Continuing the "biodiversity and sports" series today, Lindsay is again the author. Today's photographs are both via forestryimages.org, the first by Richard Webb (image | Creative Commons License) and the second by Keith Kanoti (image | CC License). Thank you!
Before starting today's entry, next month's International Year of Biodiversity theme at UBC Botanical Garden is "Biodiversity and the North". For BPotD, we're going to be looking for images of plant species that live in arctic or subarctic conditions. I know there are some potential photographs in the Flickr pool, but if you are a photographer on Flickr and know some of your own images that would be appropriate, please tag them with "iybmar", so we can quickly locate them. I have some photographs to share, but they will be from southern Alaska and Yukon. It'd be good to have some from Scandinavian countries or elsewhere (Siberia, anyone?).
Lindsay writes:
Snowshoes are thought to be one of the earliest and most important innovations in transportation technology, with evidence of a kind of primitive "ski shoe" being used in Asia around 6000 BCE. Composed of slabs of wood lashed onto the bottoms of feet, this early technology is also believed to have diverged with human dispersement. Peoples that settled in present-day Scandinavian countries developed the early design into the Nordic ski. Those peoples that moved eastward into North America created snowshoes resembling those seen today (link has photographs). It is believed that the crossing of the Bering Strait was made possible by the invention of the ski shoe.
Due to the manufacturing process and use, wood used in the fabrication of wooden snowshoes must be both tough and pliable. The wood of choice for First Nations in eastern North America was Fraxinus americana (or white ash), though birch, larch and willows are among the types of trees also sometimes used. Also commonly known as American ash, this large deciduous tree is found in mesophytic hardwood forests from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota and south to northern Florida. Unfortunately, the wood of white ash is susceptible to rot, so First Nations had to use the resin of several spruce species (red, white and black) mixed with animal fat to seal the wooden frame.
There are several traditional styles of snowshoes whose origin depended on locale and activity. Begining in the 1830s, the first recreational snowshoe clubs were established. In the 1970s, snowshoes began to make extensive use of synthetic materials and lightweight metals to replace natural materials (e.g., those developed by the Sherpa Snowshoe Company). This has led to a resurgence in the popularity of snowshoe recreation in the past couple decades, with events such as the Yeti Snowshoe Series.
Ash wood of course can be shaped easily after soaking in boiling water.
These are stunning, healthy street trees, at least in Seattle. In my old neighborhood,there were some white ash(as seen above) and a form that turned beautifully purple,too. Not sure which one that was, but I'm pretty sure it was Fraxinus americana.
Too bad the Emerald Ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is moving across North America. Will probably be very devastating to many areas.
Don't they use ash for baseball bats?
Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. oxycarpa – Claret Ash or Raywood Ash
I believe this is the Seattle street tree Tom is talking about. It's on 35th Ave NE from NE95th to NE110th Streets.
fine handsome tree we have them in florida
write up is fine even eating utensils were
made of wood thank you lindsay and daniel
re next month bio the flora from iceland
would be interesting or florida its cold
Wood of the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior)is the wood used to make 'hurleys' the type of bat used in the Irish national sport hurling. The wood is chosen because of its shock absorbing properties.
For use of ash see:
http://www.teagasc.ie/advisory/alternatives/200001/pdfs_060626/35_ASHFORHURLEY.pdf
and to see hurleys in action in the fastest game on grass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmzivRetelE
Enjoy
Brian
Snowshoes allowed the First Nations people to follow the caribou who don't have set migration routes. The snowshoe meant that the people could travel wherever the caribou went. This invention helped the spread of people all over North America.
For Americans - we call First Nations people Native Americans in the USA. Canada has settled on the term First Nations but both terms refer to the same groups of indigenous peoples present in North America before the arrival of Europeans.
Wendy, I do know that there is a company in Ottawa that makes baseball bats out of maple, rather than ash. Ash bats are prone to breaking, and they dent when making contact with the ball meaning they absorb energy rather than transferring it. Look up the SAM BAT. There is a great writeup on wood research and baseball bats located at: http://www.sambat.com/about-us.aspx
Hope this does not anticipate an already extant Photo of the Day entry planned for later in this series.
But the Folsom people from europe were here first.
Thank-you for the very interesting link David. Speaking as a woodturner I think maple makes good sesnse. I also like the idea of a Canadian firm supplying the American national sport.