Louisiana Life Magazine and Our Plant Story Podcast Highlight the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy

Eagle Lake, Union Parish

We are often getting newcomers to our LPCL Blog-- frequently from those wanting to know the age of large old cypress they've come across. Two recent published accounts of what we're up to will introduce new visitors to our efforts to landmark old growth cypress throughout Louisiana. The first is an episode from Sally Flatman's podcast "Our Plant Story"-- a recently deceased Louisiana bald cypress, bequeathed by Napolean in 1803 to a Loire Valley Chateau in France is a jumping off point for Sally's interview with myself and with Gael du Halgouet, proprieter of the Chateau des Grotteaux, where the cypress grew and thrived for over two hundred years. Sally's  program makes an illuminating connection between the history of this Louisiana cypress transplanted to France and the LPCL's landmarking of cypress throughout Louisiana that were "Alive in 1803". The podcast interview can be heard here:

Napoleon's Bald Cypress

We're also appreciative of David Jenkins cover story in the May-June issue of Louisiana Life: "Hiding in Plain Sight-- Documenting Louisiana's Surviving Old Growth Bald Cypress"  David's evocative photos of the endearing and enduring  centuries old cypress still thriving throughout Louisiana compliment his illuminating descriptions of his visits to several of LPCL's landmarked cypress:

Documenting Louisiana’s Surviving Old-growth Bald Cypress Trees - louisianalife.com

Always looking for new leads on old growth cypress throughout Louisiana, particularly in the Parishes I have yet to find cypress "Alive in 1803": Allen, Beauregard, Caddo, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Cameron, Claiborne, E. Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Lincoln, Madison, Ouachita, , Red River, Sabine, St. Bernard, St. Helena, Vermillion, Vernon, W Baton Rouge, West Carrol.

And we're always o the lookout for cypress that may be larger in circumference/older than ones we've already landmarked in the other parishes in which century old cypress have been identified. (See our Parish Inventory tab above on our blog home page)

Please contact:

Harvey Stern

LaPurchaseCypressLegacy@gmail.com

 

An Earth Day Tribute to the Chitimacha Tribe and the Baton Rouge Audubon Society

Chitimacha Tribe Honors Ancient Cypress Landmarked by La Purchase Cypress Legacy at Baton Rouge Audubon Society's Amite River Wildlife Sanctuary

This Earth Day is a fitting time to honor one of Louisiana's coastal indigenous tribes-- the Chitimacha-- who have lived in coastal Louisiana long before the arrival of European setters.  Although the current reservation is near Charenton it is likely that ancestral Chitimacha and other local tribes lived in the Amite River Basin-- where the Baton Rouge Audubon Society's Amite River Sanctuary is located (near Port Vincent).  The Amite River Basin has proven to be a treasure trove of old growth cypress -- the La Purchase Cypress Legacy has identified and landmarked with plaques several centuries  old cypress along tributaries of the Amite River.

 Many, if not most of the coastal old growth cypress in our La Purchase Cypress Legacy inventory inventory were alive and thriving in our near native settlements well before European colonization—including the Attakapas,  Houma, and Chitimacha tribes.  Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Native American forest ecologist deftly weaves together the spiritual reverence for her forest elders with their tangible value and ecological significance:

“Fluted trunks rise from a lawn of deep moss green, their canopies lost in the hanging mist that suffuse the forest with hazy twilight.  Light streams through holes over the heads of young trees while their grandmothers loom in shadows, great buttressed trunks 8 feet in diameter.  You want to be quiet in instinctive deference to the cathedral hush and because nothing you could possibly say would add a thing.”

“The old growth forest is as stunning in its elegance of function as it its beauty.  Under conditions of scarcity, there can be no frenzy of uncontrolled growth.  The green architecture of the forest structures itself is a model of efficiency, with layers of foliage in multi-layered canopy that optimize capture of solar energy.  If we are looking for models of self-sustaining communities, we need look no further than an old growth forest, or the old growth cultures they raised in symbiosis with them.” (Kimmerer “Braided Grass”)

The Native American belief that the old trees of the forest are sentient, spiritual beings  to be respected and honored is  illustrated by Susan Symard in her book, “Finding the Mother Tree” in a caption beneath a photo of a 1000 year old fir tree (and this could also apply to the Louisiana indigenous tribes interaction with  virgin cypress prevalent in precolonial Southern Louisiana:)

“The vertical crevices [in the giant fir tree] suggest the bark has been stripped by First Nations people. The inner bark is separated from the outer bark and used for making cedar baskets and mats, clothing and rope. Before the harvest the people place their hands on the trunk to pray and ask permission for the harvest, and in so doing they develop strong connections with the tree. Strips up to one third of the circumference and thirty feet long are harvested, leaving a shallow scar narrow enough to heal over.”

