Posted on 06/01/2015 7:22:29 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The tallest redwood tree in Muir Woods — a giant that was assumed to have sprouted up to 1,500 years ago in the Middle Ages — is a measly 777 years old, a puerile sprig in the hallowed halls of old growth, an analysis of tree-ring data has revealed.
The study, by a Humboldt State University scientist, is the first definitive determination of the age of trees in Muir Woods. The findings by Allyson Carroll, a tree-ring specialist, mean that a 249-foot-tall coast redwood known by the lackluster name of Tree 76 sprouted seven centuries later than originally believed, at the beginning of the Medieval Inquisition in the early 13th century.
The new birth date is curiously apropos since the tree is in a place called Cathedral Grove, presumably acceptable under the Inquisition, which was characterized by an effort by the Catholic Church to suppress heresy. The date nevertheless means the oldest and biggest tree that researchers could find in the Bay Area’s most famous redwood forest is a babe in the woods compared with the giant old-growth trees farther north.
“It’s one of the largest redwoods in Muir Woods, so it probably represents one of the oldest,” said Emily Burns, science director for San Francisco’s Save the Redwoods League, which is documenting the age, size, health and tree-ring history of California's last remaining old-growth redwood groves as part a statewide project known as the Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative.
Carroll, a biologist at Humboldt State and a consultant for the League, came up with 777 years by comparing the tree rings from Tree 76 to a database of core samples taken from redwoods across California, including from Samuel P. Taylor State Park.
Specific dates can be fleshed out by comparing the size and thickness of the tree rings, which
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I made it a point to check it out and it was pretty impressive.
I thought it was bad enough to bother mentioning such a blip as this...
“...at the beginning of the Medieval Inquisition in the early 13th century.”
But the profligate swipe at Christianity was only confirmed, astoundingly, in the next sentences!
“The new birth date is curiously apropos since the tree is in a place called Cathedral Grove, presumably acceptable under the Inquisition, which was characterized by an effort by the Catholic Church to suppress heresy.”
What the hell was the point of this?
My wife and I walked Muir Woods today!! What an amazing place.
How does one take a core sample without killing the tree or injuring the site where it was taken?
The only live tissue is sapwood and cambium so most of the core sample is dead wood already. It leaves a tiny damaged area the diameter of the drill bit which grows over rather quickly. I suppose they could take the extra precaution of painting the spot with wax or tar, but it’s probably not a necessity.
They must want to have to keep a 24 hour guard on their sacred tree — before some clear thinking America gives it a thorough girdling.
There are a number of trees in the Sandia Mountians east of Albuquerque called the “Medallion Trees” A person unknown, took a core and dated them, then once closing up the core hole, attached a medallion with the date and a historical event that took place when the tree germinated. It’s pretty impressive when you see a Ponderosa pine that’s less than 2’ in diameter with a medallion that says “First Performance of Hamlet” on it.
For a redwood? Holes like that are a vulnerability.
This 9,550-year-old Spruce tree is the oldest single tree in the world. It is located on Fulufjället Mountain in Sweden. The tree was discovered by Lief Kullman, a professor at Umeå University, who nicknamed it Old Tjikko, after his late dog. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/arbor-day-the-oldest-known-tree-on-earth-2014-4#ixzz3brydJOBO
Left wing media is always Left wing media and will use their megaphones to bellow their propaganda at every opportunity...appropriate to the message at hand ,,...or not.
When i opened a thread about trees,
I didn’t expect a sort of Spanish inquisition!
Tjikko has stayed alive for so long because of a process called "vegetative cloning." When the trunk of Old Tjikko dies, the root system stays alive and sprouts a new trunk. Most trunks of the tree live for hundreds of years.
The oldest single living trees (original trunk) in the World are to be found in the Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California. From Wikipedia:
The Methuselah Grove in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is the location of the "Methuselah", a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine that is 4,846 years old.[5] For many years, it was the world's oldest known living non-clonal organism, until superseded by the discovery in 2013 of another bristlecone pine in the same area with an age of 5,064 years (germination in 3051 BC).[6] "Methuselah" is not marked in the forest, to ensure added protection from vandals.
A fine tree, indeed.
I haven’t been there in years and I’m only 1/2hr east.
Thank you.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
I’m taking my sisters to Big Basin when they vist in a couple weeks. Maybe we’ll take in Muir Woods, too. I love eating at the Mountain Home Inn when we are there.
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