Good Article On Indescriminate Tree Planting

[togor]

https://slate.com/technology/2020/05/trees-dont-stop-climate-change.html

Has a climate change angle but that aside good points about the down side of planting the wrong tree in the wrong place. And I have to admit I always wondered why the Arbor Day Foundation was based in Nebraska.

[shadycon]

That one was worth reading!:1948:

[m1ashooter]

Remember it was settlers from the east and Europe that settled the treeless Great Plains. They simply missed trees so they planted them. I know I did being stationed in Wy and ND. Never thought I'd see the beauty of hardwood leaves changing colors in the fall again. Never gave the wrong tree's for the area a thought until I read the article but makes sense. Hell if it wasn't for the lone tree at a road junction most people working in the missile complex of FE Warren AFB would get lost as we turned right at the Tree to go to a site.

[lyman]

interesting read,


a close friend is trying to restore some quail to his farm (farm is inactive, for the most part) and had a guy come by from the State, and a biologist/game manager come by from the Quail federation folks (or whatever they are called)
seems that the farm, which has been in his family for a few generations, is loaded with none native species of grass and trees that he is now working on removing,

the place is loaded with deer, bear, coyotes etc, but birds are scarce (very scarce in VA now anyway)

[Vern Humphrey]

Remember it was settlers from the east and Europe that settled the treeless Great Plains. They simply missed trees so they planted them. I know I did being stationed in Wy and ND. Never thought I'd see the beauty of hardwood leaves changing colors in the fall again. Never gave the wrong tree's for the area a thought until I read the article but makes sense. Hell if it wasn't for the lone tree at a road junction most people working in the missile complex of FE Warren AFB would get lost as we turned right at the Tree to go to a site.

Actually, there was a major tree-planting effort during the Great Depression. Much land had been stripped bare and the result was huge dust storms -- the Dust Bowl. Trees were planted to stabilize the soil and the dust storms abated.

[lyman]

Actually, there was a major tree-planting effort during the Great Depression. Much land had been stripped bare and the result was huge dust storms -- the Dust Bowl. Trees were planted to stabilize the soil and the dust storms abated.

thought that was due to poor farming practices at the time and a severe drought cycle

[Roadkingtrax]

thought that was due to poor farming practices at the time and a severe drought cycle

+1 Poor farming. They stripped the land of its convective tissue. Lack of rain during a particularly dry cycle exacerbated what had been done.

No one talks about the great forests of the great plains. :)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains_Shelterbelt

[Vern Humphrey]

thought that was due to poor farming practices at the time and a severe drought cycle

Among the poor farming practices was denuding the land of trees. In much of the mid-West, you can still see the "tree breaks" that were planted to break up the dust storms and stabilize the soil.

[togor]

interesting read,


a close friend is trying to restore some quail to his farm (farm is inactive, for the most part) and had a guy come by from the State, and a biologist/game manager come by from the Quail federation folks (or whatever they are called)
seems that the farm, which has been in his family for a few generations, is loaded with none native species of grass and trees that he is now working on removing,

the place is loaded with deer, bear, coyotes etc, but birds are scarce (very scarce in VA now anyway)

At home here a combination of pastureland that had brush cleared and fire restored, with some interseeding of native species, and also former ag field that was bombed for two years with herbicide to wipe out the seed base. 20 years on now the carrying capacity of the land has spiked. Getting the right mix of plants for the area has really made a difference. Deer browse a little bit of everything.

[togor]

For cheeseheads this is an interesting resource. Perhaps other states have a similar site online. 1937 aerial survey of the entire state. Like a Google Maps 1937 Time Machine!

https://maps.sco.wisc.edu/WHAIFinder/#7/44.304/-89.742

[Ken The Kanuck]

https://vids.onsizzle.com/tree-cut-down-with-tree-hugger-in-it-rosscreations-lol-25245783.mp4

KTK

[Vern Humphrey]

I like the part where the logger gave him a hand and threw him back in the lake!

[kj47]

love it!

[SUPERX-M1]

Prairie grass had deep root base that held the soil together. The land was plowed, the drought came back, and the soil was blown away. They coaxed people to come out and farm the land, issued pamphlets on how to farm the dry lands. They did not tell them about the periodic and severe droughts.

[Vern Humphrey]

Prairie grass had deep root base that held the soil together. The land was plowed, the drought came back, and the soil was blown away. They coaxed people to come out and farm the land, issued pamphlets on how to farm the dry lands. They did not tell them about the periodic and severe droughts.

All true. And some of the blame can go to John Deere, who invented the steel plowshare and moldboard. Before that, farming was almost impossible in the deep prairie soil.

[Major Tom]

Here in Iowa along the Mississippi River there used to be very rich farm land. The river's Spring floods would put new layers of good soil over the land. Then along came the levees which blocked the Spring floods. Now those lands have to use chemicals to grow anything. Streams that run thru farmland carry pesticide runoff to the river further polluting it! And, Iowa had huge forests up till the early to mid 1860s. Mostly hickory, oak and walnut.

[Vern Humphrey]

When I was a boy, I used to ride all through the Ozarks. I would find stumps four feet in diameter or more. What a forest that would have been!

In our little local hospital there are framed photographs lining the halls. One of them shows a mule-drawn timber wagon, fully loaded -- with a single log!