Where I’m from in the UP they logged most of the giant white pines by the 1950s. But they left some they couldn’t get to, so walking through the forest every 500 yards or so you can find one or two towering over the canopy. I can’t explain how much I love those trees.
Colonists were very ill with Scurvy and asked natives why they were not affected. Natives taught settlers that how to make a tea from White Pine that was rich in vitamin C and antioxidants and the Scurvy was cured. I love the White Pine trees and have in my life planted well over 2,000 of them. I have hundreds growing at my current house. It's shame the trees suffer a blight from the Pine Weevil (Pissodes strobi), but Permethrin helps.
Just to add that the natives used to drink a cold drink from pine and water, that was indeed effective as medicine. The europeans proceeded to boil it either for tea or spruce beer ( prolongued boiling gets rid of all the vitamin C) believing the effect would be the same or better but it wasn't. Townsends has a fantastic video on the topic or those interested.
Couple years ago I was reading the autobiography of Geronimo, who wasn't a warrior - he was actually a medicine man. There's a part where he described how an Apache woman got separated from her party, attacked by a bear, basically scalped by the bear, and then spent three days leaning up against a tree with her scalp hanging off, and Geronimo just casually adds "I treated her and she recovered". Like, WT actual F - what have we lost by not looking into native medicine more?
Northern White Cedar, which is also called Arborvitae, was one of the trees that the natives made tea from, and that's why its name means tree of life.
My great aunt b.1914, said in the spring before berries and fiddleheads came up, the family stripped some inner bark of pine. They boiled it and drank it like tea ☕️ to cure/prevent scurvy.
As a woodworker, carpenter, and outdoorsman. I can appreciate the impact trees have in our world. Great job reminding us they have always been important.
Hi Adam. Thank you for highlighting this wonderful tree. I have made it a life ambition of mine to explore every last remaining stands of old growth white pines in the US. It is my favorite tree and I have been enjoying this tree my entire 64 years of life. I have planted some of these 50 years ago on my family farm in Illinois and I hope they are all here long after I am gone. There is a beautiful last remaining old growth stand of these trees in northern Illinois in a state park called White Pines Forest state park. I am always happy to hear more about white pines and hear about the small scattered obscure groves of old growth remnant trees. The history associated with the tree and the link to native Americans and democracy that you described is great. Thanks !
@ I usually just do an internet search for old growth white pines. Sometimes I will find a short reference in a travel book. I live in Midwest so familiar with a few locations in Wisconsin and Michigan. I have not maintained an organized list of sites.
@@Jeff-u7c It's likely a near impossibility, but you should request access to the "ridge pines" in the Huron Mountain club west of Marquette MI. IFKYK.
@@NightwingGR1 That would be amazing. I’ve read that it is very difficult to get access to this area. I’ve always been curious about that remote area of the UP.
The white pine is truly one of my most favorite trees of all. The more I learn about it the more I fall in love with it. I collect white pine needles and dry them out and use them for seasonings and also in homemade potpourri. The chickens also love to snack on the dry pine needles ❤ so soft and wispy such a beautiful majestic tree 🌲❤
I regret that I have but one thumbs-up to give to this foresting-history lesson! Adam has outdone himself; this is easily on the same level as The History Guy channel, but Adam is arguably a better narrator, easier on the ear. Bravo! 👏👏👏👍👍
SE PA resident here. I love this channel! Thanks for reminding us of our history and how it intersects with the beautiful world around us. You’re doing a fantastic service. Keep up the great work, Adam.
I live in MN, and white pine have always been special to me since I was a kid. Both white pine and the cypress-like white cedar have a sacred spirit that just radiates
I live on the western edge of the white pine range in Minnesota. I am blessed to own 15 acres of these beautiful trees. I have taken out the infirm and less dominant specimens throughout the years and it is a truly impressive stand now. They average 135 to 140 feet tall with beautiful form. I am instilling a reverence for them in my Grandchildren so they can be their caretakers some day. I lost about 60 of them to straight line winds 3 years ago, but God gives and he takes away. Thank you Lord for the beauties that are left.
Adam, You have outdone yourself with this one. 🌲🌲🌲🌲As you point out, the Eastern White Pine is the provincial tree of Ontario. Over the weekend we found one with a 10 foot circumference growing by itself in a suburban ravine. The pine and giant Burr Oak, Sugar Maple and Beech nearby were the last vestiges of what must have been a magnificent forested landscape before a reckless lumber boom, agriculture and heedless suburban expansion nearly obliterated nature in our area. Sadly, I would be surprised if 10% of Ontario's nearly 16,000,000 people have ever seen a mature White Pine. Someday somebody might come up with a study of which of our countries did a better job of annihilating their old growth forests and which one is doing a better job restoring them.
Probably America is doing better on conservation. The Canadian government is still allowing logging of untouched old-growth forests, including in areas of unmatched natural wonder that would rival any national park.
@@userequaltoNull In general, forests and other 'natural resources' are controlled by individual provinces not the Canadian national government. Collectively, we are doing a lousy job.
In The Plains (of the Oswegatchie River) , in Five Ponds Wilderness Area, east of Cranberry Lake ,NY, we (friends & I) found many that took 6 of us to put our arms around. + a few that took 7 of us , & 2 that [0:!!!!] 7 of us couldn't quite encircle!
I lost one I planted in 1973 to a windstorm at the farm. It was 20 inches at the base and I sold it for saw logs. One 12 foot and three 10 footers. The wind actually up rooted it. Broke my heart. Ellis
There’s an Eastern White Pine near my house in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that’s 12 foot in circumference. It doesn’t look that big until you try and hug it.
Thank you for the history! Growing up in Ohio and Indiana, and only really experiencing these trees having been planted in rows, windbreakes or ornamentals. It's great to learn these have more to them than the sticky sap I endured as an intrepid tree-climbing child. Awesome lesson.