 Thanks to the initiative of Jane Patterson, chair of the Baton Rouge, one of the landmarked LPCL cypress has been honored with the Chitamachee name for Strong Spirit, the English name Ms Patterson chose for the tree we determined to be several hundred years old.  That this tree is now protected in an Audubon Society Wildlife Sanctuary that is accessible to all is resonant with Kimmerer description of the traditional indigenous world view that 

 “,,, earth exits not as private property but as a commons to be tended with

reciprocity and respect for the benefit of all. This is the vision of the economy—the “commons”  wherein resources fundamental to our well being like water and land and forests are commonly held rather than commodified” (Robin Wall Kemmerer, “Braiding Sweetgrass”)

Below is the article that Jane Patterson wrote describing her successful quest to honor this LPCL landmarked cypress forest elder with a Chitimatcha name befitting the veneration it inspires:

 

Naming of the Trees

Naming the Legacy Trees by Jane Patterson 

 

 

As the BR Audubon Amite River Wildlife Sanctuary property was explored, it was discovered that there are ancient trees on the property. There is a bald cypress tree that was dated by the Louisiana Purchase Legacy Cypress project to be between 400 and 600 years old, dating to as far back as the early 1400's. The legacy live oak, in the heart of the sanctuary, judging by its size, would likely be between 350 and 400 years old, dating back to the early 1600's. Both pre-date the European settlers to the area, which made us wonder which indigenous peoples might have lived here prior to European colonization. After researching, there were a couple of possibilities, but the Chitimacha tribe inhabited basically what is now called the Atchafalaya river basin. This is one of the 4 sovereign tribes of Louisiana, recognized by the federal government, and the only one still living on their ancestral lands, though their reservation is significantly south of Ascension parish in Charenton LA. I contacted the Chitimacha museum to ask about translating a couple of words to use as names for our legacy trees so that I could tie in this cultural significance to our sanctuary site. When I asked for these translations, I didn't imagine it was a big deal as I was just asking for translations for what I supposed were fairly common words. First, formal permission had to be requested and granted by the tribal council, which was done. But I still didn't get an answer right away. As circumstances would have it, I ended up not far from the museum in Charenton several weeks after I'd made the request, so I decided to stop by and ask about it. Theresa, who greeted me, asked if I'd like the museum tour. She said the tour started with a film. As the film began, I realized that the simple request to translate a few words from English to the Chitimacha language was far from simple. The film was all about the fact that their language had been, in fact, extinct. The last speakers died in 1940. However, a linguist from the Smithsonian Institute had come to their village in the 1930's and recorded over 200 hours of language from that last two native speakers. The recordings were on wax spools and were very scratchy and often garbled, but at least it was something. Over a decade ago, the tribe began the effort to reclaim their language. They worked with Rosetta Stone to create a language learning series that is now used in schools and for their adult tribe members. They start teaching Chitimacha as young as nursery school and throughout all grades in their school. They are trying to reclaim and preserve their heritage through their language. After the tour, it was explained to me that they were having trouble with the translations of one of the words I'd asked for and that's why the response to the request was taking so long. She said they were working on it and hoped to have an answer soon. Shortly after this visit, I received that answer. For the legacy cypress tree, I'd asked for the translation for "strong spirit". In Chitimacha, that is Yaagi Niksta (pronounced Yah-Gee Neek-Stah [hard "G"]. This tree has indeed had a strong spirit to have lived for as many as 600 years. For the legacy live oak tree, I'd asked for the translation of "heart" because this tree is in the heart of our sanctuary, the branches look like a heart and it also has had a lot of heart to survive in the middle of the swamp where a live oak really doesn't even belong. The translation is Puxna ( pronounced Poosh-Nah), our Heart Oak.

Many thanks to the Chitimacha Indian tribe for their approval of my request and assistance with these translations!

Due to overwhelming support I was able to get plaques for each of these trees that properly honors them. Thank you again to everyone who donated!

