Growing a Forest

Nearby red pines stand in perfect rows as one of more than two dozen tree plantations at Peninsula, planted about 1924. Foresters thinned the plantation in 1978 to create sunny gaps for emerging hardwoods, and cut stumps remain visible. Red pine is identified by paired needles that grow 2-6 inches and by reddish, scaly bark. It grows fast, with the distance between limbs showing one year's growth, usually one to two feet. In the 1920s, local men planted trees under the direction of Park Manager A.E. Doolittle, and in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the U.S. Government employed men to do similar work as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose camp at Peninsula was located in the southwest corner of the park.

Gibraltar, Wisconsin · United States