THE CLANGOR OF CRANES

SANDHILL CRANES FEEDING IN NEBRASKA  CORN STUBBLE FIELDS...

...THEYARE EXTREMELY WARY...

...AND LAND FLY OFF IF YOU GET TOO CLOSE

THIS SIGN TELLS THEIR STORY

THE SHALLOW PLATTE RIVER, WHERE THEY ROOST AT NIGHT

Sunday afternoon. Denver.  The sky is cobalt blue, the temperature warm enough for a tee shirt when out in the sun.  We left Madison on last Wednesday, overnighted in Rochester, MN and drove to Grand Island, NE and stayed there the night of 29 March.  The next morning we drove the back roads from Grand Island to Lexington, about thirty miles, watching and listening to Sandhill Cranes.  We saw literally thousands of these majestic birds, who have been resting and roosting on the Platte River here for thousands of years. They have a number of vocalizations, from a chuckle call when feeding and socializing, to a loud trumpeting when flying, that ecologist Aldo Leopold called "The clangor of cranes"
   The birds are very social, traveling in family groups and all banding together, several hundred thousand of them, for their migrations from Louisiana and Texas to Canada, Alaska and Siberia.
They spend their nights standing in the shallow Platte River, and leave in groups in the morning to travel to nearby fields of harvested corn to glean the remaining kernels.
   We have been watching these migrations for more than twenty-five years and there seem to be more birds than ever.  Which I would attribute to the rather controversial government program of mandating a minimum of 10% ethanol in most gasolines, which has enhanced the production of corn, and hence assured the cranes an abundant food supply.  Some unintended consequences are indeed beneficial to some actors in a scenario, in this case the Sandhill Cranes.
   These birds stand about 4' tall, perhaps a foot shorter than the Wisconsin-nesting sub-species that we are also familiar with.  The later have most of the same traits and habits, but do not migrate as far.  If one is extremely lucky, one may also sight Whooping Cranes, that travel with these flocks, an endangered species even larger that the Sandhill Cranes.  The mating dances of these birds are intricate, and a wonderful thing to see.
   We have had a very nice visit with family in Denver and will shortly wend our way home, hoping to view more migrating birds and other wildlife on the way.

NATIVE PUSSY WILLOW

A CRISP, GLORIOUS MORNING

NATIVE PUSSY WILLOW ON HWY, 13 

WILLOW FOWERS IN BLOOM BUT NOT YET AT ANTHESIS

Tuesday, 8:00 AM.  26 degrees F at the ferry dock, 21 on the back porch.  Wind WNW, calm with light gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 84%.  The barometer is falling, now at 30.27". It is a crisp, glorious morning.
   Yesterday's Tree Board Meeting was spirited.  Among other things, we determined that we would take a principled, albeit moderate stand, on the destruction of the old white pines on Hwy. 13.  We will use the incident as a wedge to elicit a more positive attitude toward trees and related environmental issues that mutually affect the Chequamegon Bay communities, so that we can present a united front on such issues, and with the ultimate goal of creating a multi-commnity urban forestry committee or board, and possibly a shared position of urban forester.
   This morning we will head to Madison for the regularly scheduled meeting of the Urban Forestry Council, which will continue its discussion of the biennial Wisconsin state budget as it affects urban forestry issues, and other business.
   From Madison we will head to Denver to visit our daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren during their spring break.  On the way we will stop off in Kearney, Nebraska, to witness the annual sandhill crane migration, one of the world's greatest bird migration scenes.  The birds stop to rest and feed on and near the Platte River near Kearney, on their way from their wintering grounds in Texas and Louisiana to Canada, Alaska and Siberia.  Hundred of thousands of these majestic birds have congregated there for ages.  When we lived in Nebraska we went to see them every spring and it will be good to do so again after skipping several years.
   On the way back we will take our usual route through the Nebraska Sandhills, one of the most unique landscapes of North America, and weather and roads permitting will stop at some of the wildlife areas along the Loupe, the Dismal and the Niobrara Rivers.
   Posts will be a bit sporadic for the next ten days or so as we travel.
   Yesterday I saw this native pussy willow, Salix discolor,  blooming along Hwy. 13, just south of Bayfield.  The bud scales have fallen, and the flowers are expanding but are not yet at anthesis, when they will be yellow with pollen.