Yup I knew it! In far north central Wisconsin we had such an incredible pinery. I live on 80 acres of a hardwood ridge with about 30 +/- 200+ yo. White pine scattered throughout. The largest being 49.8" in dia. I'm told they were never harvested (c.1890) because only the hardwoods and large pines would have been taken off this land. The Big pine Forest had been taken by then. No 12"-16" pines taken. These could survive the forest fires that passed through in the following years. My hardwoods are 130 yrs old now. I hope generations to come enjoy and honor these woods as much as I do
God Bless you for preserving an old forest. Most areas on N.W. Wisconsin where I’m at are finishing up the “2nd big cutting” since the first one in the beginning years of 1900. It looks awful here, not like the Northwoods anymore. Everything is skinny and thick
I climbed my neighbors Eastern White Pines, often, as a child. They were right on the property line. I haven’t thought about those trees in 40+ years. They were still fairly young trees compared to this. I hope they are still growing.
Granted, I am only familiar with yellow pines, but how do you climb a pine tree? With a sling like you would use on a palm? The pines I knew had weak branches and, when mature, no branches at all unil 35+ feet up! As a child, I was told to only climb oaks--everything else in my area had weak wood &/or skinny branches.
@ I only was able to do it as a child and the branches were about the perfect distance apart. You had to step near the trunk on the branches and be pretty careful. They did sometimes break. Lots of pine sap on my hands and clothes.
I live in a mixed forest in western MA and the Eastern White Pines are plentiful and graceful. Another fantastic video, Adam. Appreciate your knowledge and commentary. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Much of the Northeast has been experiencing unprecedented drought (and fires). An episode on what we can expect next growing season would be appreciated.
Well said @goodun2974. I agree ,what a great piece by Adam! I'm not a regular viewer and have never commented before but I should be doing both. I saw the thumbnail of the video and passed yesterday, but tonight I looked closer and thought I recognized the bark of the tree. I guessed white pine, and started to watch. I couldn't stop watching. I mean to add that our old cottage property had 4 major whites surrounding it, huge trees ; windstorms were quite terrifying as they would catch the wind ( we were on an island and very exposed ) and rock back and forth, just outside our livingroom windows. The soil is very shallow and the major roots often run out on top of the ground , like treebeards feet in LOTR. After a major storm and a large branch hitting the roof we had an arborist come to check on them, and we learned some amazing facts. First, none of them were in any danger, and the 3 biggest were all between 250-300 years old. Our original building was built around 1935, he said the trees were there long before Canada was established and would be there long after we were gone. Most of Lake of the Woods was clear cut of whites between 1900-1980's , it shares a border with the US. Our Island and some others considered town property were saved from logging, the lake still harbors an incredible white pine resource and has lots of secondary regrowth. That day the aborist gave the 2 biggest ones ' haircuts " he trimmed the highest largest branches that tend to catch most of the wind. These trees are a ton of work if they are close, they dump needles 2-3 times a year and they all have to be hauled or blown away. The yellow talcum powder - like pollen that belches like smoke out of these trees for a month each spring will make any cleanliness or allergy prone person go mad. The lake gets so thick with it people think it is algae. Beyond making great masts for navies, as I knew from reading Hornblower books as a kid, I had little knowledge of the overall significance of the tree, which is obviously huge ! Thank you Adam for the history lesson, it added a lot to my memories of the lake.
The pollen gathered on tarps can be used as flour for being very nutritious, the needles for tea esp for it vitamin C content and anti viral property's, I use them steeped in my daily coffee/tea drinks year round...!
Thank you Adam for this very informative episode. As a steward to my own land (100 Acres) ,near a well known old growth forest in WPA ,and a F & I reenactor . I truly appreciate your knowledge and the added information as it relates to our early history of America.
Thank you Adam for this amazing channel. If only we as a society could open our eyes to the beauty of our trees and know the importance of there roll in life to life. I wasn’t always a nature person but something slapped me across the head opening my eyes to all that is life around us. I appreciate my trees and think of you and your channel. Rambling here! Bottom line…. Thank you. Dwayne
Happiness floods my heart each time I see Adam posts. I don't even care what topic he covers, for I always learn a lot from his knowledge. The eastern white pine is one of my favorite trees growing here in Maine for the pitch, pollen, needles, scent and more.😊
Really interesting and informative, thank you! Ohio also logged many trees. Sent them down the Ohio/Mississippi River to shipbuilding yards in New Orleans. War of 1812. Close to 90% of our state was cut down. Trees are amazing gifts to the planet. Many regrowth forests.
Extremely informative and well documented video Adam! It's hard to even imagine all of the furniture that has been built with white pine over the past few centuries! Such an amazing tree! 🌲🌲👍👍
Thank you Adam. Great video as always. I hiked Walden Pond two weeks ago and there are few white pine. However, here in Rhode Island they are abundant.
Earlier this year I read Barksins by Annie Proulx, a historical novel about foresty in North America from the 16th Century to present -- highly recommended. But your video brings forward many different elements. I was delighted to learn more about the place in history of my favourite conifer. Have you ever slept on the ground under white pines? Their needles make a wonderfully soft mattress. The Arboretum at University of Guelph, my alma mater, had a small stand of mature white pines sadly destroyed by a tornado in the 1980s.
I live in SW Pennsylvania and currently have 7 beautiful Eastern white pines that were planted in the 50's on my little one acre property. I originally had 9, but one was damaged by some kind of wood boring pest and had to be removed over a decade ago and just last year the winds twisted and snapped the trunk of another about 6 feet up (it was nearly 3 feet in diameter at the base and perfectly healthy). Two are atypical, one has a spiraling growth pattern from top to bottom(otherwise healthy) and the other has many very large side branches over a foot in diameter all the way up the trunk with multiple terminals on the top ten or so feet. Though every one of them pose a threat of taking out my home if blown over I loathe to remove them. I have covered over the exposed roots with nearly a foot of dirt and rake up and use the fallen needles as a mulch layer for my fruit and nut trees each fall. I love that wild turkey, various raptors and ravens often roost in them and that various other birds nest in them as well. I just wish I didn't have to worry so much every spring when the high winds come. 😞
Last winter, during a period of heavy rains and landslides in California, I saw a news report which featured a house which had a 100 foot Redwood fall on top of it. This is only noteworthy because the roof had survived intact. If you are worried about your pines damaging your house, I suggest you reinforce the roof next time the shingles are being replaced. Rafters or trusses can be doubled up and a second layer of plywood can really strengthen the structure. 👍👍
@@pyraxusthelutarian7276 Enjoy your White Pines! I have 3 very small ones on my property and my reinforced roof won't be tested by any of them for many decades.
