Spruce Loves Birch

This is a great picture of a Spruce Tree hugging a White birch.

These two land locked lovers will stand for many more years.

2011 Arbour Day in Timmins Announced

ARBOUR DAY CELEBRATION

SATURDAY, JUNE 4

Wintergreen Fund Will Be Handing Out Trees This Saturday at Three Locations Across The City The Wintergreen Fund for Conservation  with the support of Millson Forestry is pleased to announce that they will be hosting the Annual Arbour Day celebration at three locations across the City; the White Waterfront Conservation Area in South Porcupine, the Mattagami Park in Mountjoy and at the Gillies Lake Conservation Area.  The event will be this Saturday, June 4 from 10 AM to 1 PM.

In addition to the handing out of white spruce seedlings, everyone will be eligible to win one of three bat boxes or one of the new Birds of Timmins posters. As in past years, those picking up trees will be asked for a small voluntary donation. The monies raised will go towards the  many Wintergreen community conservation projects including trails, conservation education and student bursaries.  It should be noted that Muddy Mark will be on hand at the Mountjoy location to answer any questions you may have concerning trees, birds or what you can do to help the environment.

Those wanting more information can contact the Wintergreen Fund
or the Conservation Authority at 360-2660.

Timmins Times article

Last Year Arbour Day

Trees have never been free


oxygengrowsontrees


.

Nature Deficit Disorder - have you been touched?

Are you Suffering?

Have you hugged a tree this week?

While driving into the forest the other day a story on CBC radio suggested we suffer from nature deficit disorder. We are are doing well as a species being taken out of the forests. They cited a study that proved young people did better if they were exposed to pine trees. I was driving past a Jack pine plantation with the window open at the time. Lucky me.

We are losing touch with nature, but more important we are losing contact. The smells and fell of the forest is important to human growth. The smell from the pines triggers something in our brains that just makes us more in-touch with our surroundings.

You need to plant a tree close to you, one every year. Why not plant a bonsai, then you can have a tree in your living space year-round. It is not hard. You can order a tree from Millson Forestry Service store in Timmins.

Nature Deficit Disorder links

Nature Canada - blog entry from 2008 describing the disorder
Best Health - What is nature deficit disorder?
PhD in Parenting - Cures for Nature Deficit Disorder? Help for our Planet?
Canadian Living - Quiz: Is your family suffering from nature deficit disorder?
Human Well Being and the Natural World - Just some facts
Canadian Institute of Forestry - Summer Outdoor Camps:  The best remedy for nature deficit disorder
Child and Nature Alliance - Get outside!!
Evergreen.ca -  they need contact with nature
Psychology Today - Exploring the natural world's psychological effects on human beings.
Education.com - The Critical Role of Environmental Education for your Child’s Future
An Interview with Robert Bateman - increasingly popular term among educators

Frogs are Green - definitely what the doctor ordered.

National Environment Week - Take the Nature-Deficit Disorder Survey Here

Trees we see plenty. It is green grass we do not get to see or smell for many months. So every year we grow our own grass in the house. A different container every year. When the kids were smaller we grow a big tray of grass to hide easter eggs in. It is wonderful to smell the grass after a trim with scissors. Looks like my grass is due for a trim this weekend.

Oxygen Grows On Trees

Biggest Balsam Poplar in Timmins Area

Balsam Poplar added to the Timmins Honour Role of Trees.

I have added a large, old Balsam poplar to the website that has all the large trees in the Timmins Area.

This tree is 210.3 cm circumference and 66.9 cm diameter measured at 1.3 meters above the ground (commonly known as breast height).

The Ontario Honour Roll of Trees is up again. Take a look. 2 trees on the Timmins list are bigger then the Ontario giant. I will need to get the height of the trees to see how they stack up points wise.

We are still looking for the biggest White birch, Black spruce, Balsam fir and Red maple. I will find a representative before the end of the summer. If you can help please let me know!

Ontario Honour Roll of Trees

Ontario Honour Roll of Trees - Updated!

For the longest time the Ontario Honour Role of trees has been a broken link. The Ontario Forestry Association has updated their site and the honour roll is once again front and center.

Take a look at the Ontario Honour Roll.

Take a look at the Timmins Honour Roll.

The Timmins Honour Roll needs your help to be completed. If you can fill in a blank with a big tree please let me know. Maybe we even have the biggest in Ontario!!

Spring is just around the corner

Spring is just around the corner.

I am thinking about all the new life I am going to be seeing very soon. Also thinking of visiting some old friends too, namely the biggest White Pine in the area.

We have some trees on the Timmins Homour Roll of Trees, but we still need you to find us find some giants of other species.