BALSAM POPLAR

LARGE, SARPLY  POINTED DORMANT BUD OF BALSAM POPLAR...

...DITTO

BALSAM POPLAR SAPLING, WITH PROMINENT DORMANT BUDS

Monday, 7:45 AM.  26 degrees F at the ferry dock, 22 on the back porch.Wind NNE, calm with light gusts,  The sky is partly cloudy, some of it covered with dense black clouds.  The humidity is 60%, which is low for Bayfield, and reflects the diminished snow cover and lack of significant precipitation.
The barometer is falling, now at 30.37".
   The wind sled is running again. as the ice continues to weaken,  It took off with a considerable roar this morning.  The ferry will try to break ice to LaPoint midweek, and if successful will begin regular service.
   Yesterday afternoon I took Buddy to Old San Road for a run.  There is seldom a car on the road during the day and at this time of the year, and he can safely run up and down the roadsides and into the woods and fields on either side.  While walking along the road, I came across a sapling balsam poplar, Populus balsamifera, a native poplar tree.  It looks much like other sapling poplars and grows more or less in the same habitat, but its distinguishing winter characteristic are its very large, sharply pointed dormant buds.  It is a tree of the veryfar north and high elevations, and although it is not truly rare in our region I seldom see it.  A compound made from the fragrant dormant buds is used in the treatment of arthritis and other ailments, and the trees are said to exude a strong balsamic fragrance when they bloom.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONSES

MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WITH A FEW WISPY CLOUDS

 LAST FALL'S DEBRIS RAKED FROM THE PERENNIAL GARDEN...

...IT'S A START, ANYWAY

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  24 degrees F at the ferry dock, 21 on the back porch.  Wind NE, calm with light gusts.  The sky is mostly clear with a few wispy clouds.  The humidity is 65% and the barometer is steady at 30.45".  The maple sap ran pretty well yesterday, and should run very well today.
   On Friday afternoon I finally grabbed the rake by the handle (if not the bull by the horns) and got busy in the perennial garden.  I got it uncovered and pretty well raked up.  Now some things have to be cut back, some weeds pulled and new mulch put down.  Saturday was too unpleasantly cold to do garden work, and besides, I had to nurse a few aches and pains from Friday's exertions.  I may get a bit more done today but it is, after all, Sunday.
   I have always said that gardening is something you have to get used to all over again every spring, as one uses muscles and joints in ways one does not use them for almost any other activity. We will give it a go at keeping up with the couple of neighbors who have gotten out there ahead of us (and the season, I might add).
   Got to keep up with the Joneses

THE COAST GUARD IS READY

A CRYSTAL CLEAR, COLD MORNING

COAST GUARD ICE RESCUE PRACTICE...

...QUITE REALISTIC...

...PRACTICE  MAKES PERFECT

Saturday, 8:15 AM.  22 degrees F at the Ferry Dock, 20 degrees on the back porch at dawn.  Wind  WNW, moderately gusty at times.  The sky is crystal clear, except for a few scattered clouds on the eastern horizon.  The humidity is 59%, the barometer more or less steady at 30.37".  The record high for today's date is 63, set in 2012, the record low -13 in 1965.  I don't think the maple sap ran yesterday, but it should today, if it warms up sufficiently.
   Joan and I went out for Friday fish fry yesterday evening, at the South Shore Brewery in Ashland.  The atmosphere is nice, rather homey, and the food always good, if sometimes a bit pricy.  I love our local Late Superior whitefish and lake trout, but occasionally opt for something different, usualy beer battered cod.  But last night the chef must have had an inspiration, as the alternative to local fish was pan fried flounder over a bed of spaghetti with marinara sauce (with something of an Asiatic flare, that rendered it slightly sweet and pungent).  It was an outstanding dish, very unusual and absolutely delicious.  Twice as much as I could eat, I hope it reheats well for lunch.  Joan had prime rib, which she declared quite good, and Buddy got its usual trimmings for his dinner.  I think very highly of the brewery's  very dark Rhode's Scholar stout, but didn't care for their pale ale, which was absolutely flat, with no head at all, and a rather sour taste.
   Snooping around the Bayfield waterfront  for Almanac news yesterday, I came across these Coast Guarians practicing ice rescue.  In full wet suits, they practiced over and over again how to pluck someone off an ice flow, whether they were conscious or unconscious, responsive or unresponsive.
   The ice is getting rotten but some folks still venture out there.  The ice will be going out one of these days.  This is a dangerous time for ice related activities...fishing, snowmobiling, driving with pickup trucks and ATV's...and the season that too many people try to push the envelope, endangering themselves and their rescuers.
   The Coast Guard is ready.