Hello again Adam 👋 ( One of the reasons we still have a good Sasquatch population here in central Pennsylvania.) 🤫 Our forests are getting thinner unfortunately and it's been noticeable the past 20 years.
Thank you for another wonderful video. The Eastern White Pine was the largest tree east of the Mississippi when Europeans arrived. In Meredith, NY the largest officially measured EWP was 248' and almost 15' across the stump.
Wow Adam, This was a wonderful lesson. I had heard many aspects of this tree and our history but never woven so beautifully into such a powerful tale. Thank you for pointing out the Native American connection to this tree and our political history. I had never heard that before. Your research and understanding are such a great gift, Sir. One by one, you are revealing the trees to us all and the role they played in our planet's history, and in so doing, you are helping it and perhaps saving it.
On Earth Day in 2017 I was given a White Pine seedling. I planted it in a little space between two 25 year old Spruce in my front yard. In May 2022 I was given another and planted it in a little empty patch of my back yard. Two hours after the second seeding went in the ground, a derecho blew through and knocked down one of the Spruce from the front yard and a 45 year old White Spruce in the back yard. That mighty storm also blew down half the trees in our 1970s suburb. Thanks to all the extra sunlight, the seedling from 2017 is nearly seven feet tall and the one in the back yard is doing just fine. You never know what is around the corner but the sooner the seed or seedling goes in the ground, the sooner you have stately trees to admire. 🌲🌳
Always enjoy the walk in the woods with you, Adam and learning another nugget of gold. I grew up on the farm and the woodlands where my point of escape from life. Each of your videos are extremely interesting and educational. Thanks much!
Love this video! White pine ignited my path to natural healing and so many other primitive places. I've always felt a connection to pines, they soothe me. Thank you!
Walking my property here in Minnesota, near Duluth, I can still count the whitepine stumps, and point out the old railroad beds that hauled away countless saw logs. I have three ancestors of those trees on my property , bearing seeds.
The area where I live in Northern Ontario was logged for white pine between 1890 and 1905. There was a large forest fire shortly afterwards, and there are still many fire-hardened stumps around, under the new forest. Most local lakes have many white pine logs underwater nr shore: trees were felled onto the ice in winter, and some sank and were abandoned. Found a grove of old growth high on an inaccessible hill on Crown (public) land last winter, one measured out at more than 48 inches in dia.
Hartwick Pines State Park in northern lower Michigan is a large stand of old growth white pine trees that survived logging because of a surveying error. It is well worth visiting.
One of my favorite hunting spots here in Virginia is in a VERY large hollow in the National Forest....that has some of the biggest white pines that I've ever seen! It's an area.... that is loaded with white oak, poplar, mountain laurel, and beautiful streams. It's a "second" home to me.... makes me feel like I'm back in my old Pennsylvanian home... full of hemlock and fresh water streams. It's such a "home" that I usually don't even bother loading my rifle!
Excellent video Adam, you are a wonderful narrator with an amazing wealth of knowledge. I have a white pine on my property in northeastern Pennsylvania that is over 10 foot in diameter and over 200 feet tall. There are also several large hemlock trees in the same stand. It’s in an area that must’ve been passed over when logging was prevalent. Thank God.
@@nbkawtgnobody the current record is 194' but was just discovered in 2021- prior to that the tallest was 188' (the same tree had been 204' before its top broke in a 1996 windstorm). It's easy to get an exaggerated height measurement with traditional methods, especially on bushy trees with wide multi-stem crowns- as a pine 10' in diameter is likely to be.
There were a couple of nice White Pines of perhaps 3' diameter in my backyard growing up in eastern Massachusetts, impressive trees. In the 1990's I was a boat carpenter tasked with building a keel for an Ultimate 30, a high performance racing sailboat. As it was a one off I chose to build it out of wood. The keel, as I recall, was about 12 ' long, 2.5' wide, and 3" thick, a rectangular plan shape with a NACA 0010 section. There are a few ways to build a keel like that, depending on available wood. A trip to the local lumber yard revealed a large White Pine plank, perfectly clear and straight grained, well over the dimensions I needed. It was a beautiful piece of wood. On a wooden keel you have to rip the plank into 2"-3" wide strips, flip every other piece and laminate them into a new plank that will resist warping Having a single plank large enough to make up the keel ensures that each piece has has similar characteristics, a real bonus. Then you square it up, and shape the foil out of it. The White pine was wonderful to cut, glue, and shape, one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. I have a piece of it mounted on my living room wall that I can look at as I write this.
What a great, informative video! I’ve always loved EWPines. They are easy to identify with their soft, flexible needles. The story of the Brits wanting to harvest for ships fits perfectly with my school lessons, but I don’t recall the Indian connection - IF they ever taught it! Especially our founding fathers learning about alternative ways to govern! I do recall pine trees on revolutionary war flags, but don’t think I was ever told the why’s. We have several on our property here in the Maryland piedmont & now have a new appreciation for them!
another great nature and history lesson - thank you! note: you mentioned "fire" but I didn't catch you explain it's importance - forrest fires increase the chances of survival of Eastern White Pine by eliminating competition from other trees. During a fire the *very* thick bark of this pine acts as an insulator against small to medium fire events - whereas the thinner barks of oak, maple, birch, etc., offer very limited protection. This thins out the lower level growth competing for sunlight and nutrients and allows greater opportunities for new growth of these pines. * corrections welcomed cheers!
