Michigan Forest Life - August 16, 2025

Greetings from the Treehouse at Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary. 

If an ancient tree could talk, what would it tell us? (Photo 1) 

Would it describe life as a small seedling, hidden by a blanket of ferns, starving for a few rays of sunlight? Would it remember the large eyes of the deer that walked by, foraging for food; the deer that ate two seedlings close by, then looked curiously at this seedling and moved on?

How about the next dry spring when the seedling clung to life by reaching deeper with its roots into the ground, following the soil's moisture? Or when the tree could first feel mycorrhizal fungi attach to its roots; a life saver that helped to transfer carbon from its nearby parent and also to absorb minerals and moisture from the forest soil?

Would the tree tell us about the Ojibwe hunter looking for a lost arrow who walked by as a sapling? Or when acorns began to appear on its branches? 

Would the tree reflect on the family of squirrels who built a nest in its branches? Would it report squirrels racing along its limbs? 

Would the tree remember wild turkeys that roosted in its top branches at night, then glided to the ground in the morning? Would it remember the song birds and large hawk that nested in its canopy? 

I wonder what the tree would say about all the tall white pines that were cut down around it?. Human loggers took them all. How long was it before this oak had company again?

What did it think when a human planted tree seedlings around it? Red pines. Planted like rows of corn.

Would it tell us about the black bear mother that stood against its trunk and clawed deep gouges into its bark?

Would the tree remember when barbwire was first nailed to its side? The fence is long gone, but does the tree still feel the piece of rusty, old steel it carries inside? Would it understand the No Trespassing sign once nailed to its trunk? 

"What is trespassing?" the tree had asked.

Would the tree remember the young boy who nailed a board to two of its branches, and came often to sit on the board with a book to read? What did the tree think about the stories the boy read to it? "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "Black Beauty", "My Side of the Mountain".

Would the tree remember the three human children who held hands and tried to hug the trunk all the way around? They could not, the trunk was already too large.

Would it tell us about the wind storm that took out one of its bifurcated trunks? Or the ice storm that broke a mighty arm from its side? Could it feel these pieces returning to the soil and being absorbed by its own roots?

Would it now recognize offspring of the owl who raised three owlets in a hollow that developed where the limb broke off?

Would it remember the picnic and the humans with a campfire who pitched a tent in its shade?

Would the tree think it too much information to tell us about the couple who embraced under the umbrella of its branches? A passionate kiss. Would it know of the world war that took the boy - like the ice storm that took the limb?

What would the tree tell us about oak blight that finally stopped life from flowing through its veins?  And the millions of microorganisms that now occupy its shell? And even in death, does it speak about the thick circle of cherry saplings that fills the area below its barkless branches; a gift from song birds that perched on its lifeless limbs.

If a tree could talk, what would it tell us?

I wish you a sense of wonder... and an old tree to dream about. 

Until next time,

Dan