Click on this link to go to the video:
Honor the Monarch on Fox 8 News June 19, 2012
"Alive in 1803." Our purpose: to inventory, landmark, and promote the stewardship of cypress trees in Louisiana that are over 222 years old as of 2025-alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Honoring the Monarch Cypress Tree June 19, 2012, Jean Lafitte National Park
Click the link below for Bicentennial commemoration event of "The Monarch" cypress, Bayou Coquille Trail, Jean Lafitte National Park, Marrero, LA.
Press Release for Monarch Cypress Tree
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Three Rivers WMA Giant Cypress Landmarked
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!
Centuries old "Castle" on Bayou Chemin-A-Haut
Bastrop Daily Enterprise
Local cypress tree a state treasure
by Wes Hebling March 14, 2012
BASTROP — A Morehouse Parish cypress tree is older than the state of Louisiana. In fact, it may be older than civilization as we know it. Harvey Stern, coordinator of the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy Program in New Orleans, came to examine a particularly large cypress tree in Chemin-A-Haut Creek earlier this month. “The Castle,” as the tree has been nicknamed by local outdoorsmen, measures approximately 20 feet in diameter and has a hollow cavern large enough to paddle a canoe inside. Although high water made it difficult to determine the Castle’s circumference, Stern was able to take core samples to help estimate the tree’s age. He has sincecounted approximately 100 rings within one of the core samples, which measures only a little over one inch. “This is an extremely old tree,” he said. “I feel pretty confident it’s at least 1,000 years old, based on how tightly packed the rings are. And that’s a conservative estimate.” Placed in context, the Castle was living and growing in Chemin-A-Haut Creek around the time when the bow and arrow was introduced in Louisiana. The tree was already several centuries old when Europe discovered America and the first explorers ventured into this area. Further analysis, and attempts to measure the circumference of the tree so that the number of rings can be compared to the radius, may determine the Castle is even older than a millennium. A tributary of Bayou Bartholomew, Chemin-A-Haut Creek was overlooked by the 19th century timber industry and today boasts some of the oldest and largest cypress trees in Louisiana. The Castle stands in the middle of the creek and is only accessible by boat, which has likely helped protect it through the centuries. Stern said the extreme old age of a tree does not guarantee it legal protections. “Unfortunately, old growth [trees] are not given the same protection as, say, endangered animals,” he said. “Protecting trees like this is one of the reasons we want to bring attention to them.” The Castle’s proximity to Chemin-A-Haut State Park may also aid in its preservation. Based on the Castle’s size, Stern was previously able to designate it as one of six trees in Louisiana that was “Alive in 1812,” the year of Louisiana’s statehood. However, he said, the conservative 1,000-year estimate makes it special even compared to the other Bicentennial trees, the most recent of which only turned out to be “just over 200 years old.” “I would feel pretty confident this is the oldest [of the Bicentennial trees],” he said. Information about the Castle will soon be posted to the Legacy blog at lapurchasecypresslegacy.blogspot.com. “That’s definitely a landmark. It’s a state, and maybe a national, treasure.”
 | ||||||||||||
Location of "Castle Tree" in Chemin a Haut State Park, Morehouse Parish
Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy
coordinator Harvey Stern
Right took core samples from the largest
cypress tree in Chem-A-Haut
Creek with assistance from Chem-A-Haut
State Park Manager
Russ Brantlay
Largest
cypress in parish gets recognition
By Wes Helbling
Posted
Mar 06, 2012 @ 11:30 AM
Last
update Mar 13, 2012 @ 01:37 PM
BASTROP —
Harvey Stern came to Morehouse Parish over the weekend to see a
castle that predates the state of Louisiana, possibly by centuries.
Stern, who is the coordinator of the Louisiana Purchase Cypress
Legacy program, said he became interested in visiting Chemin-A-Haut Creek after
finding a description of its “large, old-growth cypress” trees in a
topographical map of Louisiana. “The Castle” he came to document is an
approximately 20-foot-diameter cypress tree in the middle of the creek, with a
hollow cavern large enough to paddle canoes and kayaks inside.
