What Happened

What Happened. To the Northern Pine Forests of the St. Croix River Valley?. , By 1890, 53 years after logging began in the forests that were predicted to last forever, enough trees were cut in one year along the St. Croix to build 50,000 houses. Hundreds of thousands of people across the Midwest lived in houses made from trees cut in this river valley., Twelve years later, so few large trees were left that logging companies began buying timber rights in western states and shutting down their operations here. No new trees were planted to replace those that were cut. By 1912, the big pine forests were gone. The wildlife that lived in the branches and on the ground in the deep shade of the pines had vanished., The pines around you were planted in the 1950's by farmers who hoped to sell them when they got big enough. Wild River State Park will preserve these trees, but growing close together in straight rows, they will never make a natural pine forest like the one that once stretched from here to Canada. Walking the needle-covered ground beneath these trees gives you only a faint echo of what it was like to be in an old-growth forest of really big pines., Many plants and animals are no longer found in this area because the shelter, soil, moisture and shade conditions of the old-growth white pine forests are gone. If you could turn back time, would you try to change what happened?, To see some of the park's biggest remaining white pines, visit the trail along Dry Creek behind the park office. You will see several large pines – less than half the size of the trees of the pre-logging era, but still impressive., To find out more about pine forests and logging on the St. Croix River, see the logging and biodiversity exhibits at the park's visitor center. Walk to the overlook at Nevers Dam Site near the park picnic area to learn about the biggest wooden logging dam ever built., [addendum] , The white pine stand where this exhibit is located is a result of the dedicated efforts of Rodney and Elaine Olson and their family. The Olsons planted white and red pines on their land, which included this spot and the area between here and the horse camp to the west. The trees were planted during the 1950s, many of them by hand. The Olsons sold the land to the state of Minnesota in 1975, and it became part of the new Wild River State Park.