You can see this is the giant of the eastern forests when you view the hill n mountain sides they always tower 30ft or more above other trees. Appreciate the topic Adam
Most excellent video!! Thank you, so much for all your videos!!🙏😊 Years ago I lived in north carolina there was a large ish tract in the middle of the state, more or less, of old growth white pine... just absolutely awesome to walk through!!
I’m pleased with myself for successfully identifying it from the thumbnail, despite living in an area where white pine is almost totally absent. This is shortleaf pine country.
Cook State Forest in PA is the only remaining VIRGIN stand of timber left in PA and maybe the entire East? It was a tract of land set aside by a wealthy lumber baron who thought how so much of the virgin old growth would soon disappear and that William Penn...THE FIRST CONSERVATIONIST stated that 1/3 of Penn's Woods should remain in forest. But virgin old growth was cut...which made way for farms and other forest trees to supplant the native Hemlocks and Chestnuts. Trees like oaks, maples, pines, firs.
Interesting. I have 27 acres of which about 85% is wooded. Pines dominate here and white pine seems to be the most dominent of the evergreens. I poke around them collecting pitch. I also occasionally make pine needle soda or tea. My woods are sick and deciduous seem to be entirely affected. Plus our soil is mostly rock so when a tree falls in the wind you see how shallow these beauties are rooted.
The place where Adam was in northeast PA, was most likely Cooks State Forest. I highly recommend all to visit. It is approximately 1 square mile of virgin timber, saved by the Cook family for future generations. God Bless!
Here in New York's Adirondacks where I live there are beautiful specimen's of virgin white pines that got missed by the loggers saws, and what a treat it is to come upon one and ponder what things were like when it was a sapling...
Part of the vibe of hiking the Appalachian Trail was seeing white pines in the eastern forest and sensing their role in the places they were seen...Especially as regrowth on abandoned farms...Part of the organic nature of the eastern forest...On one fallen white pine on the New York Long Path I counted tree rings going back 300 years...
Other interesting facts about white pines: Unless they are fire hardened, they rot from the outside in. This means when a large pine falls it creates a perfect garden bed for new trees. This is why you will find straight lines of trees in wild forests. Also, you can usually tell if a white pine nursed in a darker existing forest or was successional in an open field. The forest raised pines tend to be tall and straight with a single trunk whereas the field raised pines often have multiple trunks and are not as tall. This is not only because the forest raised trees were trying to break through the canopy as soon as possible but, also, because the field raised trees were attacked by Pine Weevils which destroyed the bud tips causing the tree to fork into multiple trunks. White pines branch in a wagon wheel-like spoke pattern and you can age a tree by counting the spokes (1 spoke a year usually).
As a relatively new sawyer, only dealing with blowdowns on trails(not felling trees), learning the history of the Eastern white pine, among other species in your content, is really interesting and helpful. With all of the recent wildfires in Northern NJ and southern NY, I hope we see a proliferation of Eastern White pine in those areas.. Thank you.
Awesome job Adam I really appreciate this detailed history lesson on the Eastern white pine and yawʌko (great thanks) I express my gratitude to you for telling the Haudenosaunee part in the history and development of the US constitution. And the common values share by the Haudenosaunee and Americans colonists which still exists to this day.
What a great history......thank you for what you do......I have two seedlings just outside my window.....sadly, one is right adjacent to my septic tank and will need to be moved.....but they are doing well here in Penn's woods of eastern Pa.
Near where I live in Central Maine there's an area of not old growth but probably close to it, of huge white pines / "King's" pines -- They are amazing to see especially as densely as they are growing. I usually see large white pines or pasture pines sort of isolated in margin land, although they are very common and some are extremely tall and big.
This was excellent! As usual. Nothing better in life than nature and history. EWP has shikimic acid in the needles. Used for healing oneself in tea form of the recent outbreak. There are zero near me in Piedmont area Virginia (around Culpeper).
Where I’m from in the UP they logged most of the giant white pines by the 1950s. But they left some they couldn’t get to, so walking through the forest every 500 yards or so you can find one or two towering over the canopy. I can’t explain how much I love those trees.
Colonists were very ill with Scurvy and asked natives why they were not affected. Natives taught settlers that how to make a tea from White Pine that was rich in vitamin C and antioxidants and the Scurvy was cured. I love the White Pine trees and have in my life planted well over 2,000 of them. I have hundreds growing at my current house. It's shame the trees suffer a blight from the Pine Weevil (Pissodes strobi), but Permethrin helps.
Just to add that the natives used to drink a cold drink from pine and water, that was indeed effective as medicine. The europeans proceeded to boil it either for tea or spruce beer ( prolongued boiling gets rid of all the vitamin C) believing the effect would be the same or better but it wasn't. Townsends has a fantastic video on the topic or those interested.
Couple years ago I was reading the autobiography of Geronimo, who wasn't a warrior - he was actually a medicine man. There's a part where he described how an Apache woman got separated from her party, attacked by a bear, basically scalped by the bear, and then spent three days leaning up against a tree with her scalp hanging off, and Geronimo just casually adds "I treated her and she recovered".
Like, WT actual F - what have we lost by not looking into native medicine more?
Northern White Cedar, which is also called Arborvitae, was one of the trees that the natives made tea from, and that's why its name means tree of life.
My great aunt b.1914, said in the spring before berries and fiddleheads came up, the family stripped some inner bark of pine. They boiled it and drank it like tea ☕️ to cure/prevent scurvy.
You can make pillow out of the needles
As a woodworker, carpenter, and outdoorsman. I can appreciate the impact trees have in our world. Great job reminding us they have always been important.
Hi Adam. Thank you for highlighting this wonderful tree. I have made it a life ambition of mine to explore every last remaining stands of old growth white pines in the US. It is my favorite tree and I have been enjoying this tree my entire 64 years of life. I have planted some of these 50 years ago on my family farm in Illinois and I hope they are all here long after I am gone. There is a beautiful last remaining old growth stand of these trees in northern Illinois in a state park called White Pines Forest state park. I am always happy to hear more about white pines and hear about the small scattered obscure groves of old growth remnant trees. The history associated with the tree and the link to native Americans and democracy that you described is great. Thanks !