 

 So, please, when you visit the sanctuary, visit each of these trees and say "huya" (thank you) to our ancient trees!

 

Directions to the Amite River Wildlife Sanctuary near Port Vincent and visiting information can be found here:
http://www.braudubon.org/conservation/sanctuaries

Here is specific information on Yaagi Niksta
Coordinates for the tree are: 30°19'37.9"N
                                              90°51'1.86"W

Click here for the map.



 Circumference: 9’7”  Radius: 18”
1st  Boring—2.75”  Rings counted: approx. 98

            2.75” boring length /  18” radius =  98 rings counted / X
            X = approx. 644 projected years



2nd Boring—3”        Rings counted: approx 84
            3” / 18’ = 84 / X
            X = approx. 504 projected years



To account for likely faster growth early in its life (i.e. the hollow center of the tree), I’d conservatively estimate this cypress at a minimum of 400 years old. Needless to say, the rings are very closely spaced on both borings—indicating very slow growth. There is a section on one boring where the rings appear to be barely a hair’s width apart, which would reflect  the very old age for a relatively small circumference old growth cypress.

 Covington Cypress Landmarked on Bogue                                             Falaya

Another fine cypress elder has been landmarked on Lake Pontchartrain's north shore-- this one easily visible from the rear balcony of  Chimes Restaurant in Covington and from the adjacent Boardwalk leading to the Canoe and Trail Adventures outpost on the Bogue Falaya River.

Here is the information on this stately cypress:

GPS: N 30 28.421, W90 05.326

Circumference: 13' 8" ,  Diameter: 52",  Radius: 26"

Boring: 7 inches.  Rings counted: approx. 81

7"boring/ 26"radius = 81 rings/ X

X = 301 rings

 Portion of boring: Closer rings indicate slower yearly growth

This tree is conservatively estimated at approximately 220-240 years old to account for likely faster growth during its early growing years ( not part of sample boring)

The "Chimes Tree" being awarded LPCL Plaque #92-- "Alive in 1803"

The Chimes Restaurant/ Canoe and Trails Adventures Boardwalk allows easy access to this venerable cypress. Promoting ecotourism to view old growth cypress should in turn enable stewardship and protection of these priceless forest elders.

***************

 

Ascension Parish Ancient Cypress Discovery

Another Ascension Parish cypress treasure has been discovered hiding in plain sight, and thanks to the efforts of nearby residents Kevin and Tina Daigle, the La Purchase Cypress Legacy is honored to include this magnificent cypress in its registry.

Tina and Kevin Daigle in front of venerated cypress

 

GPS: N 30 15.981  W 90 48.150-- off Bayou Terrace Road near Head of Island, south of 

French Settlement

Here are the statistics on the "Daigle Cypress":

Circumference: 18' 2" (above buttress)   Diameter 69"

Boring 5.25 inches   Rings counted: aaproximately 125

Projected age: 700+ years

Typically very closely spaced rings  of LPCL cypress (especially seen at the 4--4.25 inch section of the boring) reflect very slow growth over the centuries.

Large cavity near base of tree is not uncommon, but......

.... presence of cypress knees inside the cavity is unusual

An additional, very unusual feature of this beautiful old cypress is the noticeably cooler air emanating from this cavity during warm weather-- a welcome form of natural air conditioning for visitors to this tree on hot days.

The "Daigle cypress" was awarded LPCL plaque #90

The Daigles exemplify the pride and stewardship that makes our efforts worthwhile. They would be happy to take anyone wishing to view this majestic cypress to the site.  It is a very short walk from their residence. Please contact Tim Daigle at Riverside@eatel.net

Please contact Harvey Stern at LaPurchaseCypressLegacy@gmail.com (504-452-8281) with any leads for old growth cypress that you would like to have registered as "Alive in 1803"

 

900+ Year Old Cypress is Landmarked in Avoyelles Parish

The  Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy Celebrates Earth Day, 2024 and 21 years of Discovering, Registering and Promoting the Stewardship of Old Growth Cypress in Louisiana-- "Cypress Alive in 1803"

Welcome to our Red River Radio listeners!. Thanks to tips from many residents in the Red River Radio listening area The Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy has discovered and landmarked many cypress in central and northern Louisiana over the last twenty years.

