Sugar maples comprise much of our forest here in north-west Lower Michigan, especially since the emerald ash borer killed all the ash trees and two diseases are killing all the beech trees. The classic ‘maple-beech’ climax forest is gone. This old maple lives a few miles from my house, along a steep trail within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The park service has placed a bench across from the tree as a resting place, halfway up the hill. I sat on the bench for many hours one October, drawing the tree as the yellow leaves fell gently around me. The centuries-old tree is in a forest ...

 

There are approximately 145 more words in this article.

To read the rest of this article, please buy this issue, or join the Resurgence Trust. As a member you will receive access to the complete archive of magazines from May 1966.

Buy Issue Join Us

If you are already a member, please Sign in