Is there a website you use or a list you've created? How do you find them?
@ I usually just do an internet search for old growth white pines. Sometimes I will find a short reference in a travel book. I live in Midwest so familiar with a few locations in Wisconsin and Michigan. I have not maintained an organized list of sites.
@@Jeff-u7c It's likely a near impossibility, but you should request access to the "ridge pines" in the Huron Mountain club west of Marquette MI. IFKYK.
@@NightwingGR1 That would be amazing. I’ve read that it is very difficult to get access to this area. I’ve always been curious about that remote area of the UP.
The white pine is truly one of my most favorite trees of all. The more I learn about it the more I fall in love with it. I collect white pine needles and dry them out and use them for seasonings and also in homemade potpourri. The chickens also love to snack on the dry pine needles ❤ so soft and wispy such a beautiful majestic tree 🌲❤
Love the pictures of pine trees, sky, and clouds. The colors of dark green, cobalt blue, and white are striking.
I regret that I have but one thumbs-up to give to this foresting-history lesson! Adam has outdone himself; this is easily on the same level as The History Guy channel, but Adam is arguably a better narrator, easier on the ear. Bravo! 👏👏👏👍👍
Yes, and no annoying accent
Yeah …. Giving two thumbs up sort of cancels out your endorsement LOL
SE PA resident here. I love this channel! Thanks for reminding us of our history and how it intersects with the beautiful world around us. You’re doing a fantastic service. Keep up the great work, Adam.
I live in MN, and white pine have always been special to me since I was a kid.
Both white pine and the cypress-like white cedar have a sacred spirit that just radiates
The white pine is my favorite conifer. I love the sound of the wind in the needles.
Have you been to the "Lost 40" in northern Minnesota?
Atlantic white-cedar swamps in the New Jersey Pine Barrens are essentially portals to Tolkien's middle earth.
I live on the western edge of the white pine range in Minnesota. I am blessed to own 15 acres of these beautiful trees. I have taken out the infirm and less dominant specimens throughout the years and it is a truly impressive stand now. They average 135 to 140 feet tall with beautiful form. I am instilling a reverence for them in my Grandchildren so they can be their caretakers some day. I lost about 60 of them to straight line winds 3 years ago, but God gives and he takes away. Thank you Lord for the beauties that are left.
Adam, You have outdone yourself with this one. 🌲🌲🌲🌲As you point out, the Eastern White Pine is the provincial tree of Ontario. Over the weekend we found one with a 10 foot circumference growing by itself in a suburban ravine. The pine and giant Burr Oak, Sugar Maple and Beech nearby were the last vestiges of what must have been a magnificent forested landscape before a reckless lumber boom, agriculture and heedless suburban expansion nearly obliterated nature in our area. Sadly, I would be surprised if 10% of Ontario's nearly 16,000,000 people have ever seen a mature White Pine. Someday somebody might come up with a study of which of our countries did a better job of annihilating their old growth forests and which one is doing a better job restoring them.
Probably America is doing better on conservation. The Canadian government is still allowing logging of untouched old-growth forests, including in areas of unmatched natural wonder that would rival any national park.
@@userequaltoNull In general, forests and other 'natural resources' are controlled by individual provinces not the Canadian national government. Collectively, we are doing a lousy job.
In The Plains (of the Oswegatchie River) , in Five Ponds Wilderness Area, east of Cranberry Lake ,NY, we (friends & I) found many that took 6 of us to put our arms around. + a few that took 7 of us , & 2 that [0:!!!!] 7 of us couldn't quite encircle!
I lost one I planted in 1973 to a windstorm at the farm. It was 20 inches at the base and I sold it for saw logs. One 12 foot and three 10 footers. The wind actually up rooted it. Broke my heart. Ellis
You are an incredibly talented teacher, thanks you for sharing your knowledge!
There’s an Eastern White Pine near my house in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that’s 12 foot in circumference. It doesn’t look that big until you try and hug it.
4' diameter
Thank you for the history!
Growing up in Ohio and Indiana, and only really experiencing these trees having been planted in rows, windbreakes or ornamentals. It's great to learn these have more to them than the sticky sap I endured as an intrepid tree-climbing child. Awesome lesson.
Yup I knew it!
In far north central Wisconsin we had such an incredible pinery. I live on 80 acres of a hardwood ridge with about 30 +/- 200+ yo. White pine scattered throughout. The largest being 49.8" in dia. I'm told they were never harvested (c.1890) because only the hardwoods and large pines would have been taken off this land. The Big pine Forest had been taken by then. No 12"-16" pines taken. These could survive the forest fires that passed through in the following years. My hardwoods are 130 yrs old now.
I hope generations to come enjoy and honor these woods as much as I do
Great story. Love to see others loving and respecting these beautiful trees.
God Bless you for preserving an old forest. Most areas on N.W. Wisconsin where I’m at are finishing up the “2nd big cutting” since the first one in the beginning years of 1900. It looks awful here, not like the Northwoods anymore. Everything is skinny and thick
I've never enjoyed so much history crammed into just 15 minutes as much as this. The best video I've seen from you so far.
In Connecticut, we have several small groves of old-growth Eastern white pines.They are truly magnificent trees
I climbed my neighbors Eastern White Pines, often, as a child. They were right on the property line. I haven’t thought about those trees in 40+ years. They were still fairly young trees compared to this. I hope they are still growing.
Granted, I am only familiar with yellow pines, but how do you climb a pine tree? With a sling like you would use on a palm? The pines I knew had weak branches and, when mature, no branches at all unil 35+ feet up! As a child, I was told to only climb oaks--everything else in my area had weak wood &/or skinny branches.
@ I only was able to do it as a child and the branches were about the perfect distance apart. You had to step near the trunk on the branches and be pretty careful. They did sometimes break. Lots of pine sap on my hands and clothes.
An excellent natural history of an iconic American tree 🌲 Very well done and thank you!
I live in a mixed forest in western MA and the Eastern White Pines are plentiful and graceful. Another fantastic video, Adam. Appreciate your knowledge and commentary. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The majestic white pine reaching above all of it’s neighbors is my favorite scene, good stuff Adam
Excellent video. Top notch info.