 To those of you who may be visiting our site for the first time-- welcome!-- and thanks for your interest in our efforts to discover , register, and promote the stewardship of old growth cypress in Louisiana. To find information on old growth cypress in a particular Parish please visit our Parish Inventory- (inventory tab on portal page), and  our interactive State map of cypress discovered and registered as "alive in 1803" (see map tab  on portal page)

 We've identified LPCL cypress trees ("Alive in 1803") in two thirds of Louisiana's Parishes, but there are several Parishes in the Red River listening area that we are still hoping to find LPCL nominees, including Sabine, Jackson, Red River, Vernon, and Lincoln Parishes.

Contact us at

Harvey Stern

 LaPurchaseCypressLegacy@gmail.com

A 501(C)(3) organization   EIN 83-2457520

     

“Most cypress stands today are second growth, but there still remain a few giants among us.  They exist because they are hollow and thus not merchantable or because they grow in an area so remote as to make harvest unfeasible.  They tower one hundred feet above the earth and laid down their first annular rings during the classical period of the Mayan culture…….

…..They germinated and grew into seedling as Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman emperor. They were sound and mature when the sun gleamed from the swords of Hernando DeSoto’s men as they marched across northeast Louisiana in a fruitless search for gold……

…..It is possible that their limbs were once laden with the weight of a thousand passenger pigeons and that their bark was probed by ivory-billed woodpeckers.  Cougars and bears may have sought refuge in their hollows.  It is likely that a few of these will still be greeting each spring with a fresh feathering of needle-like leaves in centuries to come”         Kelby Ouchley

Here is a 2003- 2024 retrospective of some of the highlights and challenges we've reported on:

 2003-- 

Our LPCL campaign begins. Both the Louisiana House and Senate declare April, 2003 Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy month, honoring Louisiana's State tree

The New Orleans Times Picayune covers our kick-off press conference:

FAMILY TREE

Beloved cypress given honor

Volunteers hunting 200-year-old trees

   Lynne Jensen

Staff writer

Published: August 20, 2003

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.

"I feel I’m in a treehouse," Epstein said, stepping from her second-floor bedroom onto a porch little more than an arm’s length away from the tree, which measures about 13 feet in circumference. Staring up at the tree from the front lawn were family, neighbors and friends, who gathered for the ceremony marking the cypress as a Louisiana Purchase "Founder’s Tree."

The old tree was alive when renowned pirate Jean Lafitte "was burying his loot," said Harvey Stern, who presented the Epsteins with their Founder’s Tree plaque.

Stern, coordinator of the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy campaign, hopes to identify every baldcypress in Louisiana that is at least 200 years old -- alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase -- and to ensure that the trees "will grow and prosper without man-made interference" by placing them on a registry of "Louisiana Purchase Trees."

Organizations such as the Sierra Club, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and Jean Lafitte National Park are endorsing the volunteer campaign in recognition of this year’s bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the designation of the baldcypress as the state tree. The Legislature declared August "Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy Month."

The legacy campaign is a treasure hunt for the old trees, which are "as valuable as gold or silver," Stern said.

A Founder’s Tree plaque also was presented Tuesday to Johnny and Mamie Sargent Majoria, who have documented more than a dozen baldcypress trees measuring more than 13 feet in circumference on their 800-acre home site in Harrisonburg.

"The biggest is 23 feet" around, Johnny Majoria said.

The cypress-filled property has been in his wife’s family since 1812, Majoria said. The trees survived the 20th century because his father-in-law, Roy Sargent, who died four years ago at 84, turned a deaf ear to money-waving lumber companies, he said.

"We all have a moral obligation to keep them," Majoria said of the baldcypress trees.

A third plaque was presented to Virginia Rettig, director of the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge near St. Francisville, home of a bald cypress that is 54 feet in circumference and believed to be between 800 to 1,500 years old.

The Cat Island tree is the largest virgin bald cypress on the planet and the largest tree of any species east of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, dwarfed in North America only by the giant redwoods and sequoias on the Sierra’s western slope.

The Cat Island tree is the sixth largest tree in the United States and the centerpiece of the 6,500-acre wildlife refuge, Rettig said. "It’s a national treasure right here in Louisiana," she said.

Epstein said the cypress that stands like a giant sentry in front of her home is "a valuable part of our family."

When she bought her house more than 40 years ago, a contractor said the huge tree was too close to the house and should be cut down, Epstein said. "I said, ‘No, the house is too close to the tree,’ " she said. "The house was incidental."

