Conifer Forests

Near the river stands a patch of conifer trees, part of a landscape in this part of Minnesota where conifer forests often survive only in small patches and sometimes blend into other habitat zones. Conifers produce cones and include pines, spruces, cedars, firs, and tamaracks; jack pines can form savanna habitats that mix prairie and woodland species, some older stands were planted as windbreaks or landscaping, and tamarack stands grow in wetlands among trees such as elm, ash, and spruce. In the 1800s, settler-colonists prized pine as building material, and loggers flooded the valley to cut every pine large enough for boards, with logs hauled to the shore of the St. Croix River in 1892 and lumber from the St. Croix Valley used to build homes and barns across the Midwest, from St. Louis, Missouri, to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Farmers then cleared entire fields, and together logging and farming transformed the local landscape. Although broadleaf trees usually out-compete conifers under ideal conditions, conifers thrive where conditions are difficult, including rocky or sandy soils, wetlands for tamaracks, and dry prairie where white pines spread quickly without fire. Conifers also help create favorable conditions for themselves because their acidic needles build up over time into acidic soils to which they are better adapted than deciduous competitors.

Minnesota · United States