Brilliant! And I think I've just fallen in love with a tree.
Thank you for such great information.
Much of the Northeast has been experiencing unprecedented drought (and fires). An episode on what we can expect next growing season would be appreciated.
It will be fine. None of this is unprecedented. You just get propaganda from the news
The current drought isn’t as severe as the drought that peaked in 1965. That may change, of course, but we aren’t at historic levels yet.
@@DougLyons-d8t you bots don’t know what a drought is
A lovely tribute Adam. Thank you for the education. I live in Montana and did not know that story.
I do to and I vote for the Cottonwood out west . The Lewis and Clark Expedition used the tree for everything as well the steamboats.
Well said @goodun2974. I agree ,what a great piece by Adam! I'm not a regular viewer and have never commented before but I should be doing both. I saw the thumbnail of the video and passed yesterday, but tonight I looked closer and thought I recognized the bark of the tree. I guessed white pine, and started to watch. I couldn't stop watching. I mean to add that our old cottage property had 4 major whites surrounding it, huge trees ; windstorms were quite terrifying as they would catch the wind ( we were on an island and very exposed ) and rock back and forth, just outside our livingroom windows. The soil is very shallow and the major roots often run out on top of the ground , like treebeards feet in LOTR. After a major storm and a large branch hitting the roof we had an arborist come to check on them, and we learned some amazing facts. First, none of them were in any danger, and the 3 biggest were all between 250-300 years old. Our original building was built around 1935, he said the trees were there long before Canada was established and would be there long after we were gone. Most of Lake of the Woods was clear cut of whites between 1900-1980's , it shares a border with the US. Our Island and some others considered town property were saved from logging, the lake still harbors an incredible white pine resource and has lots of secondary regrowth. That day the aborist gave the 2 biggest ones ' haircuts " he trimmed the highest largest branches that tend to catch most of the wind. These trees are a ton of work if they are close, they dump needles 2-3 times a year and they all have to be hauled or blown away. The yellow talcum powder - like pollen that belches like smoke out of these trees for a month each spring will make any cleanliness or allergy prone person go mad. The lake gets so thick with it people think it is algae. Beyond making great masts for navies, as I knew from reading Hornblower books as a kid, I had little knowledge of the overall significance of the tree, which is obviously huge ! Thank you Adam for the history lesson, it added a lot to my memories of the lake.
The pollen gathered on tarps can be used as flour for being very nutritious, the needles for tea esp for it vitamin C content and anti viral property's, I use them steeped in my daily coffee/tea drinks year round...!
Wonderful presentation as always.
Thank you I always learn so much from your videos
Thank you Adam for this very informative episode. As a steward to my own land (100 Acres) ,near a well known old growth forest in WPA ,and a F & I reenactor . I truly appreciate your knowledge and the added information as it relates to our early history of America.
Thank you Adam for this amazing channel. If only we as a society could open our eyes to the beauty of our trees and know the importance of there roll in life to life. I wasn’t always a nature person but something slapped me across the head opening my eyes to all that is life around us.
I appreciate my trees and think of you and your channel.
Rambling here! Bottom line….
Thank you.
Dwayne
Happiness floods my heart each time I see Adam posts. I don't even care what topic he covers, for I always learn a lot from his knowledge. The eastern white pine is one of my favorite trees growing here in Maine for the pitch, pollen, needles, scent and more.😊
History makes a lot more sense when things are put into the proper perspective and explained in full, thank you!!!
Really interesting and informative, thank you! Ohio also logged many trees. Sent them down the Ohio/Mississippi River to shipbuilding yards in New Orleans. War of 1812. Close to 90% of our state was cut down. Trees are amazing gifts to the planet. Many regrowth forests.
Extremely informative and well documented video Adam! It's hard to even imagine all of the furniture that has been built with white pine over the past few centuries! Such an amazing tree! 🌲🌲👍👍
Thank you so much. I wish you were able to share your content with everyone, it's the reason I started watching TH-cam years ago.
I love learning about my brave ancestors😍 My house was built in 1830. I wonder if it’s white pine. Maybe? Fascinating.
Thank you Adam. Great video as always. I hiked Walden Pond two weeks ago and there are few white pine. However, here in Rhode Island they are abundant.
Earlier this year I read Barksins by Annie Proulx, a historical novel about foresty in North America from the 16th Century to present -- highly recommended. But your video brings forward many different elements. I was delighted to learn more about the place in history of my favourite conifer. Have you ever slept on the ground under white pines? Their needles make a wonderfully soft mattress. The Arboretum at University of Guelph, my alma mater, had a small stand of mature white pines sadly destroyed by a tornado in the 1980s.
Noice Woyk 👍
You are amazing, Adam. Thank you.
I can only echo the positive comments. You do a great service Adam. Best wishes, enjoy!
So humans literally WILL war for anything including trees. Love these stories, keep it up Adam. So much information i wish more would watch and listen
Yea sadly. I believe part of the colonization of Morocco by Spain was for lumber also. If I remember my history from college correctly.
They weren't warring for trees. They were living in extreme poverty and were warring for survival.
Hey, Chile and Peru once went to war over bird crap....guano.😂
I live in SW Pennsylvania and currently have 7 beautiful Eastern white pines that were planted in the 50's on my little one acre property. I originally had 9, but one was damaged by some kind of wood boring pest and had to be removed over a decade ago and just last year the winds twisted and snapped the trunk of another about 6 feet up (it was nearly 3 feet in diameter at the base and perfectly healthy). Two are atypical, one has a spiraling growth pattern from top to bottom(otherwise healthy) and the other has many very large side branches over a foot in diameter all the way up the trunk with multiple terminals on the top ten or so feet. Though every one of them pose a threat of taking out my home if blown over I loathe to remove them. I have covered over the exposed roots with nearly a foot of dirt and rake up and use the fallen needles as a mulch layer for my fruit and nut trees each fall. I love that wild turkey, various raptors and ravens often roost in them and that various other birds nest in them as well. I just wish I didn't have to worry so much every spring when the high winds come. 😞
Last winter, during a period of heavy rains and landslides in California, I saw a news report which featured a house which had a 100 foot Redwood fall on top of it. This is only noteworthy because the roof had survived intact. If you are worried about your pines damaging your house, I suggest you reinforce the roof next time the shingles are being replaced. Rafters or trusses can be doubled up and a second layer of plywood can really strengthen the structure. 👍👍
@@1northsparrow246 Thanks for the input! 🙂
@@pyraxusthelutarian7276 Enjoy your White Pines! I have 3 very small ones on my property and my reinforced roof won't be tested by any of them for many decades.
