Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy

Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy Celebrates Twenty Years of Discovering , Registering and Promoting the Stewardship of Louisiana's Old Growth Cypress-- Trees Alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803

 

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

 Click here for a link to a current registry of the Parishes for which LPCL landmarked trees have been identified .

This register contains GPS locations and projected age of Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy trees ("Alive in 1803") in about two thirds of Louisiana's Parishes. Parishes for which we are still seeking cypress at least 220 years old are:

Allen, Beauregard, Caddo, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Cameron, Claiborne, E. Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Lincoln, Madison, Ouachita, Pointe Coupee, Red River, Sabine, St. Bernard, St. Helena, Vermillion, Vernon, W Baton Rouge, West Carrol

Any informationabout locations and access to possible candidates in these Parishes would be much appreciated. Contact Harvey Stern at LaPurchaseCypressLegacy@gmail.com or at 504-452-8281

 

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

For an introductory powerpoint presentation on the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy, click here: (updated January 24, 2023) 

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

(Heart of Louisiana: Legacy Cypress

Tuesday, August 22nd 2017, 8:57 pm CDT

Written by: Dave McNamara, Heart of Louisiana

 WVUE_20151110231226737AA.mp4-- Click for Video of story posted below:

FOX 8 photo

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) -

If you want to find the oldest cypress trees in Louisiana, you'll probably need to hike through woods or wade through a swamp. This is where the ancient trees have thrived for thousands of years, until a century of logging wiped out virgin cypress forests.

"We got a registry for the live oak trees but we haven't done much with these beautiful old cypress that we see pretty much representing this and it is the official state tree after all," said Harvey Stern with the Legacy Cypress Project.

Stern is a man on a mission. The former New Orleans City Planner wants to find the biggest cypress trees in each Louisiana parish. 

"We know about the coastal cypress and the threats that they are under, but some of the most beautiful pockets of old growth cypress are up in north Louisiana, northeast Louisiana," said Stern. 

In fact the country's largest tree of any type east of California is a bald cypress tree near St. Francisville, Louisiana. 

The base of the cypress tree is massive. It's 17 feet in diameter. That's the size of a lot of home living rooms. The champion tree is believed to be 1500 years old. It's part of the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge. Terry Matherne found a large tree on his property near the Amite River in Ascension Parish. 

"I'd like to know what it was like. When all of them trees like we are going to see were everywhere in here," said Matherne. 

After eight years on the property, Matherne discovered the giant tree. 

"Wow," said Matherne. "I didn't think there is anything that big still in here. I wouldn't doubt there are still some more. Later on when I get time, I'm going to walk some more in here." 

First a tape measure is stretched around the tree to measure its circumference. 

"Twenty-one feet, nine inches," said Stern. 

Then using a hand drill, Stern pierces the bark and digs toward the center of the tree. He pulls out a core sample, with rings that mark every year of the tree's life. 

"But if you see where my thumb is pointing here, you should be able to see some of those darker colored marks on there," said Stern as he pointed down at the tree. 

Stern counts 100 rings in a sample nearly three inches long. 

"Simply counting the rings and extrapolating based on the size of the coring," said Stern. 

Based on that, Stern estimates that the cypress is 700 to 1,000 years old. That earns the tree a plaque, as a legacy cypress tree, Sterns designation for any tree that was here at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, more that 200 years ago. 

"I think we should care for anything that has survived the centuries, going back in many cases 1000 years, 1500 years, I'm finding in some cases," said Stern. 

And these old trees give us a hint of what Louisiana looked like, when forests were crowded with these cypress giants. 

The Legacy Cypress Project depends on landowners to send in information on large trees. So far, they've found 200-year-old cypress in one-third of Louisiana's parishes. For more information, click here and here.  

Copyright 2017 WVUE. All rights reserved.

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

For an introductory powerpoint presentation on the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy, click here: (updated January 24, 2023) 

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

The La Purchase Cypress Legacy as part of its 2oth anniversary celebration will be highlighting canoe or kayaak accessible locations around Louisiana (including walk-to sites) where old growth cypress can be viewed. One of our favorite spots is King George Bayou near French Settlement in Livingston Parish. Reposted below from an earlier Blog entry is more information about this beautiful, remote bayou and the old growth cypress that line its banks:

Plentiful Old Growth Cypress along King George Bayou in Livingston Parish

We've received many requests since we began the La Purchase Cypress campaign in 2003 for areas where one can visit several large old cypress in one accessible location. In addition to responding to individual requests. we'll be periodically showcasing on this blogsite locales worth exploring for old growth cypress. The map link below shows sites of several cypress well over the 220 year threshold for inclusion of Louisiana trees in the LPCL inventory:

Click here for the map.

(Note that the map incorrectly labels King George Bayou as the Amite River-- King George Bayou does slowly flow into the Amite) Click on markers for GPS locations of these trees. Marker ID 76QR+8P is the location of a 16'11" circumference cypress from which a boring revealed extremely closely spaced rings--projected age: well over 500 years old. The map also shows the location of the largest and oldest known cypress along King George Bayou (LPCL Plaque #46), having a 21 foot circumference and a projected age of 1100+ years.

Access for canoe or kayak paddlers is at the end of King George "Bay" Road, which is off Hwy. 444 near French Settlement.

Fortunately for the  enduring survival of these primeval trees, much of King George Bayou was recently added to the State's Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area

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