Sitka Spruce - British Columbia

Negotiating the Pacific border between Canada and the United States had been difficult. Canada feared the United States may try to bridge the land gap between the territories of Washington and Alaska at Canada’s expense. To offset this threat, British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation as a province in July, 1871.

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Picea sitchensis - The Sitka spruce is one of forty species in the Pinaceae family, the conifer trees. Growing to heights of 100 meters, it is the tallest spruce tree. The shallow root system of the Sitka make it vulnerable to toppling over in high winds and the thin bark offers little protection when forest fires ravage the landscape. These fires can destroy thousands of acres, but they also help to enrich the soil for the seeds of the next generation. The Sitka spruce is found along the rain corridor and coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest.

Monkey Puzzle Tree - Chile

Araucaria araucana - The monkey puzzle tree is native to the Andes Mountains of Central Chile and Argentina. It is distributed along the lower slopes of the Central Andes and is one of the hardier conifer trees. The trunk has a diameter of 2 meters and reaches heights of 40 meters. There are about twenty pine trees producing seeds large enough to warrant harvesting, the monkey puzzle being one. The indigenous Pehuenche people used these seeds as an important food source.

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Monte Verde is an archaeological site in Southern Chile. It has provided evidence of human arrival in the Americas much sooner than earlier calculations. The Clovis First Theory, named after a site in New Mexico, had placed the arrival of the first humans into the Americas, via the Bering Strait land bridge, at about 13,000 years ago. Artifacts from the Monte Verde site have been carbon dated to 14,000 years ago. This refreshes the debate of when and how the first humans arrived in the Americas.

Western White Pine - Idaho

Lewiston is a small city located at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater River in Idaho’s Nez Perce County. Despite being more than 500 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean, Lewiston is the furthest inland port on the western Pacific coast. It can be reached by some ocean going vessels via the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

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Pinus monticola - The western white pine is a tree found throughout the mountain regions of the Northwestern United States. It attains an average height of 40 meters and features long slender cones growing to lengths of 12 to 32 centimeters when mature. The seeds are small and fixed with winglets to assist in the dispersal process. The needles are grouped in bundles of five, fascicles, and are finely serrated. The white pine forests have declined from the infestation of the pine beetle, pine blister rot, and surprisingly, forest fire suppression.

Trees of North America

In their zeal to either convert or displace the natives and in their quest for treasure, the first Europeans in the Americas overlooked the most valuable asset the newly discovered lands had to offer, its trees. Stretching inwards from the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, vast areas of pristine forests covered the continent. This resource was bountiful and stood as a solid barrier for many years after the first landing of the Europeans. The forests served more as a hindrance to the eager settlers in their westward expansion than any threat from Native American attack or the width of the large rivers they needed to ford.

Once the exploitation of these forests began, it was done with ruthlessness leaving lingering scars. The indiscriminate logging procedures of those early years was a direct result of the lack of foresight in creating a program of forest management. The demand for lumber and the wealth it provided the logging barons became the inspiration for designing machinery to allow harvesting the colossal trees having stood unmolested for hundreds of years. The trees were cut down on a scale equal to a mechanical reaper slicing its way over a ripened wheat field. It is estimated only 1% of old growth forests survived this onslaught.

Sequoia sempervirens, the coast redwood, is the world’s tallest conifer species. It grows to towering heights of 76 meters and reaching diameters of almost 8 meters. The red color of the sequoia is derived from the high tannin content. Pseudotsuga taxifolia, the Douglas fir, is not a true fir; it is a species of conifer and the second tallest conifer in the world. The western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla, flourishes best in moist settings. The eastern white pine, Pinus strobus, grows to heights of 30 meters and has mature cones growing to 20 centimeters in length at maturity.

Flaky Juniper - Afghanistan

Juniperus squamata - Flaky juniper is found throughout the Himalayan Plateau stretching from Afghanistan across to Central China and ranging between 1,300 to 4,800 meter in altitudes. The cone of the flaky juniper has the appearance of a berry and contains only one seed. Cones are the structures of conifer trees containing either the seeds or pollen for reproduction. The woody cones are the female structures holding the seeds. The males cones are less conspicuous and carry the pollen.