Hello again Adam 👋 ( One of the reasons we still have a good Sasquatch population here in central Pennsylvania.) 🤫 Our forests are getting thinner unfortunately and it's been noticeable the past 20 years.
😄
And, unfortunately when the cut trees get replaced, they use a monoculture concept. It's not good.
😂😂🎉
Interesting comment. Thank you for making me smile.
I had no knowledge of these things. Thanks for sharing.
One of my absolutely favorite trees.
Thank you for another wonderful video. The Eastern White Pine was the largest tree east of the Mississippi when Europeans arrived. In Meredith, NY the largest officially measured EWP was 248' and almost 15' across the stump.
Wow Adam,
This was a wonderful lesson. I had heard many aspects of this tree and our history but never woven so beautifully into such a powerful tale. Thank you for pointing out the Native American connection to this tree and our political history. I had never heard that before.
Your research and understanding are such a great gift, Sir. One by one, you are revealing the trees to us all and the role they played in our planet's history, and in so doing, you are helping it and perhaps saving it.
Excited to learn about this historic Tree+ Everything You have taught ne❣️💝Bless you dear teacher!😊
I always think people who have a row of big White Pines in their yard are so lucky, they look so stately and beautiful from far down the road.
On Earth Day in 2017 I was given a White Pine seedling. I planted it in a little space between two 25 year old Spruce in my front yard. In May 2022 I was given another and planted it in a little empty patch of my back yard. Two hours after the second seeding went in the ground, a derecho blew through and knocked down one of the Spruce from the front yard and a 45 year old White Spruce in the back yard. That mighty storm also blew down half the trees in our 1970s suburb. Thanks to all the extra sunlight, the seedling from 2017 is nearly seven feet tall and the one in the back yard is doing just fine. You never know what is around the corner but the sooner the seed or seedling goes in the ground, the sooner you have stately trees to admire. 🌲🌳
Excellent teaching.
Yes, ahmein amazing. Watching from Canada 🇨🇦
Always enjoy the walk in the woods with you, Adam and learning another nugget of gold. I grew up on the farm and the woodlands where my point of escape from life. Each of your videos are extremely interesting and educational. Thanks much!
Love this video! White pine ignited my path to natural healing and so many other primitive places. I've always felt a connection to pines, they soothe me. Thank you!
Amazing story, expertly told.
Great video Adam. Always look forward to seeing your videos. Have a great day.
We just cut down three 150’ plus next to my parents house. Took a week just to haul away all the limbs. They were massive.
Walking my property here in Minnesota, near Duluth, I can still count the whitepine stumps, and point out the old railroad beds that hauled away countless saw logs. I have three ancestors of those trees on my property , bearing seeds.
The area where I live in Northern Ontario was logged for white pine between 1890 and 1905. There was a large forest fire shortly afterwards, and there are still many fire-hardened stumps around, under the new forest. Most local lakes have many white pine logs underwater nr shore: trees were felled onto the ice in winter, and some sank and were abandoned. Found a grove of old growth high on an inaccessible hill on Crown (public) land last winter, one measured out at more than 48 inches in dia.
Thanks, Adam. Fascinating history lesson. It must have taken a long time to produce. One of your best!
Hartwick Pines State Park in northern lower Michigan is a large stand of old growth white pine trees that survived logging because of a surveying error. It is well worth visiting.
Thanks for the tip.
Spectacular presentation. Adam is a treasure.
Thank you for sharing this.
One of my favorite hunting spots here in Virginia is in a VERY large hollow in the National Forest....that has some of the biggest white pines that I've ever seen!
It's an area.... that is loaded with white oak, poplar, mountain laurel, and beautiful streams.
It's a "second" home to me.... makes me feel like I'm back in my old Pennsylvanian home... full of hemlock and fresh water streams.
It's such a "home" that I usually don't even bother loading my rifle!
By far the best content on youtube
Excellent video Adam, you are a wonderful narrator with an amazing wealth of knowledge. I have a white pine on my property in northeastern Pennsylvania that is over 10 foot in diameter and over 200 feet tall. There are also several large hemlock trees in the same stand. It’s in an area that must’ve been passed over when logging was prevalent. Thank God.
That would be a current world record if true man; because last time I heard the record was like 172' or 178' feet something like that.
@@nbkawtgnobody the current record is 194' but was just discovered in 2021- prior to that the tallest was 188' (the same tree had been 204' before its top broke in a 1996 windstorm). It's easy to get an exaggerated height measurement with traditional methods, especially on bushy trees with wide multi-stem crowns- as a pine 10' in diameter is likely to be.
There were a couple of nice White Pines of perhaps 3' diameter in my backyard growing up in eastern Massachusetts, impressive trees.
In the 1990's I was a boat carpenter tasked with building a keel for an Ultimate 30, a high performance racing sailboat. As it was a one off I chose to build it out of wood. The keel, as I recall, was about 12 ' long, 2.5' wide, and 3" thick, a rectangular plan shape with a NACA 0010 section. There are a few ways to build a keel like that, depending on available wood. A trip to the local lumber yard revealed a large White Pine plank, perfectly clear and straight grained, well over the dimensions I needed. It was a beautiful piece of wood. On a wooden keel you have to rip the plank into 2"-3" wide strips, flip every other piece and laminate them into a new plank that will resist warping Having a single plank large enough to make up the keel ensures that each piece has has similar characteristics, a real bonus. Then you square it up, and shape the foil out of it. The White pine was wonderful to cut, glue, and shape, one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. I have a piece of it mounted on my living room wall that I can look at as I write this.