HE HAS A LITTLE LIST...

IT LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE RAIN

SUNRISE IN THE PINES

Friday, 8:00 AM.  Wind WNW, moderately gusty.  The sky is partly cloudy with a lot of haze.  The humidity is 69% and the barometer is steady, now standing at 29.92"  It looks and feels like rain, which would be good, except that I want to get the garden raked.
   The neighborhood has been very quiet, as a number of folks have retreated to warmer climes. The snowbirds should be back pretty soon though, or they will miss the thousands of daffodils that bedeck our town every spring.
  Gee, the President thinks it would be a great idea if voting were mandatory in the United States.  I guess he would enforce that dictate with a fine if one didn't go to the polls.  A kind of  reverse-poll tax.  Remember the infamous poll taxes of the Old South, a fee people paid in order to cast their ballot?  This would be a fee that you paid if you didn't.  The poor people people of color and the "white trash" who used to skip voting because of the poll tax would now have to pay a poll tax if they didn't vote.  Kind of stands this old world on its head, doesn't it?
   Well, mandatory voting might boost the number of people who vote and it might not.  I think the President figures "rich white people"(do you know any?)  who didn't bother to vote would pay their fine, but the poor of all shades would go to the polls, making the march towards socialism that much easier.
   This scheme actually fits in with the President's concept of democracy, since he considers himself the voice all those who didn't vote, and whom he claims as his followers.  That certainly does give a new dimension to the time honored meaning of the word "democracy," as well as to the word "Orwellian."
   If now our society is ruled by those who bother to be informed enough and go to trouble enough to vote, I suppose there is an off-hand chance that it might be improved by being ruled by the drunks, air-heads, crack-heads and whatever-other-heads are out there that don't bother to vote (of course there are those honorable folks that they don't vote because they are uninformed).
   But even that is not at the bottom of the plan, which is, of course, that the people who now don't bother to vote will be controlled by those who know best; who are, of course, President Obama and his friends. " Just go and cast your vote for us, you don't have to worry your poor little heads about any of it. " The Communists call that "the dictatorship of the proletariat," the dictatorship of the simple fools by their masters.  Ah, what a paradise that will lead to.
   But what if a fine doesn't get the drunks off the bar stools, the pot smokers off the couch, the crack-heads out of the till and the air-heads out of the coffee houses to vote?  What then?
   Folks, you can bet your bottom dollar, if you still have one, that the panacea will be to give people a tax credit for casting their mandatory ballot, yet another freebie.  Or maybe a fiver at the voting both.  Or how about a pack of cigarettes? The latter has always worked well.
   Wow, what a democracy!  Stalin, Mao, Chavez and Kim Jon Il would have embraced it, maybe even Hitler, if everyone would wear a brown shirt when voting.  The system is perfect.  Every one participates, so no one can complain about the outcome.  Or about the gulags or the re-education camps or the gas chambers.  All for one and one for all, right down to the last potato in the pot and the last bullet in the clip.
   There is only one flaw in the President's idea of a mandatory vote.  It still doesn't identify who voted for whom or for what.  That is the final step.  So the Lord High Executioner can make up his list.
  "I have a little list, I have a little list.  And none of them will be missed, none of them will be missed."

