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 festival included sites in St. Tammany, Tangiapahoa, 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.