We have

Eastern White Cedar

Eastern White Pine

Red Pine

Jack Pine

Tamarack

White Spruce

Black Ash

Aspen

Yellow Birch

We need examples of

Black Spruce

Balsam Fir

Red Maple

Balsam Poplar

White Birch

A very big Burr Oak was pointed out to me this winter during the Christmas Bird Count. I will get the diameter this spring. A big blue spruce was also pointed out to me on the front lawn of a house.

I will get a picture with the owner of the tree this spring and post it here.

keep on the look out for honour trees, and let me know when you find one!

Timmins Honour Roll of Trees

Timmins Naturalists

Martin watching over the Boreal Forest

Roll'n and I were walking in the bush this past week when he left me. I could here him barking not far off the path I was on.

I wondered over to see what all the noise was about. He usually does not bark unless hes has something very important he needs help with.

He had a martin up a large white spruce.

The martin was not happy. Sounds like an unhappy cat that has been backed into a corner. At the office we have a cat that is not my friend and is often vocal when I walk by. I walk by giving plenty of space, the dam cat has left me wounded before.

Map

eNature

Site Preparation

Forest Management Guidelines

for the Provision of

Marten Habitat

Foresters in the Forest

Today I walked a little over 4km in the bush.

Much of that was slogging through cedar and alder. You must walk gently, so when you step into the black hole of muck you do not go deeper then your knee.

I always enjoy watching Roll'n walk in the deep muck of the swamp. I am sure he enjoys the coolness on his paws. It turned out to be a very nice day.

Today we were looking at drainage. The company and OMNR are very serious about protecting the water that moves through the forest.

What I learned today was one of the lads better half saw a snapping turtle the other day! Wow that is 4 snapping turtle sightings in the last 2 years, 3 of them this year. I will follow up when I have the exact location and I will try to look around the area so I can get a picture. My other entry about snapping turtles.

One of our discussion was around the bark coming off the cedar trees.

I wonder if anyone know why this happens. We were about 500 meters from the last group of peeling bark cedar I wondered about before in a previous entry.

The suggest I like is it happens in the spring, or fall. The tree has lots of moisture in it when a very cold night happens. The tree expands with the cold and causes the bark to split all around the tree. Best explaination I have heard so far.

If you can tell me more - I would like that!

We also were very close to a little hawk screaming in the forest. The blue jays I think were bugging the bird. Using the Dendronica bird identification program I am pretty sure we were hearing the broadwinged hawk.

A wonderful day in the forest!!

Care to comment boys?

Sudbury is getting Greener - Slowly

Recently I was in Sudbury for a Saturday night, and a Friday night too. I was there for a Regional Local Citizen Committee Conference.

Our field tour on Friday afternoon was to look at the regreening of Sudbury.

Many years ago the mining of Sudbury metals created a ring of destruction around the mining complexes due to pollution coming from the mills.

Since the 1980's the regreening efforts have taken barren lands that could not grow anything and created lands capable of supporting vegetation. It will be many more years before the forest return the Sudbury basin, but at least the effort is being put forward.

Pictured below is what the ground has looked like over the last 50 years with nothing growing except some poor white birch and some mosses. Other picture is of ground that has had lime added to reduce the acid, seeded to grasses and clover and fertilized, then finally trees planted.

The white pine seem to be doing really well on the site. I hope over the long term the area is able to recover to again produce great trees that will create oxygen for all of us!

Do you want to plant your own tree or purchase a tree that will produce oxygen.

Timmins Naturalists and Observations Page

Fox in the Forest

Fox den in the forest under an erratic. Now that is something to write home about, or blog anyway.

I have driven by this hole in the wall of a sand edge. I just had to take a closer look. I asked Roll'n to stick his nose in the hole and tell me what he thought. He was not interested at all. I expect the hole has not been used for awhile.

I think it is a red fox den for a number of reasons, the biggest reason is the feathers at the entrance. Little while feathers of a bird, I am thinking ruffed grouse. Fox like bush chickens.

Den den is in a well drained spot with a very large erratic sitting on the top. I looking in the hole and took a picture of the roots pushing into the hole. . . . uuummm I wonder what lies just beyond.

To find out I reach in as far as I can and take a picture. Turns out it is empty as far as the camera can see. Good for me. Maybe I have seen too many movies, but it is never a good idea to stick your whole arm into an unknown tunnel.

Kettle Lakes - Trees for Canada

The Boy Scouts of Canada had a program called Trees for Canada, that changed maybe 10 years ago to a program called Scoutrees.

The very first Trees for Canada in the Timmins area was planted inside Kettle Lakes Provincial Park. The records indicate that a total of 11000 white spruce and jack pine were planted near Irrigation Lake.

