The Giving Nature of Trees, NPR's Morning Edition, and Sexing Your Pinecones
This silence in the timbers. A woodpecker on one of the trees taps out its story . Robert Haigh t* Each tree, too, has its own story, its own family, its own tribe. And even though we do not know if they give their lives willingly, we could not live or breathe without them. We fell them for their timber, for fuel for our fireplaces, and to grace our homes during the Christmas season. W e thin them to allow other nearby trees to mature and to help prevent insect infestation. In the small mountain community where I live , hundreds of Douglas fir and Ponderosa pines are being selectively felled for fire mitigation. We are using the straightest of the “poles” to build a new barn for our community herd of horses, a bittersweet project because the trees must die. But by this time next year, the barn will be built and the horses will be able to seek shelter on the leeward side, protected from the wind and rain an...