In the 1890's a Douglas-fir tree sprouted in Lolo National Forest east of Missoula, Montana. In 2006, the tree was harvested as part of a forest restoration project. Its form and size were shaped by natural forces like the drought, floods, and fires of the 20th century. Its environment was shaped by human activities like the gold rush, the boom of logging, fire suppression, and the emergence of conservation and restoration. The markings of these hand-turned pens show climatic events that shaped this tree, this forest, and the American West. See the narrow and wide rings, and the related historical events in pen chronology.