Within a few miles of our home a stand of yellow birch trees has been found. Apparently, these sneaky trees have been hiding out in the area since before Beethoven presented his famous Ninth Symphony. To many in the mid west or southern Ontario, these trees are no big deal. Around here they are. The wood of the white birch is extensively used for flooring, cabinetry and toothpicks. Most wood sold as birch in North America is from this tree. In fact it is listed as one of the 100 most common trees in North America but the stand this far north is quite an anomaly.
This map shows the natural habitat of Yellow Birch in North America.
I sit on our Local Citizens Advisory Committee to the MNR and we recently did a field trip to this stand of Yellow Birch.
A very old tree
A mid aged tree.
This particular stand of Betula alleghaniensis is special because it has all age classes. One tree (not the oldest) was sampled at 186 years old. There were saplings in the area too.
Even back in 1824, I can not imagine the fishing around here was any better than we have today. Check out Ignace Outposts and get your 2010 fly in fishing trip booked. We look forward to seeing you,
Brad