*****

                                   2009

At the Baton Rouge Earth Day Festival last month, the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy display attracted a lot of interest, with several folks eager to tell me of large cypress they know of --some on their own property. The pictures sent by one individual of the cypress on his parents property in Avoyelles Parish were truly astounding—an apparently fully intact giant (not sheared off at the top as most are) that he measured at 12 ½ feet diameter (39.6 feet circumference) at 4 1/2 feet above ground level. If the measurements hold up when I get out to landmark it --and by looks of the pictures they will--, this could very well be the largest cypress tree in Louisiana I’ve come across. Even though it is likely hollow, I hope to get a good enough core to be able to estimate its age. Stay tuned to this Blog for confirmation of circumference, height, and age estimates of this amazing tree!

Other leads of old growth cypress locations I obtained from visitors at the Green festivalincluded sites in St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Point Coupee Parishes.

Let me know of any trees you know of that may be two hundred six years or older (alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803) and I’d be happy to landmark them (see plaque [at right].

It’s been gratifying to visit all the proud stewards of “LPCL trees” since this campaign started in 2003 (the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase), and to commemorate and landmark these centuries old treasures to be found in all corners and backwater sloughs throughout the state.

900+ Year Old Cypress is Landmarked in Avoyelles Parish

The results are in for the Avoyelles Parish tree pictured and described in the previous blog. It --and its nearly as old companion-- are magnificent trees and easily qualify as Louisiana. Purchase Cypress Legacy Trees—“alive in 1803”. Congratulations to Brian McCann—owner/steward. The trees are located northeast of Marksville on bottomlands near the Red River-- tucked between cornfields just outside the Lake Ophelia National Wildlife. A unique feature of the tree pictured at right is its towering height and fully intact canopy--unlike most trees centuries old, it has not been struck by lightning and lost limbs Although the date on the plaque (see photo) is 2008, it was placed on the First tree (measurements below) on May 31, 2009.

                            2012

Three Rivers WMA Giant Cypress Landmarked in Concordia Parish

Circumference: 35 feet (nine feet above base--above buttress 

1st boring:  2.6 inches  approx . 94 rings counted

2nd boring 3.8 inches  approx 100 rings counted

If corings are reflective of overall growth rate of tree--and taking into account likely faster growth rate of this tree during its earlier growing years (current hollow area)-- it is likely this tree is at least 1500 years old.

This may well be among the very oldest live cypress in the State--it certainly deserves our recognition and protection!

 

Location of Three Rivers Giant-- See Inventory for more detail

                                *********

Also in 2012, To honor Louisiana's 200th anniversary of statehood, we complemented the La Purchase Cypress Legacy with the Louisiana Bicentennial Cypress Legacy, and awarded plaques to venerable cypress throughout Louisiana, proclaiming them (Alive in 1812". One of the most visited of these is the Monarch Cypress on Bayou Coquille in the Barataria Preserve of Jean Lafitte National Park in Jefferson Parish: 

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
News Release

Contact: Aleutia Scott, aleutia_scott@nps.gov, 504-382-7838

Jean Lafitte, Cypress Legacy Honor 700-Year-Old Monarch Tree

MARRERO, LA: Honor “the Monarch of the Swamp” at a special ceremony 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 19, at the Barataria Preserve of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. Representatives of the park, the State of Louisiana, the Louisiana Bicentennial Cypress Legacy, and the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area will mount a plaque near the Monarch, an old-growth baldcypress tree estimated to be about 700 years old. The Monarch is located just off the Bayou Coquille Trail in the preserve, about a quarter mile from the Bayou Coquille Trail parking lot. The preserve is located at 6588 Barataria Blvd. in Marrero (near Crown Point). More information is available at 504-689-3690 ext. 10 or at www.nps.gov/jela.

Admission to the ceremony and to the preserve is free and open to the public.

Every Louisiana Bicentennial Cypress Legacy tree must be at least 200 years old and growing in a place currently protected from logging. With the support of the Louisiana Bicentennial Commission, the Louisiana Bicentennial Cypress Legacy (http://www.lapurchasecypresslegacy.net/) works to raise awareness of the value of swamps and the threats to their survival by linking old-growth trees like the Monarch to major events in Louisiana history like this year’s bicentennial of Louisiana statehood. According to Louisiana Bicentennial Cypress Legacy creator Harvey Stern, such landmarks create an ideal opportunity to link Louisiana’s cultural and historic heritage with stewardship of the state’s ecological inheritance.

