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A Forest Grew for Millennia in North America Without Anyone Noticing
- nxzero 10y agoReminds me of how one man accidentally killed the oldest tree ever: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-accidentally-killed-the-oldest-tree-ever-125764872/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-acciden... Then of course there's this article, "Vintage Photos of Lumberjacks and the Giant Trees They Felled" http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vintage-photos-of-lumberjacks-and-the-giant-trees-they-felled http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vintage-photos-of-lumbe...
- rev_bird 10y agoThe oldest bald cypress tree in the world grew in Florida for 3,500 years. Then it was burned down by a woman smoking meth inside of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Senator_(tree) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Senator_(tree)
- Ericson2314 10y ago:(
- pavel_lishin 10y agoOne thing I never understood is, were there other trees around that one? Are they also as old?
- maxerickson 10y agoIt's mentioned at the end of the link that an older tree has since been recorded. Note the photo and think about counting 5000 age rings on a pencil (roughly the situation with a core) and I think it becomes clear that 'recorded' is an important part of it.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- xufi 10y agoDefinitely. Thats how I I started recognizing the older trees from the sequoias I believe which are one of the oldest species of trees out there.
- timmaah 10y agoYes.. There are forests of the bristlecones. Most are hundreds and thousands of years old. The one that guy felled just happened to be the oldest of the group.
- Someone 10y agoHow would we know? AFAIK, we don't have ways to determine the age of a tree, other than counting rings. As for accidents with trees, the Ténéré tree (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ténéré_Tree https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ténéré_Tree), an acacia tree that was standing alone in the middle of the Sahara, is worth mentioning.
- smhenderson 10y agoHow would we know? In the story linked above they didn't know for sure, they just knew it was the oldest they had found yet. From that article: Now, Currey almost certainly didn’t fell the oldest tree ever. There are forests in the White Mountains, and elsewhere, where trees currently standing are probably far older than his Prometheus tree. We just don’t know about them. And then beneath that an update proving that he hadn't knocked down the oldest tree after all... Update February 10, 2016: Since this article was written, an older tree was identified in the White Mountains, California. The tree is also a bristlecone pine and is thought to be over 5,000 years old.
- macintux 10y agoThanks, I'd never encountered the story of the Ténéré tree.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- 8_hours_ago 10y agoIn 1876, not long after the giant sequoia trees were (re)discovered by settlers in California, a cross section of a large tree was sent to the east coast where it was dismissed as a hoax. The giant sequoias still seem like a hoax when viewed up close; their scale is truly enormous. Although I am glad that they are protected now, it would have been an amazing sight to see them being logged. I highly recommend visiting Sequoia National Park if you have the chance.
- ajtaylor 10y agoI was there in January and you're absolutely right - they are far, far larger than I ever imagined! Standing beside one, you basically disappear compared to the tree.
- SixSigma 10y agoSee also Ming the Mollusk, the oldest clam ever found, was 507 years old, according to tests. But Ming died prematurely thanks to the scientists who determined the age. http://reviewjournal.com/news/worlds-oldest-clam-killed-scientists-507-years-old http://reviewjournal.com/news/worlds-oldest-clam-killed-scie...
- mason240 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Escarpment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Escarpment
- chongli 10y agoHow soon before word gets around and tons of people start climbing the cliffs to see the trees? Hopefully we find a way to protect them before then.
- pavel_lishin 10y agoThe cliffs sound small enough and difficult enough to scale that you wouldn't have "tons" of tourists, and it's possible that those areas are already protected.
- wimagguc 10y agoLook what happened to Mt. Everest: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/02/travel/feat-mount-everest-trash-pickup-expedition/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/02/travel/feat-mount-everest-... -- there's no "small enough" or "difficult enough to scale" (or "protected") when it comes to tourism.
- nibs 10y agoI grew up five minutes away from the escarpment, near Guelph. I used to climb those cliffs as a kid. For the most part, respectful use is encouraged. Not a lot has changed since I was a kid with respect to these cliffs or the nature in and around them so I guess that is good. If you are curious what is being done, check this out: http://www.greenbelt.ca/ http://www.greenbelt.ca/
- goodcanadian 10y agoIt is already a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/biosphere-reserves/europe-north-america/canada/niagara-escarpment/ http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ec...
- cmrdporcupine 10y agoAnd protection of it is pretty pathetic. I live in an area that seems to have free license to build new subdivisions on it (Waterdown bypass, Waterdown rd expansion, 'Waterdown south' developments). That said, I believe rock climbing is forbidden @ Rattlesnake point and surrounding area where these trees I believe are located.
- MiguelVieira 10y agoAncient forests like this are not too rare in the United States. You can find a list of them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_old-growth_forests#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_old-growth_forests#Uni... Disclosure: I compiled most of the list.
- contingencies 10y agoWell done on starting the list. I chipped in a bit on Australia, though I'm frankly quite amazed at how difficult it is to find any sort of authoritative list of locations! There are clearly thousands.
- maxerickson 10y agoHartwick Pines (one I'm familiar with) has an accessible asphalt trail through it. It's not undiscovered. It's also cheesy that the wiki list gives the size of the park reserve rather than the size of the actual old growth stand. The full article gives the much smaller size of 49 acres of remaining old growth forest rather than the 9,642 acres given in the list. People estimate that the Michigan lumber boom was larger (in value extracted) than the California gold rush. They cut down almost everything.
- MiguelVieira 10y ago> It's also cheesy that the wiki list gives the size of the park reserve rather than the size of the actual old growth stand. Probably an overzealous editor. I haven't checked the edit logs for that page in years. Feel free to correct it.
- maxerickson 10y agoRandomly spot checking (first click), the Cathedral Pines in CT also lists the size of the preserve, even though the resources talk about the forest being damaged by tornadoes. It's more problematic in that a number for the old growth isn't obvious.
- ellyagg 10y ago
- grillvogel 10y agohurry up we need to monetize this somehow
- Ericson2314 10y agohaha
- dzdt 10y agoSuch old trees growing in marginal environments like the rocky cliffs are valuable records of the past environment. Their annual growth is constrained by twmperature and rainfall. By measuring the rings produced in past years, we get information about the temperature and rainfall at those times. Since tree rings are annual, this gives climate data resolved to exact past years. For regions and times with no written records, this is one of the key sources to reconstruct past climate details.
- jdfellow 10y agoAnd then there's Pando, the largest known living organism, and it's at least 80,000 years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)
- wilblack 10y agoI love trees.