch and French • Dutch blockaded the • Late 1600’s largest WP specimens Baltic Sea, removing reserved for ship masts access to timber in • King appoints the Surveyor General of His Scandinavia and Russia Majesty’s Woods in America • Dutch would capture • Broad Arrow Policy - any tree 2-ft in English lumber vessels diameter at stump was claimed by the King • French and English • Violators fined £100 fought over control of • Eventually all white pine reserved for British wood resource in Maine Navy

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1691 Mast Preservation Claus The one that got away! (until 1990)

“And lastly for the better providing and furnishing of Masts for Our Royall Navy Wee doe hereby reserve to Us Our Heires and Successors all Trees of the Diameter of Twenty Four Inches and upwards of Twelve Inches from the ground growing upon any soyle or Tract of Land within Our said Province or Territory not heretofore granted to any private persons And Wee doe restrains and forbid all persons whatsoever from felling cutting or destroying any such Trees without the Royall Lycence of Us Our Heires and Successors first had and obteyned upon penalty of Forfeiting One Hundred Pounds sterling unto Ous Our Heires and Successors for every such Tree soe felled cult or destroyed without such Lycence had and obteyned in that 458 years old! behalfe any thing in.”

It was never about the tax on tea! The End of An Era

• Broad Arrow Policy • Following the Revolution became unenforceable extensive logging with loss of British authority • By the late 1800s all virgin white pine stands • In 1889, white pine • “The White Pine War” had been logged and supplied half of and “The Pine Tree Riot” cleared for agriculture nation’s softwood • By 1774, shipments of requirements – white pine to England within decades it was were halted White Pine: two percent • 1775 Battle of Bunker Symbol of the Revolution • The Northeast had Hill, Minutemen carried lost its most valuable a flag with a white pine resource, taken over tree emblem by hardwoods

White Pine Restoration Unwelcome Stowaway:

• Re-planting efforts initiated by first White Pine Blister Rust (Cronartium ribicola) Chief of the Forest Service • In 1907, millions of seedlings brought in from Germany • With the seedlings comes an unwelcome stowaway

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Another major problem – native pest More recently problems with “Brown Spot” and “Needle Cast” White Pine Weevil, • Pissodes strobi Past decade WP across Northeast defoliated by primarily Canavirgella needle cast caused by the fungus Canavirgella banfieldii and brown spot needle blight caused by the fungus Mycosphaerella dearnessii • Wet springs promote the spread of fungal spores • Some trees die, others can recover, but repeated infestations can eventually cause significant mortality in stands

Challenges Ahead: Declining WP cover type, decreasing stem quality, on-going issues with Can we restore and manage rust, weevil, needle cast and brown white pine on high quality sites? spot

The time is right, the time is now, Our research and today’s to bring white pine back to its workshop will begin to wrestle former glory. with this question.

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