“Jean Lafitte is honored that ‘the Monarch of the Swamp’ has been chosen as a legacy tree,” said Barataria Preserve Supervisory Park Ranger Aleutia Scott. “The Monarch is well known to the thousands of people who walk the Bayou Coquille Trail every year. It serves as a symbol both of the people and industries who built Louisiana’s past and of new ventures like ecotourism. The Monarch is a reminder that the swamps and wetlands now seen in a few places like the preserve once covered this entire area.”

                                2013

500+ Year Old Cypress Landmarked on Bayou Dorcheat, Webster Parish, Louisiana

Bayou Dorcheat 500+ year cypress landmarked

Bayou Dorcheat is one of the most scenic of  Louisiana’s  designated Scenic Streams, extending from Lake Bisteneau through Webster parish into  Arkansas.  Hundreds of old growth cypress line its banks,  enriching the  timeless sense of wilderness experienced while paddling along this remote stream. The Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy landmarked one of these cypress—LPCL Plaque # 38.Here’s what we found out about this representative example of the old growth cypress along Bayou Dorcheat:

GPS coordinates 32 54.837 North  093 23.211 West (on left bank of bayou paddling south)
Circumference (above buttress) 13 feet 4 inch circumference

Diameter: 50 inches  Radius: 25 inches

Core sample: 4.5 inches

Rings counted: Approximately 130

Projected age; 500+ years

Projected age of 500+ years takes into account likely faster growing period during early growth period. Like most of these ancient trees the inside is hollow, meaning that core samples reflect slower growing later years.

To view this tree, launch boat at the Hwy 2 access. Paddle south about twenty minutes. Tree is located on left side (east bank) about two minutes paddle before teaching the overhead power lines.. The plaque is not easily visible as you paddle south towards the power lines; however, it will be visible viewed on the right bank heading north about two minutes from the overhead power lines. It is quite a distinctive tree with a full canopy and swirling bark.

We'll be adding this tree to our State wide registry of oldest known trees in each Parish.

If you know of possibly a large/older cypress in Webster Parish please let us know!

                            2015

  Ancient Ascension Parish Giant Landmarked

 FOX 8 Dave McNamara's "Heart of Louisiana" Feature story on La. Purchase Cypress Legacy:

https://www.fox8live.com/story/30484500/heart-of-louisiana-legacy-cypress/

Our quest to find the largest/oldest cypress in each Parish recently took us to the Martin lake vicinity of Ascension Parish, where Terry Matherne took us to view a beautiful old cypress he found on his property, located between Lake Martin and the Amite river.

This was truly an impressive cypress.
Here are the stats: Circumference: Approximately 21’10 “  (where the trunk meets the buttress)
Diameter  6’11”    Radius 3’ 5.5”
1st coring 2.75”  rings counted: 100+ 

 2nd coring 2.5”   rings counted: 60+     

Projected age: 700—1000 years  This is a conservative estimate;  if very close spacing of rings were to hold up through the entire radius, this tree would be well over 1000 years old. However, it is likely that the tree grew faster (with rings correspondingly further apart) in its early years and "adolescence". Coring samples are from later growth periods

You can follow our trek to this beautiful tree and learn more about our efforts to identify and landmark old growth cypress throughout Louisiana  by linking to David McNamara's recent Fox 8 "Heart of Louisiana" series feature on the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy here: http://www.fox8live.com/story/30484500/heart-of-louisiana-legacy-cypress

This is now the oldest documented live cypress in Ascension Parish and was awarded LPCL Plaque #45.  As a proud owner of this tree and of several other old growth specimens nearby, Terry Mathern's intent to leave his property in its natural state  exemplifies the stewardship of our natural heritage that can be found throughout Louisiana. 

Know of any cypress that may be larger/older in Ascension or in other Parishes throughout the state?  Let us know at LaPurchaseCypressLegacy@gmail.com

                                 2018

St. Landry Parish's Two Oldest Known Cypress Identified

The "Cathedral Tree" near Washington LA.

Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs Larry Lieux for taking me to this beautiful old cypress that they've christened the "Cathedral Cypress". According to Larry, the tree is located on several hundred undeveloped acres of land known as Kops and Kids, which is leased for hunters and maintained by St. Landry Sherrif Bobby Guidroz. The Lieux's and friends ride horses on this heavily wooded property, and discovered this tree several years ago while on on of there horseback rides.

