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| PIN CHERRY |
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| PIN CHERRY FLOWER CLUSTER |
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| WEEPING CHERRY |
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| HYBRID MAGNOLIA |
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| RED OAK CATKINS |
Even though it cleared up nicely by yesterday afternoon it was too wet to do any yard work, and mowing and planting need to be done. The rain has also held up digging at the nursery so several landscape jobs are behind schedule.
So many trees and shrubs are now in bloom that it is hard to photograph and comment on them all. The pin cherries, AKA fire cherry, Prunus pennsylvanica,are blooming. As the common names denote, the fruit is very unpalatable and the short lived, small tree is very prevalent after forest fires. In bloom it is very attractive, and some of the trees and shrubs we saw blooming along the forest road yesterday were probably pin cherries. Japanese weeping cherries are in full bloom in town
The red oaks, Quercus ruba, are blooming, the pendulous male catkins very obvious.
Magnolias, which are generally hardy here close to the lake, are blooming, this hybrid is in front of the Chateau Botin.
The proposed taconite iron mine in the Ashland and Iron County area is still a controversial issue, and its fate is far from determined. An opposition group walked some of the area on the weekend and it received major local newspaper coverage. I think it wise to approach the issue with extreme caution because there are legitimate environmental concerns, particularly as regards water quality. But I part company with the opposition when they reject mining or any other potential economic development out of hand and protest even the boring of test holes to determine the geological characteristics of the site, as is now the case. Another opposition tactic is to overstate the pristine nature of the site of the proposed mine, intimating that it is ecologically rare or that it contains endangered species. The proposed mine area has been logged and mined for more than a century, and the casual observer at least would never know it. Economic development is crucial to the economic and social health of northern Wisconsin, and should not be held hostage by those with extreme environmental views. If all development and change is rejected, the only people who will be able to live here are the very poor on public assistance and the very wealthy who need no local source of income. The productive middle class will be not be able to exist here, and vital resources will stay in the ground. Those who resist all change are eventually conquered or supplanted by a more aggressive people, and the change, usually far more drastic than originally proposed,, occurs anyway.
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