GETTING AHEAD OF THE GAME

AHEAD OF THE GAME

MAPLE SAP IS FLOWING...

...FROM A SMALL HOLE I BORED IN THE BARK OF ONE OF OUR 'AUTUMN BLAZE' MAPLES

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  30 degrees F, wind SW, calm with occasional light gusts.  The sky is mostly cloudy, the humidity is 64% and the barometer is trending down, now at 30.24".  We need rain.  The record high for today, set in 2012, is 82; the record low, set in 1950, is -14.  Our current temperatures are well within the normal range.
   Rick Dale out at Highland Valley Farm is going to tap maple trees this weekend. Sap has been flowing pretty well according to one of our Autumn Blaze hybrid red maples in the front yard, in which I bored a small hole in the bark with my pocket knife. The running sap looks awful I guess, but does no harm and will keep me informed of sap run conditions on a daily basis.  Maybe I should find a spile and a bucket.
   A few ambitious folks around Bayfield have started to rake lawns and gardens but generally speaking it is still too wet, and shady areas still have snow.  Enter Mike and Susan, on the corner of Eighth and  Manypenny, who have actually tilled and raked their vegetable garden!  I almost started to uncover the perennial garden yesterday but didn't quite get to it.  Barring a change in the weather I'll get started today.
    It would be nice to get ahead of the game.

WHERE WILL THE EAGLES PERCH?

DESIGNATED A SCENIC BYWAY IN 2013...

...BUT IT'S NOT AS SCENIC NOW

AND WHERE WILL THE EAGLES PERCH?

Wednesday, 7:45 AM.  31 degrees F at the Ferry Dock, 28 on the back porch.  Wind light and variable at ground level, from the NW and stronger at higher altitude.  The sky was mostly cloudy earlier but is clear now.  The humidity is 68% and the barometer is trending downward, and now stands at 30.33".  The maple sap should flow well today.
   I made a few phone calls yesterday concerning the old white pines that were taken down along State Hwy. 13 between the Sioux and Onion Rivers.   I called the Bayfield County Highway Department, snce they took down the trees.  A very polite superintendent called me back and explained that they were under a maintenance contract to the State Department of Transportation, and were only following the dictates of the State Superintendent for Bayfield, Ashland and Sawyer Counties, who was only following routine regulations for roadside maintenance.  In other words, no one actually accepted any personal responsibility for the decision.
   I am not a tree hugger that defies important safety or maintenance issues, but I think that the takedown of so many large old trees is a decision that should be very well thought out and overtly defensible, not simply explained away as some routine, rote procedure.
   Highway 13 between Ashland and Cornucopia was finally designated a State of Wisconsin Scenic Byway two years ago, after a twenty year effort.  The trees in question were a significant contribution to the scenery, even though, or rather because , they had bare, broken and picturesque branches.  One old downed white pine, near the bridge over the Onion River, was a rather consistent perch for bald eagles fishing in the stream.  That certainly was scenic.
   I am not going to pursue the issue further with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, as dealing with that entity is about as productive as punching a whale.  But I do hope I have provoked a more cautious attitude towards the removal of scenic old trees.
   Perhaps in the future someone will ask first, "where will the eagles perch?"

COUNTING MORE TREE RINGS

A CRISP, CLEAR MORNING

WHITE PINE LOG 4' IN DIAMETER...

