A cluster of 70-year old windswept Sitka spruce in Adak (photo by R.Wild, 7/1/2013)

In 1943-1945, under the direction of Army General Buckner, the military undertook a massive tree planting effort to boost the morale of the troops. It is evident that the general wasn’t a forester; the effort to spruce-up the windswept tundra was a failure. A few stunted trees persist in protected ravines scattered across the north-half of the island, bearing witness to the harsh and unforgiving climate in the Aleutians.