Norway white pines stand heads above Northeast
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

NORWAY – Naturalist Bruce Kershner has a passion for ancient trees.

He’s made it his life’s work. The New York resident has been all over the Northeast searching for virgin old growth forests that have never been logged or developed.

In August, he decided to check out Ordway Grove, listed by the Maine Forestry Department as part of its critical areas program. It’s a small nine-acre forest owned by the Twin Town Nature Club located off Pleasant Street just outside of the village.

When he saw the size and height and age of the 70-odd white pines there, he was stunned. A quick check showed some of the trees topping out at 150 feet, making them the tallest white pines in the Northeast. Maine’s official record for the tallest white pine is 132 feet tall, according to the Web site, championtrees.org.

He ran to the town office, full of enthusiasm with his news.

“It’s not just that you’ve got the tallest trees, you’ve got virgin forest there hearkening back to Indian times that have genetic selection to be the tallest,” Kershner said. “These are superior genetic stock. They are world class, and these are very valuable.”

Kershner estimated the age of some of the larger trees, with 12-foot or better diameter, at 230 to 350 years old. “They were able to sustain and evolve and eventually reach the top.”

On Monday, he was back with a team of colleagues and Maine Forest Service officials, to document his findings using state-of-the-art technology.

Using a laser range finder that sends a laser beam to the top branches of the trees, and a clinometer to measure the angle, Kershner documented heights of 145 feet and above. He was confident that by the end of the day he’d find one 150 feet tall or taller, qualifying it as a national “champion tree.”

He said as much to Norway Town Manager David Holt, who came along for the tour. Holt just smiled. Although open to the public, the existence of Ordway Grove is not widely publicized. A small sign on Pleasant Street directs people to a narrow right of way.

“These are the real kings of Maine. Old growth trees are holy,” said Kershner, who thinks Norway should do more to promote its unique virgin forest. His love of old growth forests dates back to the cathedral pines preserve in Connecticut in the 1970s, and next March he and his colleague Bob Leverett will publish the Sierra Club Guide to Ancient Forests of the Northeast.

Maine Forest Service Forester Merle Ring of Otisfield was on hand for the field trip. “I knew they were old, but I never figured they were that high,” he said. Ring said the genetic makeup of the trees is important to the Maine Forest Service, perhaps not in the short term, “but in the long term.”

Also impressed by the pines was Michael DeBonis, director of the Maine Forest Service’s Project Canopy, an effort to encourage long-term community forestry programs.

Ordway Grove was first preserved by Samuel Ames, who settled in Norway in 1789. John Ordway bought the grove in 1864, and it went though several different hands until it was bought in 1901 by Don Seitz. After he sold it in 1927 and the trees were threatened by lumbering in 1930, Seitz found an anonymous donor to buy it back. It was officially deeded to the Twin Town Nature Club in 1931.

Club member Vivian Akers wrote the Maine Forest Service in 1930, alerting the agency of the pending threat to the trees, and got this reply, from then Forest Commissioner Neil Violette.

“The village of Norway is unique in having within a few minutes walk of its business district an undisturbed virgin forest which was sheltering the Indians a long time before the first white settler arrived,” Violette wrote. “The present utilitarian value of this stand of pine in dollars and cents is in no way comparable to its value to the citizens … as a representative of the past, as a haven for lovers of nature, as a playground for their children.”

Kershner said despite the club’s commitment to preserve the tree stand, Ordway Grove is “unappreciated by the rest of the state,” and development pressures could still pose a threat in the future.

“That’s why if you don’t tell people where these treasures are, it’s amazing how threatened they become when dollars are involved.” he said.

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