,,,WITH APPROXIMATELY 125 ANNUAL GROWTH RINGS

Tuesday, 8:30 AM.  29 degrees F at the ferry dock, 25 on the back porch.  Wind NW, blustery at times.  The sky is crystal clear, the humidity 43% (very low).  The barometer reads 30.43" and has begun to trend downward.  The maple sap will run freely this morning,
   More large pine trees have been felled along Hwy. 13 near the Sioux River Beach.  I have assumed they were dead or dying from road salt, but many appear to have been healthy.  I stopped and talked with a man yesterday who was measuring fallen trunks and inspecting them for suitability as sawn lumber.  He was not sure whether he would have to contact the County Highway Department or the State Department of Natural Resources to see whether they were available.  I assume it is the former and I now feel compelled to call them myself and find out what the reason for cutting down the trees was.  If they truly were dying or were a safety hazard I would not object to it, but I am somewhat taken aback by what I am seeing, now that most of the snow has melted and the extent of the felling is more evident.  White pines (Pinus strobus) are a significant component of the northern mixed coniferous-deciduous forest, best described as, "A long lived successional tree," which often pioneers burns, blowdowns and cutover areas.  White pines in a good growth environment can live for hundreds of years, with individuals in Wisconsin and Michigan having been recorded as reaching 500 years in age.
   But in any case, I stopped to count the rings and measure the diameter of another large, old white pine tree.  The tree pictured was just shy of four feet in diameter at ground level where it was sawn, and as close as I could tell by counting the rings was approximately 125 years old.  It had some dry rot at the very center, but certainly not enough to make the tree dangerous in any way or affect its health.  Some of the growth rings in the earlier years of its life were almost a half inch in width, meaning that the tree increased in diameter almost an inch in each of those years.  Once the tree neared 100 years in age the rings became very small, the tree growing hardly at all, and certainly the last years of its life it simply did not grow. Whether that was due to intolerance to road salt or other environmental conditions or simply to age I cannot say.
  I think a good guess of the age of a 4' diameter white pine, measured at breast height, would be between 100 to 125 years.

IT'S MAPLE SUGARIN' TIME AGAIN!

THE SPILE: A SPILE INSERTED IN A SHOLOW HOLE DRILLED IN THE TREE

SAP COLLECTION BAG, VIEWED FROM THE BACK

COLLECTION BAG ATTACHED TO TREE

MAPLE TREE WITH TWO TAPS

A BUCKET ALSO SERVES THE PURPOSE 

Monday, 9:00 AM.  45 degrees F at the ferry dock, 42 on the back porch.  Wind SW, calm to light.  The sky has a high overcast and some clouds and it is raining lightly.  The humidity is 79% and the barometer is 29.19" and rising.  It looks like a rainy or at least damp day today, changing to sunshine tomorrow and wednesday.
   The sap is flowing in the sugar maples, and it is time for "maple sugarin'" once again.  I have enjoyed helping friends Andy and Judy Larsen with sugaring for a number of years, but things will be different this year, as Andy and Judy have some health issues and won't be up from Milwaukee to tap trees and make syrup at their sugar bush (a grove of maple trees) in the Town of Russell north of Bayfield.  I have my own issues this year that may preclude me helping elsewhere.  As they say, "Life happens." But, to bring Almanac readers up to date:
   Sap flows upwards from the roots of maple trees (sap is collected mainly from sugar maples, Acer sacharum, but also flows similarly in red maples, Acer rubrum, and some other maple species) much earlier than other tree species, and is characteristically sweet.  Sap also flows early in birch trees, Betula, which are also sometimes tapped for their sap (Scandinavians make a beer from birch sap). For a very understandable explanation of the technicalities of sugar maple and similar sap flow, see The Botanist In The Kitchen post of March 16, 2013.
   There are a number of theories concerning maple sap flow, but the process is complicated and none of the theories seem to be foolproof.  In any case, sap flows best when warm days follow cold nights.  Warm nights usually stop the flow of sap.  Some seasons are much better than others, and maple sugaring is often a hit-or-miss proposition.  Some seasons are very productive of sap, and others are hardly worth the trouble.
   The trees are tapped and a spile, a spigot that the sap flows from and the bucket or bag is hung from, is inserted into the tree.  Nowadays the holes for the spiles are often drilled with a cordless drill, but an old fashioned, hand-turned carpenters brace and bit works about as well.  The drilled hole is shallow, just deep enough to hold the spile in place, as the sap flows in the xylem conductive tissues just under the inner bark of the tree.  The shallow wound heals easily during the growing season and does no harm to the tree
   The sugars in maple sap are very dilute, and it takes about forty gallons of sap to make a gallon of maple syrup.  Traditionally, sap is boiled down over a wood fire, or on a wood stove, and it takes a lot of split and seasoned hardwood to make syrup.  The whole process is very labor intensive, although commercial operations have devised a lot of labor saving devices, and sap can be boiled over any heat source.
   On balance, maple sugaring is an activity best thought of as something one does to productively pass the time from late winter until spring finally arrives.  But the product, maple syrup, is the very best and uniquely flavored condiment for pancakes, ice cream and other treats.  And the sugar shack, where the syrup is made, is traditionally a fun place to be with friends and relatives, where jokes are abundant and laughter and  good will abounds.
  The plastic sap collection bags pictured above are beginning to take the place of the metal or plastic buckets often used.  All things considered, the bags are easier to handle, are not as likely to spill during the collection process, and are a lot easer to store during the off season.
   The above photos of collection bags were taken over the weekend out at Little Sand Bay camp ground, which has a lot of good sized maple trees.  Either the Park Service or some group from the Town of Russell has tapped most of the trees, and it looks like it will be a good sugarbush.
   Find a sugarbush to volunteer to work in, or tap a few maple trees yourself; it's a great way to connect with people and with nature.
    It's maple sugarin' time again!
 