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The Kushan Empire was founded by Kujula Kadphises in the 1st century and was based near the Amu River and later at Kabul. The Kushan Empire reached its peak under Kanishka the Great. Under his reign, the boundaries of the empire were pushed from Southern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to Northern India and from Pakistan to Western China. The empire began to fracture into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century and fell into permanent decline with the arrival of the Sassanians.

Lebanon Cedar - Lebanon

The Beqaa Valley is located 30 kilometers to the east of Beirut and served as an important agricultural asset to the Roman Empire when the area was under their control. The importance of the Beqaa Valley remains evident today; the fertile valley accounts for approximately 40% of Lebanon’s arable land.

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Cedrus libani - The Lebanon cedar tree is an evergreen tree growing to 45 meters in height and 2.5 meters in diameter. In ancient times it was used locally and exported to distant markets. The wood, oils, and resins of the Lebanon cedar were of exceptional quality. The Phoenicians used the lumber for building commercial and military vessels, the oil was used as an insect repellant or as a base for paint. The resins were incorporated by the Egyptians as one of the crucial ingredients in their mummification process.

Aleppo Pine - Montenegro

Pinus halepensis - The Aleppo pine is native to the Mediterranean region. It is usually found growing along coastal areas, preferring lower altitudes ranging between sea level and 200 meters. In warmer climates it can be found at higher altitudes, but rarely exceeds 1,700 meters. It is a fast growing tree producing a hardy and dense wood. It is tolerant of drought conditions. The Aleppo pine is widely planted for ornamental value and for its use in the commercial timber industry.

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The principality of Montenegro was proclaimed in 1852 by Danilo I Petrović-Njegoš, but did not achieve full recognition from other European powers until a Montenegrin army routed Turkish forces at the Battle of Grahovac in 1858. By 1910, under Nicolas I, Montenegro styled itself as a Kingdom. Siding with Serbia in World War I, the country was quickly taken over by Austria-Hungary. In 1918, Montenegro and several other Balkan entities were formed into Yugoslavia; it became an independent country in 2006.

Norway Spruce - Norway

Picea abies - The Norway spruce is a fast growing tree. Under ideal conditions, it can add 1 meter of growth each year for the first 25 years of its life. The tree grows into a pyramid shape, attaining heights ranging from 35 to 55 meters and supported by a trunk of 1 to 1.5 meters in diameter. The Norway spruce is a disease resistant tree often used for reforestation purposes; it is also used widely in the timber business. As a monoecious tree, the Norway spruce has the ability of self-pollination.

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Prior to the unification of Norway in 872, the area consisted of several “petty” kingdoms. Most of these realms were made up of a local chieftain leading a small cluster of villages, a few others were structured entities with ambitious and princely rulers. Archaeological records provide evidence of about twenty such kingdoms having existed. In 872, King Harald Fairhair unified the various fiefdoms into the Kingdom of Norway and reigned over the newly created state until his death in 930.

Bermudan Juniper - Bermuda

Juan de Bermúdez, a Spanish explorer, discovered an uninhabited Bermuda in 1505. Left unsettled, the island was used as a replenishing point for Spanish and Portuguese crews crossing the Northern Atlantic. Great Britain, through a charter granted to the Virginia Company, began to officially settle Bermuda in 1612.

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Juniperus bermudiana - The Bermudan juniper tree is one in about 60 species making up the Juniperus genus. Junipers vary in configuration; there are tall trees measuring up to 20 meters and ground level shrubs with long trailers. The Bermudan juniper grows to about 15 meters in height. The first arrivals on Bermuda found the tree growing throughout the island, but clearing the forest for agricultural and shipbuilding purposes brought the Bermudan juniper and those animals relying on the tree for food or shelter into sharp decline.

Chinese Hemlock - Taiwan

Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, a name derived from the term “Ilha Formosa,” Portuguese for “Beautiful Island,” was sighted by Portugal in 1544, but they made no attempt to settle. The Dutch East India Company was the first to establish a trading settlement in 1624. The Dutch were expelled by the Ming Dynasty in 1662.

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Tsuga formosana - The Chinese hemlock is found in the mixed broadleaf and conifer forests of the southern and central mountains of Taiwan. It grows to heights of 50 meters and is supported by a trunk with a diameter of 2 meters. The seeds develop “wings,” a design feature to allow the seed to be dispersed further away from the parent tree. The bark of the Chinese hemlock has a high concentration of tannin, an ingredient used for the manufacturing of natural dyes. The timber is used in the construction and furniture industry.