Last November we took a rollicking ride on the Lieux's Honda Big Red ATV on muddy, rutted paths to the site of the tree on Bayou Corron. 

Here's what we found

Cathederal Tree, (Lieux) St. Landry

GPS N30 37.113 W092 04.448

Circumference 24' at buttress (6.5 feet above ground), estimated 19' trunk

72 inch diameter, 36 inch radius

boring: 2.75 inches -- approx rings counted: 51

51 rings/x = 2.75(boring)/36(radius)

x=667 rings

PROJECTED AGE: APPROX 500-550 YEARS OLD  (This estimate accounts for the likely faster growing rate doing the tree's early years--the part of the tree that is now hollow)Cathederal Tree, 

Cathedral Cypress:
Tightly spaced rings indicative of a very old slow growing
cypress--approximately 51 counted on this boring

*********************

Ancient Cypress Landmarked on Bayou Jack in St Landry Parish

This Bayou Jack Tree maintains a 24'+ trunk to the full upper canopy

Bayou Jack,  St. Landry Parish

GPS N30 50.778  W091 52.042

Circumference: 24’6’’ (trunk—6 ft above base)

Location on Bayou Jack in extreme NE St. Landry Parish northwest of Melville, just below Avoyelles Parish Line

This tree (and several nearby ones) certainly rivals the Cathedral Tree near Washington as the
oldest known cypress in St. Landry Parish. Although I was unable to to get a boring of the tree, it's 24 ft. trunk circumference certainly would make it at least as old as the Cathedral (At least 500 years old) As with the Cathedral cypress and many similarly sited LPCL  landmarked cypress , this is likely a very slow growing cypress. It has been landmarked with Plaque #42. Many thanks to Mr Rabelais for location information. This and the Cathedral Tree are prime examples of statewide (if not national) natural treasures hiding in plain site, but which could not have been landmarked without the
help of hunters, landowners and others who tell us where to find them!

                         ********************

The LPCL documents old growth cypress in path of proposed Keystone pipeline through the Atchafalaya Basin:


            Bayou Bridge Pipeline Faces Mounting Legal Challenges in Louisiana



ByJulie Dermansky
onJan 21, 2018 @ 03:07 PST

Series: BAYOU BRIDGE PIPELINE BATTLE





Though Energy Transfer Partners has all the permits and permissions it needs to start work on the Bayou Bridge pipeline, the project still faces multiple legal challenges.

The 162-mile pipeline, being built by the same company behind the Dakota Access pipeline, will span southern Louisiana from Lake Charles, near the Texas border, to St. James, about 60 miles west of New Orleans. This route will cut through the Atchafalaya Basin, a national heritage area that contains America’s largest swamp.

“If the Bayou Bridge pipeline is built, a 75-foot-wide swath of trees will be pulverized,” Dean Wilson, executive director of the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, told me, pointing to markers that surveyors recently put up along the pipeline route. The markers gave me a clearer picture of what will be lost if the pipeline is built.
Louisiana’s Legacy Trees


Markers tied along the route of the Bayou Bridge pipeline in the Atchafalaya Basin.

On January 15, I joined Wilson on a trip into the basin where he took Sierra Club Atchafalaya Committee Chair Harvey Stern, who is also coordinator of the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy blog that identifies Louisiana’s old growth trees, and a group of activists opposed to the pipeline. The trip’s mission was to give Stern a chance to take core samples to determine the age of some of the cypress trees in the pipeline route’s path. This information could be used in the legal battle to stop the pipeline.

Stern will use the core samples and measurements of the trees’ girths to calculate the approximate age of the trees. He classifies “legacy trees” as those which were alive before 1803, when the U.S. made the Louisiana Purchase.


Team effort by Yudith Nieto, organizer with Another Gulf Is Possible, Dean Wilson, and Harvey Stern to take a core sample from a cypress tree.


Harvey Stern examining a core sample taken from a hollow cypress tree in the Atchafalaya Basin.

It troubles Stern that there is no count of the old growth cypress in the basin that would be sacrificed if the pipeline were built. Though Louisiana’s old-growth cypress forests are all but gone, there are still numerous trees well over 200 years old that Stern believes are worth protecting.

Wilson and Stern assert that if the pipeline had an environmental impact statement (EIS) done, it would likely have to consider the number of old growth trees destroyed and the role they play in the basin’s ecosystem.

