100706LargestMNRedPineCX

							                                                                                                                                        The Lost Forty, home to the state champion red pine



                                                                                                                                                     Range of the red pine




                                                                                                                                                            CANADA
                                                                                                                                                                                      Current world
                                                                                                                                                                                      champion —
                                                                                                                                                                                      Located near
                                                                                                                                                                 U.S.                 Gogebic, Michigan
                                                                                                                                                                                      277 points
                                                                                 Here’s the
                                                                                 Tale of the Tape
                                                                                 for Minnesota’s                                                     20 MILES
                                                                                                                                                                 N
                                                                                 new champ:                                                             Upper Red              71
                                                                                 ●   Score:                                                               Lake
                                                                                                                                                                   Big Fork
                                                                                 245 points                                                                       Nat’l Forest       Big Fork
                                                                                 (Score for previous                                                                                   Chippewa
                                                                                 champion in Itasca State
                                                                                                                                                     Bemidji                         National Forest
                                                                                 Park: 258 points.)
                                                                                                                                                                                                        53
                                                                                 ●   Estimated age:                                                              Leech                     Grand
                                                                                                                                                                 Lake                      Rapids
                                                                                 350 years
                                                                                                                  ●




                                                                                                                                                                                    169            2
                                                                                                               Height: 120 feet




                                                                                 ●   Nominated by:
                                                                                 State Cloud State student
                                                                                 Jimmy McDonald                                                         Island     Moose                                27
                                                                                                                                                                                      31
                                                                                                                                                         Lake      Lake
                                                                                                                                                                               F.R         26
                                                                                                                                                        Chippewa National        . 22              31
                                                                                                                                                              Forest
                                                                                                                                                                                                Pomroy
                                                                                                                                                                                     40

                                                                            ●   Crown spread:   38 feet                                                Blackduck                                 Twp.
                                                                                                                                                                            Lost Forty      Dora
                                                                                                                                                                                            Lake
                                                                                                                                  A typical mature
                                                                                                                                  red pine has a     Alvwood              29    Kinghurst
                                                                                                                                  dense crown
                                                                                                                                  with upcurved       Twp.                        Twp.
                                                                                                                                  branches.
                                                                                                                                                                 46
                                                                                                                                                      2 MILES

                                                                                 ●   Circumference:
                                                                                 9 feet, 7 inches                                                                     RED PINES AND
      Adult                                                                                                                                                           THE BOREAL FOREST
    red pine                                                                                                                                                          Red pines are self-pruning,
Average height:                                                                                                                                                       tending not to have dead branches
 75 to 100 feet,                                                                                                                                                      on the lower trunk.
 but it can reach
   200 feet.
Trunk is straight
with little taper.                                                                                                                                                    Red pine bark is fire-resistant,
                               Mature flower              Two needles                                                                                                 its thick layers protecting the
                                cone (male)                per fascile                                                                                                sensitive cambium that relays
                                                        (needle sheath)
                                                                                                                                                                      nutrients to the upper tree.
                                               Red pines have male and female cones on the same tree.                                                                 This enables the species to
                                               Female cones are in the upper crown, male cones in the lower.                                                          survive forest fires.
                                                    Female cone during its stages of development
                                                           17 months        22 months         Mature cone
                                                          development      development         (female)
                                                                                                                                                                        Red pine needles contribute
                                                                                                                                                                        to the acidic duff that makes
                                                                                                                                                                        up the boreal forest floor,
                                                                                                                                                                        providing nutrients for all
 Juvenile red pine                                                                                                                                                      the understory plants.

Source: U.S. Forest Service;                                                                                                                                             ALEX LEARY, PIONEER PRESS