Ancient cedars in Wisconsin   Don Bragg   Dec 08, 2005 05:43 PST  ENTS-- I get the magazine Wisconsin Natural Resources (published by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources), and this month's issue (December 2005) has an article written by Kathryn Kahler titled "Vertically Inclined" about the ancient northern white-cedars and eastern redcedars found primarily on the Niagra Escarpment that was a topic of discussion on the ENTS list not that long ago (I believe Lee Frelich had initiated that conversation). In her article, she interviewed Jeffrey Nekola of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, who had been aging some of these cedars with Doug Larson (botanist/dendrochronologist at University of Guelph who has studied similar cliff ecosystems in Canada). The ages of some of these trees in the land of beer and cheese were remarkable! According to a quote of Nekola, they dated an eastern redcedar near Green Bay that was about 1,200 years old, and several northern white-cedars 500 to 600 years old in other parts of the area. These cliffside communities are remarkably unique in their "type" of diversity, by providing habitat for rare species, and also by protecting ancient if diminutive trees. Cool!! Don Bragg ***************** Don Bragg, Ph.D. Research forester ***************** RE: Ancient cedars in Wisconsin   Don Bragg   Dec 09, 2005 06:03 PST  Ed-- Growing up in northern Wisconsin, I never thought much about the northern white-cedars that we would see along the escarpments and gorges at places like Copper Falls State Park or in the UP of Michigan, but now I'm curious as to how ancient these cedars may be... I do remember counting the rings of some northern white-cedar stumps in a swamp near my parent's house, and being impressed that these non-descript individuals were 150+ years old. I suspect there are a lot more old trees like this across much of the upper midwest, protected from logging by their small stature, poor access, and limited merchantability. Don Bragg -- Edward Frank wrote:   Don, Thanks for the information on these old cedars. We are getting a far number of post dealing with old trees. I might even need to make a separate section on the website for dendrochronology. The post by Lee talked about "cedar complexes" formed by fallen trees whose living branches in turn grow into new trees. The entire subject of these cedar groves fascinates me. The previous post on the subject is posted at: http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/wisconsin/door_peninsula_white_cedar.htm Some earlier discussion of white cedar are also posted to the website at: http://www.nativetreesociety.org/species/white_cedar.htm I visited a fairly young cedar swamp at the Michigan State Fisheries Visitors Center this summer myself, but want to visit these examples on the Door Peninsula and the Niagara Dolomite Escarpment. Ed Frank     Home