Minnesota's monster trees and those who hunt them
5/22/2015
Minneapolis StarTribune

By Tori J. McCormick

Riley Smith is a big-tree hunter. A documenter of what he calls the silent witnesses of history.

The Plymouth college student will log hundreds of miles this summer on foot, in a canoe and behind the wheel, trying to give voice to the state’s largest native tree species. His summer travels could take Smith — armed with two range finders, a 100-foot tape measure, a GPS and assorted other gear — to a green space near a suburban strip mall or the remote reaches of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. His goal: hunt, find and measure a record big tree and have it placed on the state’s Big Tree Registry.

“I’ve always been fascinated by trees. They live in one place, sometimes for centuries. They watch as generation after generation pass by and as communities grow and change around them,” said Smith, 18, an urban forestry major at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. “That intrigues me. Being a big-tree hunter allows me to be a part of Minnesota’s evolving natural history. That intrigues me, too.”

MORE​


​​

Article Tags

Admissions; CNR; Sustainable