As 2007 comes to a close it is time to reflect on the past year’s events and changes. One thing that has experienced many years of change are witness trees. Some witness trees have celebrated over 200 New Year’s Eves.
Witness trees were described by surveyors in the early 1800s as they were laying out the grid pattern that would eventually become our property lines today. Early on, in New England, where the first surveying was done, surveyours would pile rocks where section lines would cross, or drive a rod into the ground. These series of property intersections would identify property boundaries to homesteaders who were given land for serving in the revolutionary war. Again, theory met reality. Many homesteaders found it convenient to just move their property marker to gain access to water sources, trees or any other desireable feature. This caused many problems.
To solve this, it was decided that the closest tree to the property intersection shall be scarified with a saw and its distance and direction was recorded as well as the tree type and tree diameter. This kept homesteaders honest and it became the norm as surveyours moved to the Midwest. The surveyors also recorded important observations as soil types, evidence of fires, width of rivers and so forth. Today, these notes are the most important tool used by restoration ecologists.
The witness trees marked by the early surveyours can still be found today. Not many were able to survive our land use patterns and survivors are reaching the end of thier life cycles. Most of the remaining witness trees are Bur Oaks (Quercus macrocarpa), as they are very long lived and were very common in the pre-settlement era. Many of these witness trees served as meeting points for indians and pioneers and helped route the stagecoach trails that traversed through the prairies.
There are many living witness trees remaining in the midwest, but it may take some experience to identify them. They are always very old, are close to where quarter section lines intersect and were reported in surveyour notes. The greatest surviving example of a witness tree that I have seen is located near Sheffield, ILL in Bureau County. The Bureau County Witness Tree was protected by local farmers in 1944 to ensure its longeveity. It is a magnificant Bur Oak and remains healthy due to the openness around it. It is estimated to be over 250 years old - that’s alot of New Years’ parties! Dick Clark has been broadcasting from New Yorks’ Time Square for only 35 years and the Apple has been dropped annually for just a mere 100 years.
http://www.fermatainc.com/il/site_5.html The Bureau County Witness Tree
http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/summer2002/presettlement.html Info on surveying and witness trees around Chicagoland and pre-settlement vegetation patterns in DuPage County
How do I incorporate Christmas and prairies? I know, I will write about ‘Merry Christmas Prairie’ in Mineral Point Wisconsin. Merry Christmas Prairie is a 43-acre prairie restoration that was conducted jointly by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Conservation Corp begining in 1988. It is located around Pendarvis/Merry Christmas Mine, both Wiconsin state historical sites. Merry Christmas Mine began operation on Christmas day in 1905. The surrounding prairie was planted in order to emulate the pre-settlement landscape that the early cornish miners of the area would have encountered in the 1820s. Altough the prairie itself is mediocre in quality, it’s association with the regions mining history makes it notable.
One of the most interesting tidbits about lead mining and local botony is the use and nameing of Amorpha canescens, Leadplant. Leadplant, technically a shrub, indicated the presence of lead beneath the surface. Due to its extremely deep taproot, Leadplant utilizes verticle crevices in the bedrock to reach for nutrients. Early miners looked for Leadplant and assumed mineral rich bedrock would lay underneath. Groves of Aspen trees also served this purpose - most likely Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspen. Today, Leadplant is still found growing in prairie remnants throughout the Driftless Area and is a plant that I include in most prairie restorations that I perform.
Before there was a 1849 gold rush in California there was a 1827 lead rush around Galena. Today, there are many remnants of the mining era that survive in the area. It is quite common to come across an old mine when walking through the woods around Galena, Shapville, Council Hill and Shullsburg. Although 150 years of weathering make them difficult to recognize they are usually defined by 3-8 foot deppressions in the soil with a gravelly base with no other explanation of its cause. The last lead mining operation in the region closed in 1977 at Shullsburg.
Pendarvis and Merry Christmas Mine and Museum is a great way to learn about early lead and zinc mining operations in this area. There are many artifacts and descriptions of the lead mining process on the self guided walking tour around Merry Christmas Mine. A few hours at the site makes for a great education for anyone curious about how the mining process worked.