“It’s such a unique tree,” said Stern. “It’s exactly the kind
we’re looking for – the kind that shows there’s still some old growth worth
preserving in Louisiana.”
On Saturday, Chemin-A-Haut State Park Manager Russ Brantley and
paddler Joe Rolfe of Oak Ridge took Stern to the Castle to measure its
circumference and took core samples. He said it may take a few days for the samples
to dry out so that a “guesstimate” can be made as to the tree’s age by
comparing the number of rings to the Castle’s radius.
A tributary of Bayou Bartholomew, Chemin-A-Haut Creek was
overlooked by the 19th timber industry and today boasts some of the oldest and
largest cypress trees in Louisiana. Some of the most impressive trees have
gained nicknames from local paddlers, such as twin-trunked “Jester” and the
storm-felled “Blowdown.”
Stern said high water in the creek, and the tree’s hollow buttress,
posed special challenges for Saturday’s attempt to determine the Castle’s age.
However, its enormous girth was enough for Stern to present Brantley with a
plaque that will be affixed to the Castle, designating it as the sixth tree in
Louisiana that was “Alive in 1812,” the year of Louisiana’s statehood.
“Based on other trees I’ve cored, I have a pretty good idea it’s
several centuries old,” he said. “It’s old enough to be a [Louisiana]
Bicentennial tree. The question is, how many centuries do you add to that?”
Other cypress trees that will be included in the Bicentennial
project are located in Tickfaw State Park, Jean Lafitte National Park and sites
in Plaquemines and Webster parishes.
A number of ancient cypress trees have already been designated throughout
the state by the Legacy program, which marks trees that were living at the time
of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Recently, a tree examined in Washington
Parish was found to be roughly 800 years old. The largest bald cypress in the
U.S., with a 53-foot circumference, is located in Louisiana’s Cat Island
National Wildlife Refuge.
Stern said he has previously designated a cypress tree in
Morehouse Parish, closer to the Arkansas line, that is believed to be “well
over 500 years old.” This tree is located in what “as beautiful a stand of
old-growth cypress as I’ve seen anywhere in the state. You can’t get a bass
boat through that part of the bayou because the trees are so thick.”
Stern said formal recognition of the Castle may also enhance state
and local projects to establish and promote paddle trails in both Bartholomew
and Chemin-A-Haut. Based on a visit to Morehouse Parish last fall, river guide
John Ruskey notes the cypress trees “monolithically reaching to the sky” in his
paddle guide to Chemin-A-Haut Creek.
Ruskey writes, “Trees this big are at least 1,000 years old … They
saw Hernando de Soto, La Salle, the rise of the French Empire and the sale of
the Louisiana Purchase. They lived through the birth of the American West, the
Civil and the Industrial Age. If not logged or submerged they will outlive us
all ...”
When Stern has determined an estimated age for the Castle based on
the core samples, its location and data will be catalogued on the LPCL Web site
(www.lapurchasecypresslegacy.net).
Plans are also in the works for a Web site dedicated to the “Alive
in 1812” Bicentennial trees.
|
Friday, April 20, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Louisiana Bicentennial Legacy Tree Landmarked at Buckhorn Wildlife Management Area, Tensas Parish`
Location: Buckhorn Wildlife Management Area, Brushy Lake Nature Trail, Tensas ParishGPS: N 32 02.681 W 091 21.940
Circumference: 23’5”
Estimated Age 450-500 years old
Access: By foot (Boardwalk over Brushy Lake)
Boring from tree in photo above is approximately 6.8 inches and contains approximately 87 rings. There is quite a variation in growth pattern-- some years of very rapid growth (lots of space between rings) and others of very little growth (where the safety pin points to the very closely spaced rings) Based on the 23' 5" circumference (measured above the buttress), the extropalated age of the tree is about 570 years. I would conservatively estimate the tree at 450-500 years old, taking into account the likely faster growth rate during its younger years (which is the section of the tree that is now hollow), and based on borings of similar sized cypress.
We are pleased to include this magnificant cypress among the first six Louisiana Bicentennial "founders trees"-- landmarked cypress alive during Louisiana's statehood in 1812. .
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