Wal-Mart has agreed to stop selling Louisiana cypress mulch, but much more needs to be done to protect the state's iconic tree.

From the 10-23-07 issue of New Orleans' Gambit Weekly newspaper. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2007-10-23/news_feat.php

The La. House of Representatives declared August 2003 as Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy Month. Follow this link to see Resolution No. 120 by Representative Townsend.

Louisiana Environmentalist Magazine cover story on Cypress Swamps in the Mississippi Valley

Come on a brief voyage of discovery into Louisiana's environmental history. Begin a search through our rich legacy for clues to the past and lessons for the future.

In this retrospective adventure, we'll view Louisiana through some of the accounts of the early explorers. The Louisiana they saw teemed with wildlife -- parakeets, bison, bears, and waterfowl. It contained impenetrable cypress swamps, dense canebrakes, vast park-like forests of longleaf pine, majestic oak cheniers, endless trembling marshes, and sweeping prairies aflame with wildflowers. » More

FAMILY TREE: Beloved cypress given honor

The big baldcypress tree in front of Leona Epstein's Uptown home was marked with a plaque Tuesday because of its historic importance. But it was the mighty presence of the tree that beckoned Epstein in 1959.

So taken with the towering cypress was Epstein that she and her husband, Arthur, bought the two-story house it shades at 1664 Robert St. and raised four children there. » More

Cypress dating boring process

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. » More