Manitoba Maple

photo credit By SriMesh (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Manitoba Maple (Acer Negundo) Box Elder

it is critical and in many ways the “GREAT WORK “  of our time to find ways to restore ecological function on a planetary scale  John Liu

This tree is a member of the maple tree family and is native to North America

Because it is a moisture loving plant, in the prairie biome, it  grows on flood plains, in riparian zones,  by rivers and where the ground water is high.  It can grow i a wide variety of soil types and tolerate light shade especially when being established.

The Manitoba Maple tree supports a variety of insects such as the Box Elder gall midge and the Box Elder bug.   Gall insects provide vital protein insects during the harshness of winter to birds like the Ruffled grouse that overwinter.  The seeds persist on the tree during the winter providing winter food to many birds and small mammals.  This is an important tree for the finch, the Evening Grosbeak.  It is believed that the planting of the Manitoba Maples has caused the range of this bird to extend far east of its original range.  Large Manitoba Maples provide nesting sites for songbirds especially for the Cerulean Warbler.  Deer and rabbits browse on leaves and twigs.  Even turtles feed on fallen leaves where trees overhang bodies of water.
 
This tree was used by native Americans.  The Sioux and the Cree tapped its sap to make syrup.  The Cheyenne used the wood to make bowls and the Dakota and Omaha people made the wood into charcoal

The wood of this tree breaks easily so it is not used for building or for furniture. It is a fast growing tree  and is grown for shelter belts where it prevents soil erosion and protects livestock from wind and snow.  It is being considered for use as  fiberboard

Trees play a vital ecological role on earth. Not only do they provide habitat and food for wildlife, but they provide the oxygen we breathe.  Through transpiration, they play a major role in the formation of clouds.  Clouds are vital for production of rainfall.  The loss of trees and forests is one the reasons deserts are forming.  Trees sequester carbon and the clouds they produce,  reflect back some of the sun’s rays, cooling the earth and protecting it from global warming.

Growing trees beside a ditch, stream or water body protects that water from agricultural pollutants such as chemical pesticides,herbicides, nitrogen and phosphorus.  A forest buffer beside a water body has been shown to be the most effective and cheapest way to keep nitrogen and phosphorus out of major water bodies.  Understanding the vital roles that trees play, help us to treasure and revere trees.   For what can be more valuable that the air we breathe and the water we drink




http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/box_elder.htm#insects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evening_grosbeak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_negundo
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Boisea_trivittata/

http://www.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/bookstore_pdfs/12155.pdf
http://www.naturenorth.com/winter/grouse/Frgrse.html
http://www.sgiquarterly.org/feature2015jan-4.html
http://blog.cifor.org/22060/report-forests-may-play-bigger-role-in-rainfall-than-estimated#.VaPsBUtYVuY
http://www.forestclimate.org/desert.html