An odd name for a prairie and a very heartfelt greeting this time of year. Merry Christmas to everyone - Cory -
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/pendarvis/ Wisconsin State Historical Society
http://mineralpoint.com/living_history/pendarvis_historic_site.html City of Mineral Point
Now that snow has fallen and temperatures have dropped, the controlled burn season has ended and the brush clearing season has begun. Our woodlands are easily traversed now and the ground is solid, making invasive brush removal efficient and reducing disturbance. Invasive shrubs, low quality trees, and understory woody species that are crowding Bur and White Oaks are easily removed in the winter. Invasive shrubs include species such as Honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and Prickly Ash (Xanthium strumarium). Low quality trees include Box Elder (Acer negundo), Black Locust (Robinia psuedoacacia), Choke Cherry (Prunus virginiana) and Maples (Acer spp.). When spring begins the cleared woodland begins to recover from encroachment. Byproducts of this management technique are low quality firewood and brush piles.
Brush piles are constructed by placing the cut materials into piles. Brush piles make for less labor hours, prevent machinery from entering the restoration area and provide habitat for a variety of fauna. Songbirds use the top branches for perching and the small dead peices for nest building. Mammals, such as fox, rabbit, bobcat, squirrel and coyote, will utilize brush piles for dens if they are remote or for shelter in inclimate weather. Many amphibians use them for those same purposes and countless insects utilize the decaying wood.
When brush is very dense there can be many piles created or piles can become very large. In this situation, specfic piles can be burned to eliminate the quantity and size of them. Blowers with cruise control settings are used to consume piles faster and to reduce the size of the burn scar that is created. An inexpensive and easy-to-establish seed mix should be planted on top of the burn scar to assist in healing and to provide a starting point for native grasses to spread.
Newly constructed piles are sometimes larger than desired but they will usually decrease by 50% as gravity and snow weight compress them to a shorter stature. There are three options for managing brush piles: they can be lit on fire shortly after they are piled, they can remain on site as habitat or they can sit until a controlled burn is performed, at which time the piles are consumed. In very large restoration projects a pit us dug and several thick tree trunks are layed across the top. Piles are then constructed on top of that while air is injected into the cavity below. This pit fire method consumes piles very quickly and leaves the ash to fall in the hole, which is then filled with soil.
A seemingly simple task turned into a science by land managers.
Recently, a client of mine, the Harmets, entered their land into a conservation easement to much fanfare. Thier property contains several different ecosystems including a hill prairie remnant, a prairie that survived 100 plus years of grazing until the Harmets purchased the property and began management.
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that limits the uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values into perpetuity, while still retaining full ownership rights and the ability to pass land on to heirs or other owners. Property taxes are usually greatly reduced or totally eleminated as well as federal income taxes for the first fifteen years, in order to encourage this type of land protection. After the conservation easement is signed it is recorded into the County of Deeds and applies to all future owners of the property. Conservation easements are customized for each parcel of land and can accomodate many unique situations. The property owners work with a land trust, who provides the legal service and all legwork. The land trust can be compensated by the land owner through a voluntary donation.
In 2006 the popularity of conservation easements accelerated due to a pension reform bill passed by Congress. The maximum deduction a donor is allowed was raised from 30% to 50% of their adjusted gross income in any year. Farmers and ranchers can deduct 100% under the new bill. Also, the carry forward period to take the deductions was extended from 5 years to 15 years. These are not to be changed for 26 years.
Although the financial benefits serve as great incentives, protecting ecosystems, scenic views, historic farms and ensuring that your family will be able to continue ownership is the real driving force. Currently there are over 1,600 not for profit land trusts in America including two in JoDaviess County.
http://www.galenagazette.com/main.asp?SectionID=142&SubsectionID=344&ArticleID=11102&TM=50068.05 The Galena Gazette’s article on Dick and Joan Harmet
http://journalstandard.com/articles/2007/11/26/news/news01.txt The Freeport Journal Standard’s article on the Harmets
http://www.lta.org/ The Land Trust Alliance
http://www.naturalland.org/ The Natural Land Institute
http://www.jdcf.org/conservation_options.htm The JoDaviess Conservation Foundation
As 2007 comes to a close it is time to reflect on the past year’s events and changes. One thing that has experienced many years of change are witness trees. Some witness trees have celebrated over 200 New Year’s Eves.