 

 

SOMEONE ALWAYS GETS THEIR TONGUE FROZEN TO THE PUMP HANDLE

WHAT TO DO IF THE ICE ROAD IS CLOSED?...

...KNOCK OVER THE SIGN...

...PRETEND THE ROAD IS OPEN...

...AND GET STUCK!

LIFE ON THE EDGE (OF THE ICE)

 Sunday, 9:30 AM.  37 degrees F, wind WSW, light with occasional gusts. The sky has some high clouds, haze and overcast, all of which is dissipating. The humidity is 83% and the barometer is at 29.95" and is rising.
   Regarding my grousing about Chinese farm grown bluegills in yesterday's post, Almanac reader Doug Petersen says I should stop complaining, get a cane pole, dig some worms and go fishing. I guess he's right.
   No doubt about it, people like to test the limits of things and live life "on the edge."  That includes the Ice Road.  Everyone knows it is closed, but if the sign is knocked over, folks will pretend it is safe to drive on it.  Then they wonder why they got stuck.  The same applies to fishing on the edge of the ice near open water.
   Someone always gets their tongue frozen to the pump handle.

I WOULDN'T TRUST IT

A WARM, CLEAR, BREEZY MORNING

ICE IS MELTING FAST

AFLOAT IN A BOAT?

NOPE!

WALKING ON WATER

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  40 degrees F, wind W, light with occasional stronger gusts.  The sky is clear except for some low clouds on the eastern horizon and a few puffy white clouds moving briskly across the blue.  The humidity is 79% and the barometer is trending up, now at 30.10".
   I cut the end off of a low branch of one of our red maples to track when the sap starts flowing, and I called the folks at Highland Valley Farm to see if they had started collecting sap.  They haven't tapped trees yet, but will next week.  The sap will begin to flow when we have some crisp, cold nights followed by warm days, which is predicted for next week. The weather has been too consistently warm day and night for sap flow.
   Yesterday being Friday, we had our usual fish evening meal.  I bought some frozen bluegills a week ago and was anxious to fry them up, so we did not go out for fish fry, as we often do.  I was thinking about those bluegills all week.  They were over $8.00 per pound but I haden't eaten a bluegill in years, and I thought how fine they tasted when I was a boy and my Dad and I would go fishing and bring home a mess of panfish.  They were always so good, fresh from the lake and fried in a buttered pan after being dipped in milk and dusted with seasoned flour. We usually ate them with fried potatoes and eggs.
   Alas, the frozen bluegills did not meet my remembered expectations.  Had I noticed when purchasing them that they were farm raised in China I wouldn't have bothered.  Oh, they were edible, but not much more.  They tasted like they were chipped out of some late Pleistocene glacier.  Memories will have to suffice I guess, and the next time I purchase fish they will be fresh Lake Superior whitefish.
   The Ice Road is closed, as are the Ice Caves. Slush and water create a soupy mess on the ice, but folks continue to go out on it to fish, or even to take a walk.  The scenes above, from the Sioux River beach, show a resolute ice fisherman doing his thing while staying in or near his gear toboggan, which I assume floats; and an adventurous couple strolled out on the decaying ice off the mouth of the Sioux River.  They may think the watery ice is O.K., but there are strong currents in the area and I wouldn't trust it.

