8/25/2014
White Pine:
The Tree that Built America
Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus L.)
No other tree has
had such a great
economic impact
on a nation than
that of white pine
on the United
States.
René Germain, Professor
SUNY ESF
August 19, 2014
Our Focus Today:
White Pine Management
Our Focus Today:
White Pine Management
1. A little history
2. Ecology and Silviculture
3. Wildlife
4. Economics
Background
About Myself
• BS – Forestry, University of Vermont, 1983
• 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
• Historically, a staple of the forest products
industry in the Northern Forest region (Abrams
2001).
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Background
Background
• White pine stands can grow 300 to 800 board
feet/acre/year depending on site and stocking.
• Potential yields for white pine at maximum
stocking have been documented at 67,000 board
feet per acre (Frothingham 1914; Lancaster and
Leak 1978).
• The high quality Huntington Forest study site
supports a 98-year old white pine stand with 60,000
board feet per acre.
The Huntington Forest study
site volume per acre
represents among the
highest producing forest
stands in the Northern
Forest (of any species) and
is the inspiration for this
workshop and study.
Huntington Forest white pine
White Pine Restoration???
• According to Forest Service FIA data (based on
2009 inventory), in New York white pine represents
less than 5% of forest cover. This is down from 10%
in 1970 (Ferguson and Mayer 1970).
• In fact, most regions within its range show a
decrease in white pine composition, in several cases
extirpation, particularly in the Great Lakes region
(35% decrease) (Abrams 2001).
• For instance, Minnesota went from 3.5 million acres
of white pine cover in 1837 to 67,000 acres in 1990
(Wildlife Research Institute 2011).
White Pine Restoration???
• Lancaster and Leak (1978) warned “the very
existence of white pine as an important component
of our forests is threatened” due to lack of
deliberate management.
• Planting is problematic due to weevil
• Attempts to regenerate white pine naturally after
harvests are often not deliberate
• When regenerated, white pine is relegated to poor
sites characterized by sandy soils.
Consequences
History
• Due, in part, to poor site conditions, the quality of
white pine has declined.
• Sawmills have adjusted their wood procurement
practices over the decades and avoid buying low
grade logs that they cannot afford to process.
• Sawmills no longer buy timber sales “log run”,
but focus on the higher grade select logs.
• Regional loss of white pine has significant
consequences for landscape diversity, wildlife
habitat, and commodity markets.
Ironically, white pine
relatively small component
of pre-colonial forests when
compared to hemlock, beech
and sugar maple.
White pine’s dominance greatly exaggerated
because high concentrations found on light,
sandy soils along rivers – travel corridors.
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History: The 1500s
• Early settlers marveled at the size and height
• 6-8 feet DBH, 200-ft in height
• In 1605 Captain George Weymouth of the
British Royal Navy impressed with
combination of size, light weight and strength
(far better than Scotch pine)
• Three centuries of exploitation
begins
White Pine Builds A Nation
•
•
•
•
Lumber light, strong and versatile
Easy to cut, shape and finish
Relatively decay resistant
Used for houses, businesses, endless structures,
furniture, bridges,
looms, matches,
(anything made of
wood) – and yes,
ships
The Battle Over Wood
• English constantly at war
with Dutch and French
• Dutch blockaded the
Baltic Sea, removing
access to timber in
Scandinavia and Russia
• Dutch would capture
English lumber vessels
• French and English
fought over control of
wood resource in Maine
Global Economy
• First sawmill in York, Maine in
1623
• By 1645, regular shipments of
ship masts and lumber to England
• “Masting” became New England’s first major
industry
– Frames, planking, spars, pitch, turpentine all from WP
• By 1675, over 50 sawmills in the region
• A major trade pattern: lumber to West Africa,
African slaves to West Indies, sugar and rum back
to New England
The British Navy
• To maintain world
dominance, Britain needed
the strongest and fastest
ships
• Access to wood critical for
a strong navy
• England’s forests cut-over for
firewood in Middle Ages
• Central Europe also deforested
• Timber famine
• New World white pine was key
King William III Declares Dominion
Over New England Forests
• Late 1600’s largest WP specimens
reserved for ship masts
• King appoints the Surveyor General of His
Majesty’s Woods in America
• Broad Arrow Policy - any tree 2-ft in
diameter at stump was claimed by the King
• Violators fined £100
• Eventually all white pine reserved for British
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
behalfe any thing in.”
It was never about the tax on tea!
• Broad Arrow Policy
became unenforceable
with loss of British
authority
• “The White Pine War”
and “The Pine Tree Riot”
• By 1774, shipments of
white pine to England
White Pine:
were halted
Symbol of the Revolution
• 1775 Battle of Bunker
Hill, Minutemen carried
a flag with a white pine
tree emblem
White Pine Restoration
• Re-planting efforts initiated by first
Chief of the Forest Service
• In 1907, millions of seedlings
brought in from Germany
• With the seedlings comes an
unwelcome stowaway
458 years old!
The End of An Era
• Following the Revolution
extensive logging
• By the late 1800s all
virgin white pine stands • In 1889, white pine
supplied half of
had been logged and
nation’s softwood
cleared for agriculture
requirements –
within decades it was
two percent
• The Northeast had
lost its most valuable
resource, taken over
by hardwoods
Unwelcome Stowaway:
White Pine Blister Rust (Cronartium ribicola)
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Another major problem – native pest
White Pine Weevil,
Pissodes strobi
More recently problems with “Brown
Spot” and “Needle Cast”
• 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
rust, weevil, needle cast and brown
spot
Can we restore and manage
white pine on high quality sites?
The time is right, the time is now,
to bring white pine back to its
former glory.
Our research and today’s
workshop will begin to wrestle
with this question.
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