This was a great watch! Thank you!
Really well done! Thanks for all your outstanding videos!
I enjoyed this. I didn't know of the colonial economics involving timber until now. Thanks.
What a great, informative video! I’ve always loved EWPines. They are easy to identify with their soft, flexible needles. The story of the Brits wanting to harvest for ships fits perfectly with my school lessons, but I don’t recall the Indian connection - IF they ever taught it! Especially our founding fathers learning about alternative ways to govern! I do recall pine trees on revolutionary war flags, but don’t think I was ever told the why’s. We have several on our property here in the Maryland piedmont & now have a new appreciation for them!
(spruce needles can be used for vitamin c as well and to some people taste like oranges, or sweet limes)
another great nature and history lesson - thank you!
note: you mentioned "fire" but I didn't catch you explain it's importance - forrest fires increase the chances of survival of Eastern White Pine by eliminating competition from other trees. During a fire the *very* thick bark of this pine acts as an insulator against small to medium fire events - whereas the thinner barks of oak, maple, birch, etc., offer very limited protection. This thins out the lower level growth competing for sunlight and nutrients and allows greater opportunities for new growth of these pines.
* corrections welcomed
cheers!
Fantastic history lesson! Thanks Adam.
You can see this is the giant of the eastern forests when you view the hill n mountain sides they always tower 30ft or more above other trees. Appreciate the topic Adam
I enjoyed this very much. A favorite tree--I just planted one this past spring.
Really great video today, thank you for this wonderful lesson!
Most excellent video!! Thank you,
so much for all your videos!!🙏😊 Years ago I lived in north carolina there was a large ish tract in the middle of the state, more or less, of old growth white pine... just absolutely awesome to walk through!!
My new favorite video of yours. Excellent video, audio, and content. Thank you. Shared.
I’m pleased with myself for successfully identifying it from the thumbnail, despite living in an area where white pine is almost totally absent. This is shortleaf pine country.
Well done .this video should be played in school,history class.
Fantastic information and story telling. Thanks!
Cook State Forest in PA is the only remaining VIRGIN stand of timber left in PA and maybe the entire East? It was a tract of land set aside by a wealthy lumber baron who thought how so much of the virgin old growth would soon disappear and that William Penn...THE FIRST CONSERVATIONIST stated that 1/3 of Penn's Woods should remain in forest. But virgin old growth was cut...which made way for farms and other forest trees to supplant the native Hemlocks and Chestnuts. Trees like oaks, maples, pines, firs.
Interesting. I have 27 acres of which about 85% is wooded. Pines dominate here and white pine seems to be the most dominent of the evergreens. I poke around them collecting pitch. I also occasionally make pine needle soda or tea.
My woods are sick and deciduous seem to be entirely affected. Plus our soil is mostly rock so when a tree falls in the wind you see how shallow these beauties are rooted.
Very cool. Thanks. Have to share this with the grandkids
The place where Adam was in northeast PA, was most likely Cooks State Forest. I highly recommend all to visit. It is approximately 1 square mile of virgin timber, saved by the Cook family for future generations. God Bless!
Here in New York's Adirondacks where I live there are beautiful specimen's of virgin white pines that got missed by the loggers saws, and what a treat it is to come upon one and ponder what things were like when it was a sapling...
Part of the vibe of hiking the Appalachian Trail was seeing white pines in the eastern forest and sensing their role in the places they were seen...Especially as regrowth on abandoned farms...Part of the organic nature of the eastern forest...On one fallen white pine on the New York Long Path I counted tree rings going back 300 years...
Thank you ❤
Other interesting facts about white pines: Unless they are fire hardened, they rot from the outside in. This means when a large pine falls it creates a perfect garden bed for new trees. This is why you will find straight lines of trees in wild forests. Also, you can usually tell if a white pine nursed in a darker existing forest or was successional in an open field. The forest raised pines tend to be tall and straight with a single trunk whereas the field raised pines often have multiple trunks and are not as tall. This is not only because the forest raised trees were trying to break through the canopy as soon as possible but, also, because the field raised trees were attacked by Pine Weevils which destroyed the bud tips causing the tree to fork into multiple trunks. White pines branch in a wagon wheel-like spoke pattern and you can age a tree by counting the spokes (1 spoke a year usually).
As a relatively new sawyer, only dealing with blowdowns on trails(not felling trees), learning the history of the Eastern white pine, among other species in your content, is really interesting and helpful.
With all of the recent wildfires in Northern NJ and southern NY, I hope we see a proliferation of Eastern White pine in those areas..
Thank you.
Thank you once again for a great video and history lesson. I really appreciate the time and effort that you put into these.
They are doing very well in NE Massachusetts. This past spring was a mast year, needed a snow plow to move all the cones.
great video! greetings from Poland!
this is really cool!!!
Awesome job Adam I really appreciate this detailed history lesson on the Eastern white pine and yawʌko (great thanks) I express my gratitude to you for telling the Haudenosaunee part in the history and development of the US constitution. And the common values share by the Haudenosaunee and Americans colonists which still exists to this day.
What a great history......thank you for what you do......I have two seedlings just outside my window.....sadly, one is right adjacent to my septic tank and will need to be moved.....but they are doing well here in Penn's woods of eastern Pa.
That's good news
Awesome history lesson, thanks Adam!
Near where I live in Central Maine there's an area of not old growth but probably close to it, of huge white pines / "King's" pines -- They are amazing to see especially as densely as they are growing. I usually see large white pines or pasture pines sort of isolated in margin land, although they are very common and some are extremely tall and big.
This was excellent! As usual. Nothing better in life than nature and history. EWP has shikimic acid in the needles. Used for healing oneself in tea form of the recent outbreak. There are zero near me in Piedmont area Virginia (around Culpeper).
Adam… you, sir, are an inspiration. Thank you.