Semper Viridis: How Maine Became the Pine Tree State

In 1945 the Maine Senate designated the white pine as Maine\u27s state tree, deepening a cultural association between the tree and the state that emerged organically over many years. The process whereby an object in nature gradually becomes a symbol for a region and its people involves a complex interplay of forces. In the white pine\u27s case, these forces range from evolutionary biology to colonialism, economics and our changing relationship with nature over time