Grandfather Tree

There is a large white pine tree at Au Sable called the Grandfather Tree.  This tree is greatly loved by the children that visit Au Sable.  The tree sprouted in the year 1880.  In the year 1900 Louie Sands bought the land that is now Au Sable.  He sent his loggers to harvest all the white pines from the property.  The Grandfather Tree was only 20 years old and deemed too small to take.  After the logging the land looked very different.  The sun was able to reach the forest floor for the first time in hundreds of years.  The white pine branches that were left behind baked in the sun.

In 1923 a spark from a train traveling on the track that is now Sunset Trail ignited the dried branches.  A forest fire began and raged for two days.  After the fire only one tree was left standing.  The Grandfather Tree. 

Since the beginning of the environmental education program in 1977, children have visited the Grandfather Tree and judged its size by linking arms to see how big around it was.  Peering up to its top it was easy to see that it was the tallest tree at Au Sable.  Its height spelled its doom.  In 1992 this much-loved tree was struck by lightening.  The bark exploded off.  Without its cambium, xylem, and phloem the tree died.  The children were sad but soon became interested in investigating claw marks and other wildlife signs.  Who was using the Grandfather Tree as a home?

Another chapter has begun for the Grandfather Tree.  This past October we had a violent wind storm.  The Grandfather Tree cracked in half and fell.  The Grandfather Tree is no longer a wildlife hotel but has turned into a wildlife motel.  What animals will we discover using this new habitat?