Historic White Pine—Past , Present and Future…How the Land, People and Culture Were Transformed
Join me as we walk out into the forest with the snow underneath our feet, looking at the stories that the land holds for us. We see the majestic pine, the one that grows tall through the canopy, like a cathedral, and if you are still and quiet, you’ll hear them whispering. This is an incredible sound…the song of the whispering pines. Throughout the land, we see the majestic white pine that towers over the other trees and is the one that stands out similar to Mount Monadnock amongst all the older mountains that are now rolling hills.
Bears and Pines: Bears use these trees for their height and safety for their cubs. They also use them to keep cool in summer; taking a dip in the lake then climbing these trees close to the top, they sway in the breeze, “evapo cooling” in the treetops above where the wind is. They are brilliant. Next time you’re in bear country, look up and see them chilling out. Check out Lynn Rogers bears.org for amazing facts about bears.
Our Feathered Friends: I have seen countless pine trees having a height of 50 feet or more, and so many of them have squirrel nests (also called drays), hawks’, crows’ and even owls’ nests too. There are so many types of birds—from song birds to raptors and even water birds—where pine provides an important role in their daily life. If you look carefully under these trees, you can find feathers, skulls, bones, pellets and more.
A Historical Perspective: Long ago our white pine was shipped all over the world—England, Spain, Portugal and Africa—for its amazing quality of wood used by woodcarvers, furniture makers, and home builders too. One of the most important things was using the wood for the masts of ships. Every dominant white pine had the Royal Navy’s mark of the King (this was the king’s broad arrow)…a slash that was visible for all to see and it meant that this tree was the property of the English crown. This is what prompted the first of our forest conservation laws, which we still have today.
Today We’ve Learned So Much from our White Pine: We learned from our ancestors, the Native American people. 
When the Europeans first came over, they got sick, often with scurvy, and the native people helped to heal them with the white pine tree. Vitamin C is in the white pine tree. These photographs show how to make White Pine Tea, which is high in vitamin C (higher than any citrus in the world).
Being able to make white pine tea primitively—rock boil water in a container with the use of fire, and steeping the needles and a using a mortar and pestle in order to get the most amount of surface area to access the properties of the needles—is very empowering to connect with another perspective which helps our relationship with nature.
This tree also contains powerful antioxidants, pro vitamin A and vitamin E along with several B complex vitamins. It also contains several minerals, including potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and manganese and amino acids.
There is much that we can learn from the white pine…let’s remember that the next time we see one.