NEWS FLASH: ICE ROAD TO MADELINE ISLAND CLOSED

A WARM MORNING WITH CLOUDS DISSIPATING RAPIDLY

THE ICE ROAD IS DETERIORATING RAPIDLY

THE APPROACHES  ARE  ALWAYS THE FIRST TO MELT

AS OF YESTERDAY, TRAFFIC CONTINUED TO CROSS

Friday, 8:45 AM.  35 degrees F at the ferry dock, 38 on the back porch.  Wind variable and very light.  The sky is partly cloudy but clearing, the humidity is 84% and the barometer is steady, now at 29.99",
   As the warm weather continues, the Ice Road between Bayfield and Madeline Island has deteriorated rapidly.  As is usual, the on/off approaches are  the first areas to become impassable.  As of yesterday traffic was still getting from land onto the firmer ice of the channel, but the road will soon have to close.
   This is the time when folks push their luck and drive vehicles where the ice is unsafe.  It will take someone going through in a car or pickup, or snowmobile or ATV, to signal to everyone that the ice is indeed unsafe.
   UPDATE: It was just announced that the Ice Road is officially closed.  The wind sleds have begun operation.  For detailed schedules call (715) 747-5400.

HOW OLD IS THAT TREE?

GRAY MORNING

TRUNK OF LARGE WHITE PINE: HOW OLD WAS IT?

36" DIAMETER, APPROXIMATELY 100 ANNUAL RINGS

Thursday, 8;30 AM.  38 degrees F, wind N, calm to very light.  The sky has a high overcast, the humidity is 62% and the barometer is falling, currently at 30.34".  Overcast or not, it will be a warm melt day.

   It's always interesting to guess the age of a large tree.  I am always right, of course, because  there is no way to challenge my guess except to count the annual rings.  That is not possible unless the tree is cut down, or an increment borer is used, an invasive and laborious procedure.  So if I have an opportunity to count the rings on a felled tree I try to do so.

   In this case several large old white pines, Pinus strobus, that were dead or dying were felled by highway crews along Hwy. 13, near the Sioux River.  My guess is that they were killed by road salt over a period of years, white pine being quite intolerant of salt.  I had easy access to one of the trees and I measured the diameter of the trunk and counted the rings.  I had to approximate the core rings as they were deteriorated.  I counted 90 rings and estimated an additional 10, for an approximate age of 100 years old.  The trunk was sawn at somewhere between the root flare and breast height, so my calculations were in pretty good territory.

   I had guessed this tree to be about sixty years old, so it was considerably older than I estimated.  I thought it would have been fast growing in the soil and moisture conditions it grew in but the conditions along the roadside were evidently harsher than I thought and the tree did not grow as fast as it might have, particularly in the last twenty years or so, when the rings were quite close, some years only a sixteenth of an inch or less.  There were a number of years earlier in the life of the tree when the annual rings were more than a quarter of  an inch wide (meaning that the tree increased in diameter a half an inch in each of those years).  As an aside, I noted that the sap had begun rising in this tree, another sign of spring.

   In retrospect I think a 36" diameter white pine would be about 100 years old, adding or subtracting some guess years in consideration of growth conditions over the life of the tree.   For more information on counting tree rings to determine the age of a tree, use the blog search engine to find the post of June 7, 2013.  Also, The International Society of arboriculture has published average age to diameter statistics for a number of tree species.  Finally, read "Good Oak," an essay by environmentalist Aldo Leopold.