An EIS is required by the National Environmental Policy Act for actions that significantly affect the quality of the environment, and is used as a tool for federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions. In this case, however, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t deem an EIS necessary for this project, and granted a permit to Energy Transfer Partners without one.

“A project of this magnitude will certainly impact the basin,” Wilson said, “and the state needed to take such factors into account before permits were granted.” The absence of an EIS is a point of contention for the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, the Waterkeeper Alliance, Gulf Restoration Network, and the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association, which are working with Earthjustice to reverse the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to grant a permit.


Cypress tree with a legacy marker in the Atchafalaya Basin.
Bayou Bridge Lawsuits Pile up

Earthjustice, a law firm committed to protecting the environment, filed a federal suit on January 7 calling for the court to repeal the permit awarded by the Army Corps. The lawsuit alleges that the government failed to consider irreparable harm to the Atchafalaya River Basin when it approved the oil pipeline.

A Basin Already Affected

The Atchafalaya Basinkeeper’s Wilson hopes the challenges to the pipeline will serve as a wake-up call to everyone, including the governor, about the environmental damage existing pipelines have already caused in the basin, and the need for regulators to hold pipeline operators accountable for that damage.

Water flow is being hindered by spoil banks created when many of the pipelines already in the basin were first installed. Instead of filling in the trenches dug for their pipelines, non-compliant operators left piles of dirt lining their routes. Installing yet another pipeline underneath one of these spoil banks will make their removal close to impossible, and could further hinder natural water flow in the basin, which will impact crawfishing.

On our tour of the basin, as we pulled up to one giant hollow cypress bearing a plaque identifying it as a legacy tree, a beaver huddled inside the tree scurried away. Wilson explained the old-growth cypresses that remain are, for the most part, hollow. They are the only trees that had no value to loggers, who ended up sparing them. Aside from being majestic icons for the state, these hollow trees are of great value to otters, raccoons, black bears, minks, and squirrels. One reason, Wilson said, is that when the area floods, the hollow cypress act like a Noah’s Ark for the animals.


Cypress tree in the Atchafalaya Basin that is slated to be cut down along the Bayou Bridge pipeline’s proposed route.


Great blue heron in the Atchafalaya Basin.

Can Energy Transfer Partners start building the pipeline before all of these cases are settled? The answer is yes, but the plaintiffs can seek an injunction. Wilson wouldn’t comment on what the coalition challenging the federal permit might do if pipeline construction starts before the suits are settled, but it was clear to me the fight against this pipeline is far from over.

2019

Inside Bayou Bodcau's  Treasure Chest of Ancient Cypress

This 39” diameter (above buttress) cypress on private land along Bayou Bodcau was landmarked by John Michael Kelley in 2018. John Michael, a resident of Boissier Parish, has been volunteering with the La. Purchase Cypress Legacy, avidly landmarking old growth cypress in the Bayou Bodcau vicinity, as well as finding old growth remnant forests in Northwest Louisiana for inclusion in the Old Growth Forest Network (https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/louisiana)

Based on a 9 inch coring and 39 inch diameter ( 10.2 feet  circumference above buttress), John Michael estimated 350 total rings to the hollowed out center and is  conservatively estimating the age at 275 + years. John Michael awarded this cypress LPCL Plaque # 67 ("Alive in 1803")

(While the adjacent tree was larger and older, it was also quite decayed.)

Local paddlers have taken notice of this landmarked cypress; as seen in the photos below the Bayou Bodcau  watershed is a treasure trove of remnant old growth cypress. Efforts are underway to promote Bayou Bodcau as an old growth paddle trail

N 32.69295 W 93.54618 (center pin)     below  Bodcau dam   Plaque  #64

The "Zac Burson" Tree-- Plaque #26

   

2021

Hardwater Lake in Grant Parish a Treasure  Trove of Old Growth Cypress 

As promised in an earlier post, we will be adding locations throughout Louisiana where significant stands of old growth are accessible. One of favorite areas to explore is Hardware Lake in Grant Parish. Hundreds of old growth cypress are within easy paddling distance of the boat launch, including the grizzly old one we awarded Plaque #73--- many of which are likely several centuries old. The link below takes you to a map showing you the GPS location and a photo of the cypress at that location.

Hardwater Lake Map of Old Growth Cypress