News
Turtle Mountain oak aging with history
Scott Wagar
08/07/2012
In 1770, British troops in Boston, Mass., fired upon a group of Americans where 11 individuals were shot and five were killed. The incident became known as the Boston Massacre and was a starting point to the American Revolution, and eventually the birth of the United States of America. In that same year, Marie Antoinette married Louis Auguste who would go on to become King Louis XVI of France, and, Lexell’s Comet passed by the earth that year closer than any other comet has in the history of time. And, in 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born, along with William Wordsworth and William Clark who would lead the Corps of Discovery through North Dakota 34 years after his birth.
On the eastern side of the Turtle Mountains in 1770, a small oak tree sprouted from the soil of the earth and began to grow in a region which is considered to have one of the smallest growth periods for any trees in the United States.
However, 242 years later, that small tree has become one of the largest oak trees known throughout the Turtle Mountains.
Two weeks ago, the North Dakota Forest Service (NDFS) surveyed the tree to discover its age and size. Under the direction of Glenda Fauske, information and education coordinator, members of the NDFS walked into the Homen Forest and conducted a number of measurements on the oak tree and recorded some fascinating numbers.
The tree was discovered to be close to 100 feet tall, seven feet and six inches in circumference and 27.5 inches in diameter.
The increment bore reading was conducted by Tom Nowatzki, state forest specialist for the North Dakota Forest Service, where through a long and tedious process of counting growth rings under a telescope he was able to determine the age of the oak tree.
“In a growth season where there is a lot of rain, a tree will grow more and the growth rings will be further apart and more recognizable,” Nowatzki said. “During a drought season, rings will stack on top of one another, which makes it more difficult in identifying the rings and it takes a longer time in counting the growth rings.”
The oak from Homen Forest had a variety of rain and drought rings over the past 242 years, but as a veteran with the NDFS in counting tree rings, Nowatzki discovered the oak tree is older than the birth of our nation, which he finds exciting.
“It’s interesting to find the age of this tree and the size is neat, too,” Nowatzki said. “It’s just something to know how long this tree has been on the landscape in the Turtle Mountains.”
An oak tree of this size in the Turtle Mountains is unusual to come across.
“Most oak trees are pretty small in the Turtle Mountains and the majority of them are found on the west slope, but the conditions are not good in growing large oak trees in that area because it is a transition area from the prairie to the foothills, what we call a microclimate. The reason behind the smaller oaks is because the soil is shallow there, rain runs off the slope and the sun shines directly on the slope leaving little moisture for the trees,” Nowatzki said. “In the Homan Forest, there’s a higher elevation, it’s more level there and the soil is deep and richer. It also rains more in the Turtle Mountains than it does in the prairie, which makes this site conducive in growing larger trees.”
According to Fauske, the average growth period for trees in the Turtle Mountains is around 12 weeks, which causes the size of this oak tree to be significant, especially when one considers that most states in the nation have much longer growth periods.
“When you think about the size of this oak tree, it is pretty incredible considering the short growth period we have here,” Fauske said. “In other states, their trees grow for a much longer period. So, having a tree this size in the Turtle Mountains, with such a short growth period is really exciting.”