Cypress dating boring process
THE DAILY NEWS VARNADO The cypress king of Pigott's Swamp featured in a November issue of the Daily News is now known to be approximately 800 years old. Three core samples taken from the tree were examined and the rings counted. The age of 800 years is a "conservative estimate" made by Harvey Stern, coordinator for the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy, an organization dedicated to finding cypress trees that are at least as old as the Louisiana Purchase. After the November article was written about the tree, which is on land near Varnado owned by Ed Carroll, the existence of the tree was passed by word of mouth to Stern. When Stern heard about a cypress tree that measured 19 feet in circumference at the level of six feet from the ground, he was quite excited. He has been dating trees for some time and knew that most cypress trees that are 12 inches or larger in breast-height circumference are at least 200 years old and therefore as old as the Louisiana Purchase. While the circumference of a tree hundreds of years old varies depending on its location, access to nutrients and other ecological variables, Stern expected Carroll's tree to be at least as old as the Louisiana Purchase. After contacting Carroll, Stern made a trip to Washington Parish to take a core sample from the cypress. He checked Carroll's measurement and found the tree to be 18 feet 9 inches in circumference at breast height, about five feet from the ground. Using a small tool that can extract a 14-inch sample, he bored a hole in the tree and removed a sample so he could count the rings of the tree. Because the cypress was hollow in the middle and a 14-inch core was difficult to obtain, Stern took three samples for examination. When asked if coring could potentially expose the tree to disease or insect infestation and kill the tree, he said it was very unlikely. "When a tree is 75 years old or older," he explained, "they build up a resistance to insects and disease." After a sample is dried and sanded, the tree is dated by counting the rings under a microscope, determining what length of the radius the sample represents, and then extrapolating the probable age of the tree. Stern counted 48 rings on one sample, 75 rings on another and 80 rings on the third. He averaged the tree ring count and multiplied by the fraction of the radius the length represented to arrive at the age of 800 years. Stern said this is a conservative estimate and the tree could be as old as 1000 years of age. Dendrochronologist Margaret Devall has documented several trees in the Pearl River Basin at around 1000 years of age. Stern himself is an amateur and he sometimes has his counts corroborated by Devall. Since the rings on Carroll's tree were quite clear, he has no plans for corroboration this time. "The rings on Ed's tree are remarkably visible," he said; "little sanding was required. I counted the rings under a microscope at the UNO Biology lab and do not plan to get the count corroborated because they are so clear." While much of the old growth cypress in Louisiana was logged years ago, Stern has documented a number of large old cypress trees as Louisiana Purchase Trees. The largest bald cypress in the U.S. is located in Louisiana on Cat Island, which is owned by the Louisiana Nature Conservancy. It measures 53 feet in circumference at breast height. Carroll's tree is the first tree Stern took a core sample of in Washington Parish. He has found several cypress trees in the vicinity of Poole's Bluff that are probably 200 years old or older. Stern obtained several grants to aid him in his quest to document Louisiana Purchase cypress trees. He felt 2003 was a good year to begin the project since it was the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase and the 40th anniversary of the naming of the bald cypress as the official state tree. He hopes the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy will help people be more conscious of tree age and the need to preserve Louisiana's ecological heritage. The owner of each tree documented as a Louisiana Purchase Tree receives a plaque attesting to the tree's age. HISTORIC TIMELINE If the cypress tree proved to be 1000 years old, it would have been a seedling when in 1000 AD when Leif Eriksson, Viking explorer, discovered North America. If the tree is only 800 years old, it would have sprouted about the time the Magna Carta was signed by King John of England, restricting the power of the monarchy, particularly in matters of taxation. Without the Magna Carta,the issue of taxation without representation would never have been raised in the New World and the American Revolution may have never occurred. Historic happenings during life of cypress First 200 years:
Second 200 years:
Third 200 years:
Fourth 200 years:
THE DAILY NEWS |
Our purpose: to inventory, landmark, and promote the stewardship of cypress trees in Louisiana that are over 200 years old--alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase.
