History and Culture by Bicycle: 10/28/2018

Located within Ponca State Park, near Ponca, Nebraska, is the old Wolf Oak Tree. This tree is one of the oldest known standing oak trees in the united States.

Timeline:
1644 - The park woodlands looked very different during pre-settlement. Fire was the largest ecological force in the Missouri River bluff ecosystem. Fire formed a mosaic of plant communities. Basswood, red oak, black oak and hickories densely populated the somewhat fire-protected bottoms along the Missouri River and on low north-and east-facing slopes of the bluffs. Higher on these bluffs the woodlands were dominated by the more drought- and fire-tolerant bur oak.

In southeastern Nebraska the chinkapin oak grew on these drier sites. These dry west- and south-facing slopes and ridge tops supported tallgrass prairie and an oak savannah, which is a prairie with scattered oak trees. Constant fire, likely caused by lightening strikes, discouraged the encroachment of trees in these prairie areas and limited the densities of woodlands in savannah environments. As a result the Ponca Wolf Oak probably originally sprouted and developed with only a few other trees on its home acre.

William Penn, founder of the Pennsylvania Colony was born.

September 17, 1787 - The tree was 143 years old when the U.S. Constitution is signed.

1804 - 1806 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition, The Corps of Discovery takes place. they travel up back on the Missouri River and come very close to where the oak tree is standing.

1867 - Nebraska becomes a state of the union. the oak tree is 233 years old.

1967 - The Ponca Wolf Oak was core sampled by staff of the now Nebraska Forest Service. It is estimated to be 320 years old.

Since 1967 53 years have been added to the age of the tree.

2006 - The burr oak tree was named: “Old Wolf Tree” and designated as a “Nebraska Heritage Tree” by the Nebraska Community Forestry Council and the Nebraska Forest Service.