A legacy of a monarch and the birth of an Ent

By Gord Miller, Chair of Earthroots

Twenty-two years ago I bought small cottage on a lot that had been carved out as patented land from the Crown forest a century before. Decades later the surrounding land had been designated the White Bear Conservation Reserve because it was one of the best stands of old growth white and red pine forest in the area. Somehow it had remained intact and uncut despite being located on Cassels Lake directly opposite what had been the largest pine lumber mill in the region (the provenance of this miracle fades into the mists of local lore but there is an interesting theory*). So this forest ecologist with a lifetime pursuit of old growth pine forests found himself nestled in among pines that technicians had estimated to be 380 years old 20 years prior. Pure paradise!

Most of the white pines around the cottage were around 60 to 85 cm dbh (that’s Diameter at Brest Height, a foresters’ term for describing tree size and thus the dimensioned lumber implied available within). These were large trees by anybody’s standards but at the back of the property there was one significantly bigger. This giant 400 year-old tree with its tall straight bole stood about 45 m tall and had a dbh of 94 cm. It was the ‘King’ dominating the local stand. I used to take visitors back to visit this tree as an example of the majesty of the old growth pines. Through the centuries its thick bark had allowed it to survive numerous ground fires that hadn’t scorched its crown so it was older and larger then most of the forest surrounding it.

 But time marches on for all life forms and about a decade ago I noticed that all was not well with this forest king. The foliage of some branches above had turned red with senescence and there were disturbing signs that fungus or some other pathogen was at work under the bark. It took a full decade but it is now evident that the monarch’s reign is over. It still stands and will continue to stand as branches weaken and fall away during heavy snows and strong storms.The main bole will be punctured by pileated woodpeckers seeking the insect populations within and their activity will leave cavities that will become occupied by a variety of birds and mammals raising their families and sequentially moving in and out of their elevated apartments. In this stage of ‘life’ of the forest giant it will return more in value to the local biodiversity than it ever did in its healthy form. It will become a monarch in a new sense. It will stand as an Ent. An ancient relic of the genetic and biological legacy of centuries past. Persisting as standing feature in the forest perhaps another eight decades and projecting its valuable wisdom into the future.

* The interesting theory of the stand avoiding harvesting in the shadow of a large lumber mill.On the opposite shore on the mill property but adjacent to the operations stood the house of the mill manager and his wife. The wife’s view from her living room was the majestic old growth forest on the other shore. It is speculated that her interest in maintaining this view exceeded the mill’s economic interests in cutting the trees.