Look at All The Trees!

Summertime is vacationtime. A couple weeks ago, we decided to see the scenery and visit some friends in the Norwegian area of Southwestern Wisconsin known as the “Driftless Area”, or land not touched by glaciers that leveled much of Wisconsin. We found ourselves in the mountains of Wisconsin. These “mountains” are called the Ocooch Mountains, the Native American name given to this portion of the Driftless Region in southwest Wisconsin. This area was originally inhabited by the Sauk Indians , but later settled by Scandinavian immigrants. Actually, you would have to travel back in time a few million years to see real mountains, but what remains, after several Ice Age episodes, are some hills that make you think you are actually in mountains.

You might think you are in the Ozarks! ----------------------

And what a variety of trees, everywhere, lush and green. In fact, as the old saying goes: “You can hardly see the forest for the trees!”. It is easy to see why immigrants from Scandinavia chose areas of Westby, Viroqua, and Coon Valley to settle into. The hills and valleys are everywhere and covered with a variety of trees. Many trees in this area are called deciduous. These normally completely shed leaves annually as opposed to coniferous or needled trees that keep foliage on all year. These deciduous tree leaves provide color over the hills, creating spectacular scenes in the autumn. Not having been rooted up by the glaciers and ice ages, these trees have spread throughout the area for many years. Checking a tree’s age has been done by counting the growth rings of logs, but now researchers are able to read the DNA from the living roots and are discovering some very old trees! However, many species of trees are disappearing, due to their popularity.

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A well-known oldie is the Boswellia tree. This tree has been known to be the source of a biblically famous perfume called frankincense. For centuries, frankincense, is valued by kingdoms across ancient Arabia, the Mediterranean and the Far East. Frankincense is an oily gum resin periodically scraped off by local villagers and sold in 40kg sacks to traders. Because these trees are stressed by constant scrapings, they become weak and die. The oldest trees in the USA are the Bristlecone Pine, located in the White Mountains of California. Research has found one of these trees being 4,789 years old.

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It is commonly believed that trees were absent in Scandinavia during the last glaciation and first recolonized the Scandinavian Peninsula with the retreat of its ice sheet , but recent findings have researchers reconsidering. DNA studies have shown that some Scandinavian trees survived the last Ice Age, challenging a widely held notion that they were killed off by the huge ice sheet that covered the region. Modern trees in Scandinavia were thought to descend from species that migrated north when the ice melted 9,000 years ago. Research suggests some conifers survived on mountain peaks that protruded from the enormous ice sheet, on islands and in coastal areas.The researchers came to their conclusions by studying the DNA of modern spruce - which clearly portrays two Scandinavian types. One belief is that trees were able to survive on the top of nunataks, the exposed ridges or peaks of mountains protruding from glacial cover.

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A recent report states that a Swede has discovered a tree said to be the oldest on the planet! This tree is thought to be nearly 10,000 years old and recently found in Sweden. ---It’s a spruce tree! “The tree's incredible longevity is largely due to its ability to clone itself” according to Leif Kullman, a professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science in Sweden.

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The visible portion of the spruce was comparatively new, but analysis of four "generations" of remains - cones and wood - found underneath its crown showed its root system had been growing for 9,550 years.

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As we travel country roads bordered by the scenic trees we take for granted, we often see large logging trucks heavily loaded enroute to sawmills. We give little thought to the history going down the road.

Enjoy your summer. Enjoy the view!