MN History- A History of the Land

BuckSutherland

5 year old buck +
I found this 5 part series on Youtube over the holidays. Absolutely marvelous series. Something to consider for you habitat managers in MN. I am returning white pine to my woods in the Chippewa National Forest. Gonna do whatever it takes to leave 100+ white pine trees for future generations. I started at 0.


Here is part 1 of 5:

 
I grew up in Northern Wisconsin and our high school community was surrounded by the Chiquamagon National Forest many remaining old growth Eastern White Pine in the area. Probably the highlight of the bus ride was coming into Drummond Wisconsin on Hwy 63 and seeing the old growth white pines probably 150’ tall or taller lining the hwy simply beautiful trees.
 
Got through most of Episode 1 last night. Cool show and a diverse state. The tough lookin guys in your thumbnail pic were the most successful buffalo hunting party.
 
Here is the second episode...... This one deals mostly with the clearing of the big woods, plowing up all the prairie and how farming really displaced the natural environment here in MN. Most of my family and friends families got started right at the very western edge of the big woods. 8-10 miles west of where I grew up the prairie starts.



 
I have a few White Pine that have made it in West central Mn.
 
I have a few White Pine that have made it in West central Mn.


To me it a complete abomination that white pine isn't the state tree of MN. White pine put MN on the map and the forest of MN helped build much of the upper Midwest. For multi-species habitat I think they are a wonderful tree besides being majestic beauties. There are a few mature tree up by my land that absolutely DOMINATE the skyline. As young trees I think they provide excellent cover for at least a few decades. They also have pretty rapid growth and can tolerate some shade, which is ideal in a woods such as mine. My woods was select cut by the previous owner and I had almost ZERO coniferous cover left. Probably the most enjoyable of all the tree I have tried growing cause the progress has been immediate and rapid. I will have some plugs from Itasca planted in late April 2019, that should be approaching 7 feet tall by July 4th this year.
 
Down here in Bluff Country there are places on the WMA's where they are fairly common. Most of them are HUGE.
 
Part 3 of 5. I really like the first part of this episode. It deals with the creation of the Chippewa National Forrest. My land is part of this area east of Leech lake. I shot the biggest buck of my life in 2010, off the Chippewa National Forest. Harvested my bear this year in the Chippewa National Forest too. I'm glad there were enough brave people 100+ years ago to say enough and set some of this area aside. Lots of places that I like to visit in this area, including remote lakes with no houses on them.



 
There's a spot called the Lost 40 north of you a ways that was somehow missed by the loggers due to a survey error. It has 30 acres of old growth white pines that are quite big. Worth checking out I suppose if you haven't. Going to watch episode 2 now. Hoping 4 & 5 don't ruin it with modern times in MN!
 
^^^
I visited the lost 40 this year during bear hunting. The only place I have found bigger trees was in Smokey Mt National Park in Gatlinburg, TN. There is a place there never touched by loggers either. There were oak trees there 200+ feet tall with 80-100 feet of perfectly clear lumber. Saw the biggest tree of my life there.

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I found this 5 part series on Youtube over the holidays. Absolutely marvelous series. Something to consider for you habitat managers in MN. I am returning white pine to my woods in the Chippewa National Forest. Gonna do whatever it takes to leave 100+ white pine trees for future generations. I started at 0.


Here is part 1 of 5:


That was an interesting link.

I feel part of it is not accurate as it didn’t discuss the shuffling of tribes that occurred just before and around the time of the white mans approach. There is lots of historical evidence of the skirmishes as the Ojibwa drove the Dakota out. I wonder how long each of the tribes actually managed the land before moving on or being pushed out.

A very interesting read is History of the Ojibwa Nation by Warren. He was part Indian and lived at Crow Wing, Minnesota for a period.

Per my memory, eastern tribes forced the Ojibwa to move west on the Great Lakes. They pushed Dakota west. The arrival of the horse from the American SW changed the methods of killing buffalo and some tribes migrated out of the wooded areas.


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Part 3 of 5. I really like the first part of this episode. It deals with the creation of the Chippewa National Forrest. My land is part of this area east of Leech lake. I shot the biggest buck of my life in 2010, off the Chippewa National Forest. Harvested my bear this year in the Chippewa National Forest too. I'm glad there were enough brave people 100+ years ago to say enough and set some of this area aside. Lots of places that I like to visit in this area, including remote lakes with no houses on them.




And my northern hunting land is just a bit south of the Chippewa National Forest.

I have had a chance to fish some of those remote lakes. They can be fun!


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When I built, I had to drop a few bigger pines, and it hurt. My plan was to use the wood from them in my house, but the cost for a mobile saw mill was much higher then just buying lumber.BAB072F6-822D-4C4E-8E8D-E8B53DE2DBA6.png
 
Part 4- Lake Superior and the urban sprawl gobbling up some of the most productive soil in the world.

 
Part 3 of 5. I really like the first part of this episode. It deals with the creation of the Chippewa National Forrest. My land is part of this area east of Leech lake. I shot the biggest buck of my life in 2010, off the Chippewa National Forest. Harvested my bear this year in the Chippewa National Forest too. I'm glad there were enough brave people 100+ years ago to say enough and set some of this area aside. Lots of places that I like to visit in this area, including remote lakes with no houses on them.




Going to need to watch this one soon. Have had family cabins in/adjacent to the chippewa national forest since i was born on both sides of my family. Have heard about the lost 40 many times but never made it there.

Kind of crazy to think of the bravery and foresight of those folks 100 years ago to create these national forests and other conservation wins. Take pittman/robertson for example. They were selfless enough to take on an additional 11 percent tax for conservation in during the great depression. Imagine trying to get a bill like that passed today! A whole lot of folks who tout hunters/shooters contributions via pittman robertson now would probably be calling them socialists and commies.
 
Episode 5. Pretty damn good. Sure enjoyed this one as well. Sure like the ambition of old man Bud. Also pretty much got my desire to plant the white pines on my land from Jack Rajala. I bought his book several years back.



 
Dont live in MN but gonna have to take some time to watch the above. WI has something like the lost 40 called the Cathedral of the Pines. Sadly some weather did serious damage to many trees 10-15 yrs ago but still some biggns to marvel at. Story was the wife and children of an owner of a logging company used to like to picnic in a certain spot and that 40 was spared from ever being logged. It's now state land within other national forest land that gets logged on occasion but not that 40.
 
Watched 3-5 the past couple nights. Really connected with a lot of this stuff.

Some of the topics that stuck out:
Maybe it was episode #2 where they mentioned in the 30s there was a million people living in Minneapolis and all of the sewage was piped directly into the Mississippi. Less than a 100 years ago we were doing that. Crazy.

I interpreted the coverage of the Chippewa national forest as it started with a half million acres of reservation that was largely unlogged. They took it from the Chippewa and then made it a national forest named after them. That is audacious..

Was cool to see Jack Rajala on there. All I knew is he was a large landowner/logger near my parents place and my stepdad used to rent hunting land from him before buying his parcel. It made me read more about Jack and ask parents about him, sounds like an incredible man. My mom made an apple pie for my stepdad to gift them and it sounds like my stepdad ended up having a fascinating discussion with Jack over some apple pie.
 
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