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
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