The white spruce have been growing slower then the jack pine, which is common. White spruce can handle the shade created by taller trees. When the taller trees die out and allow more sunlight to reach the ground the white spruce will take off.

It is just another wonderful story about trees in the park.

I was not around Timmins in 1980, but I was involved in every plant from 1986 to 2003. I do not know if the Scouts have planted since then. The first plant I attended in 1986 was just south of the Deloro landfill. The container type was 408 paper pot. The container was made of paper and pulled apart from the other tree seedlings. Many trees were planted a little too high and left a little bit of paper showing. Crows from the landfill came over and pulled out hundreds of the trees.

It looked like someone had come the day after the plant and just pulled out every tree. Some were sitting up on stumps and some were even sitting in the trees. Those curious birds!

Picture : Line of planted white spruce trees, first Boy Scout Tree Plant in the Timmins District.

Taken : August 03, 2009

Location : map

Year Township Number and Species

1980 German (KLP) 11 000 White spruce and Jack pine

1981 Massey 10 000 Jack pine

1982 Carscallen 10 000 Jack pine

1983 Denton 8 525 White spruce

1984 Carscallen 5 000 Jack pine

1985 Murphy 5 000 Jack pine

1986 Murphy 5 000 Jack pine

1987 Deloro 5 000 Jack pine

1988 Deloro 5 000 Jack pine

1989 Evelyn 5 000 Jack pine

1990 Little 6 150 Jack pine

1991 Macklem 5 000 Jack pine

1992 Macklem 5 150 Jack pine

1993 Macklem 4 400 Jack pine

1994 Evelyn 2 500 Jack pine

1995 Evelyn 4 500 Jack pine

1996 German 3 500 Jack pine
**********100 725 seedling to date!***********

1997 German? 3000 jackpine

1998 German? 3000 jackpine

1999 German? 3000 jackpine

2000 German? 2500 jackpine

2001 Tisdale 2000 Jack pine

2002 Tisdale 2000 Jack pine

2003 Tisdale 1 600 White spruce and 100 White pine

Arbor Day 2009 Yesterday

It was a little cool on Arbor Day, but it would have been perfect if we were actually in the field planting trees.

This year we split up to be in 3 different locations. East end at the water park on Porcupine Lake, Gillies lake and west end at Mountjoy Historic Park. I was at the Mountjoy park with Ben and Kiri.

The last couple of years we have been asking for a donation to cover the cost of the tree seedlings and as a way of raising money for the Wintergreen Fund for Conservation. Millson Forestry Service gives us a very good deal on the trees, but they are not free.

Your donation also got your name entered into a draw for a bat box and a swallow house. Good homes for great bug eaters!

If you missed Arbor day and still want tree seedlings you can get many different sizes and species at the store. Seed soource is important. Trees that come from a local seed source will do better then those that come from a seed source other then here. Trees do not like to move north

, that is why tree seedling from local seed source will always do better then outside sources.

A little more then 1000 white spruce tree seedlings were handed out. That is another 1000 trees going in the ground to help the environment and help keep Timmins beautiful. Many told me they would also plant one at "camp".

"The best time to plant a tree is 100years ago, the second best is today"

Kiri, a Katimavik participant from Nova Scotia has been with us for the week, want to try her hand at creating a bonsai, or maybe she will just plant it here in Timmins before she leaves.

How do trees grow up?

The other day I was driving through a spruce plantation. The leader of some the the trees were incredible. Many in the plantation were more then 50 cm in length and a couple of the superstars were in the 90 cm range.

How do trees grow?

Here is a question I ask of everyone that comes on a tour with Muddy Mark, at the greenhouse, or on a hike with me at Kettle Lakes Provincial Park.

The tree we are standing beside is about 20cm in diameter. This tree grows about 50 cm in

height every year. Today we put a mark in the tree, we will come back in 10 years.

How high will the mark

be when return?

It will be at the same place! Why? Trees only grow up at the tip. In forestry lingo it goes something like " the meristematic tissue elongates"

What is in the pictures is last seasons height growth. The growth is fantastic! If trees grow like this every year the trees would cast shadows for kilometers. Tree growth slows as they age.

Trees grow in diameter, that is why you can count the tree rings to determine the age.

Want to learn more? Try these links.

Link 001

Link 002

Link 003

Tree Planting Today

A perfect day for a tree plant.  It was raining, but warm.

The Delta Class from THVS set up  a tour with Goldcorp to see some of the reclamation that has been going on. Part of the our included planting a tree. This was a great opportunity for me to finish the tour I had started at the greenhouse. We did not get to plant a tree during that visit. More on the greenhouse visit.

The rain stopped long enough for us to plant. Each student planted a tree. The area they were planting in had been tailings covered with a biosolid, a waste product produced at the Iroquois Falls paper mill. It grows grass great.

