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dreamshark) wrote2021-08-22 10:59 am
Preachers Grove, wide angle lens
Preachers Grove is one of the two iconic features of Itasca State Park. It's just a grove of 300-year-old red pines on the shores of Lake Itasca. So simple, but so moving. I decided to experiment with the new wide angle lens in my new iPhone - not sure if I like the effect or not. Apparently it results in a massively larger image than the same picture shot normally. Anyway, it's so big that it nearly exceeds Dreamwidth's size limit for posting pictures by email (which is why there is only one image on this post).
Although this grove looks like this is just what happens when you leave nature alone for people to appreciate, that is clearly not the case. A big part of the signage here is about fire. This is virgin timber in the sense that it was never logged over, but apparently it did burn to the ground and regerminate back in the early 1700's. Then there is some verbiage about the relationship between fire and pine forest and how there are really only two choices: let it burn periodically and hope the mature pines survive or clear out the brush. Although they don't quite complete the thought on that sign, if you've been paying attention you realize that this is one of the few sections of the park where they are still following option #2. Unlike the overgrown shoreline near our cabin and pretty much everyplace else in the park that is not hardwood savanna, the Park Service has been assiduously grooming this popular spot.
Which makes me worry about the rest of the park. All of northern Minnesota is under extreme fire watch right now, with all fires forbidden in the park (even in fireplaces) so it was hard not to think about fire all the time. Back when the CCC boys were here (which, you may recall, was during a period of historic drought) they constructed a fire break around the entire park. Needless to say, that hasn't been maintained. Nobody likes clear cutting or controlled burns, but consider the alternative. Meanwhile the Greenwood fire in the Arrowhead continues to grow. 