I've planted more than a hundred thousand trees since 1974, the earliest ones by hand with help by a friend from Iowa. Some lived, some died. The fact that my help couldn't avoid hitting a rock with his planting bar, no matter what direction he turned, or how much he swore, may have had something to do with it. "C'mon really, Jeff?"
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| A portion of 1974 White Spruce plantation planted by hand along Mikinaak Creek. |
Since then, many more have reproduced a thousand fold. It's good to see them in their multitudes; one over-topping another through their depth and width.
The tallest prevail. These White Spruce and Hybrid Cottonwood, planted in 1981, in half-mile long rows on the west side of Mikinaak Creek, were the first trees ever planted using tractor and tree planter, echoing the contours of the farm lane and existing woodlots near the farmstead, that in turn echoed the contours of Mikinaak Creek set in motion my unconventional use of contoured row tree plantings.
A forester once said on a walk-thru of the 'recreated forest,' "These rows aren't what we'd prefer (in relation to timber harvest)... but I really like its affect across the land." That, and the re-planting in 1992, to affect those planted in 1990 thought to have suffered overwhelming loss because of drought. This resulted in perpendicular rows in some areas and islands of trees different from one another, typical of a natural forest environment. It is quite pretty, never tiring to the eye.
This quarter of land, and all the land forever around it, was the homeland of multiple indigenous peoples before the arrival of Euro-Americans. It was said in books and stories that these wild places across 'Mni Sota,'were 'Gardens of Eden,' where innumerable waterfowl, and woodland birds darkened the skies and herds of woodland bison, elk, moose, deer, and caribou roamed the land and water; and humans not resembling us, moved freely about, following the seasons and its inhabitants.
A condensed outline of this area's geographical history, (but not all conclusive of Palmville, per se.) include the Seasonal Rounds of Native peoples; First contact by foreign explorers and their accompanying religious zealots; Establishment of trade economies between traders and Native peoples; Treaties for trade: fur; timber, minerals, and land acquisition; Removal of Native peoples to reservations through allotment of Indigenous lands (Except the Red Lake Nation); Reduction of Native land holdings (some by swindle); The Homestead Act; Immigrant settlement; timber cut down, acres fenced for crops and livestock; Township created: schoolhouse built on one corner in 1904, cemetery in opposite corner in 1900; Weather related disasters, wildfires, human borne disease. Economic failures; taxed land is sold to pay debt; People leave for employment in big cities; Land is purchased for speculation; cleared of timber; Sold, put into soil bank; (similarly C.R.P. originates in 1950s); This quarter came out of soil bank in late sixties; sold in 1971; Cropland rented est. 17 years; Entered into CRP in 1988 and since; various contracts; Tree plantations and grass.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, finding a flintlock pistol barrel in what was then an open field before trees being planted there, rivets your knowledge and acceptance that there were others here before you and yours -- long, long before.
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