The seedling had some sawdust placed around the tree to help keep the weeds down while they establish. 

The seedlings were also a bigger stock with good root growth filling the 6inch pot they have been growing in. 

This summer Goldcorp expects to plant over 200 jack pine and white spruce seedlings with the help of those taking the tours arranged by the Chamber of Commerce.  

You can buy your own local seed source trees now, or wait for the the Arbor Week special at Millson Forestry Service.

The best time to plant a tree was 50 years ago, the second best time is now!  Get into the habit of planting a tree every year. If you do not have a place to plant your tree I am sure I can point you in the right direction where trees are needed.

Oh yes. One lad asked about the foot print in the mud. What had made the print.  While we were all talking at a story board I could see far in the distance the animal that had made the mark coming closer. The class was distracted from the discussion while the large sandhill crane flew over the group.

Bird and Bud

Today I watched a bird and I saw some buds. You just got'a love spring.

I have been watching the growth of a honey suckle for about 07 years now. I noticed it growing in a white spruce plantation that had plenty of poplar competition when I was in the block doing some tending.

I have tried to start cuttings from it, but have not been successful.  How do I regenerate the honeysuckle? If you know - tell me.

The poplar are not yet bursting their buds, but the honeysuckle already have leaves starting to show.  I just love the way the honeysuckle wrap around the poplar, twisting around itself and the poplar stem and branches.

Humming birds enjoy the sweet nectar the flowers produce.

The white spruce are doing very well. 

On the way out of the bush I watched a bird fly across the road. It was a woodpecker, but not one of the small ones. I watched the bird for awhile and figured it must be a black backed woodpecker.

It is a little bigger then the downy and the hairy woodpeckers, with a very black back. The woodpecker was not alone because like Canada Geese  they mate for life. The pair moved around the forest with ease landing on trees that would provide some food.

I took the picture of the woodpecker with my camera-binoculars.  Too bad the picture does not turn out as good as what I see through the binoculars.

Biofuel created by a wood hog near Timmins Ontario

See the video Mulcher Wood Hog Timmins Ontario. You can take a look at how the slash left over from a harvest operation is turned into a fuel that will be burned to create electricity.

This harvest operation is what we call mechanical. Fellerbuncher fells the trees, then a grapple skidder pulls the bunches of trees roadside. Once roadside the tree is either processed or delimbed, sometimes both.

What is left behind from that process is the tops, branches and leaves. It is this biomass that is placed in the mulcher to create a material that can be fed into power plants.

The Centre for Energy is just one of the very many Canadian site on the topic, but it has a very good general overview of the bio energy sector.

The material from this block is destine for facilities operated by Northland Power. One facility is the Kirkland Lake Generating Station, the other facility is the Cochrane Generating Station.

muddy mark webpage

Spring in the Greenhouse

Just a quick post to let everyone know the temperature has been turned up and soon you will see pictures of green as the tree seeds start to sprout.

The greenhouse is washed and neat waiting for the hassle of the seeding machine pumping out tray after tray of seeded containers.

Got to love it when spring comes early, even if it is just under a huge section of plastic.

Watch for it!!


Muddys' Emporium

What kind of trees are these?

Yesterday I went for a nice long walk with Roll'n. We are in Richard's Landing for the holidays. We got on the snow machine trail and walked for a couple of hours. Made a round trip out of it, the GPS tells me we walked more then 9 km.



A very different forest here then what I see around me in Timmins. Shagbark hickory and Sugar maple are not found in the Timmins area. Other trees I know what they are but there are some that I have to collect the buds to take home to confirm what I am looking at. The forest here is mostly hardwoods, I am rusty at hardwood identification.

One other common thing seen today on my walk was the long clear rubber tubing connecting the Sugar maple. It is these lines that in the spring will carry the sap to a central location to be boiled down to maple syrup.

I have made maple syrup in the past but have used buckets to collect the sap. Don't do the boiling down in the house, it gets sticky everywhere!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday.




Picture is looking south from 16-0726484-5129082 Map It

White Spruce - Timmins Honour Roll of Trees

This is a big white spruce, but very short. If we were using the points system of big trees it would not a big point winner.

Growing in a very open area, as you can see from the pictures, it has branches almost down to the ground.

Visit the Timmins Honour Roll of Trees. Hope you can find a tree that will beat any of the trees listed so far.

http://www.nt.net/~gofor/HonourRoll/TimminsTreeHonourRoll.html

Timmins Honour Role of Trees

Published to the net.

Hope you can participate.

Timmins Honour Roll of Trees is now online.

http://www.nt.net/~gofor/HonourRoll/TimminsTreeHonourRoll.html