re: Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy trees - Anybody seen one?

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List is not legit without the Champion Bald Cypress located in Cat Island.

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Agreed

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I imagine there's gotta be a better way to determine the tree's age than counting rings

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Maybe try asking it?

You really can't know because of the spacing of the rings due to seasons. They all grow at different rates because of weather/soil conditions, so you can't go on size either. Like I said before, I've seen 100+ year old cypress trees that are only 20ft tall

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I've seen 100+ year old cypress trees that are only 20ft tall

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If I was a tree, id be that one

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Like I said before, I've seen 100+ year old cypress trees that are only 20ft tall

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In south Alabama there was a huge live oak that the local government wanted to protect because it had to be 200 years old or more. The land owner got pissed and ringed it with a chainsaw. He got into trouble but when they finally cut it down and looked at the rings it was only about 80 years old. Must have grown up in an open field.
:csb:

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Maybe try asking it?

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I'd love to hear the stories these trees could tell if they could talk.

How accurate do you think the ring counting method is? Like, not-at-all accurate, or good-enough-for-a-ballpark-guess accurate?

Does the core sample hurt the tree at all? Or is there a level of risk that would deter the scientist from sampling it like that? I assume it's probably a relatively expensive test too.

Pretty accurate when someone knows what they're doing. Obviously your error will get larger the more rings, but it is probably accurate to 1% in skilled hands. If some yahoo just cuts a tree down and doesn't know what he's looking at, he'll get it wrong 90% of the time. You can't just look at them and start counting. There could be years with extremely slow growth and the rings are close. Baldcypress usually has false rings also that are caused by short term weather events (a couple of weeks to a month), and not growing seasons.

It doesn't hurt the tree at all.

The only thing that is a PITA is labor involved. It only takes one or two people, but it isn't easy. Cost is free if you have a $100 core sampler and a powerful microscope

You can carbon date a tree. The center of all trees are dead, only the cambium layer/very outer edge of a tree is alive. The oldest one I harvested was dated at around 1000 years old. Not sure how accurate that is, though.

For a legit kit, it gets expensive $400-1000. I don't see why you couldn't go out and do it, unless you can't do the walking and twisting the t-handle. Another thing is that the bores snap a lot if you aren't careful.

I wouldn't go walking through the swamp unless you were in good shape or knew how to walk through a swamp. From your level on knowledge, I can unequivocally say don't go out in a swamp by yourself. It is very easy to get lost and exhausted

haha I definitely won't be doing that.

But, that is the kinda thing I'd love to go do with someone who knows what they're doing and can show me the ropes.

Now, what real value is there in knowing the age of the trees is a whole different conversation. It's just interesting to me and seems like it could be a fun thing to do on weekends (but not something I'd want to do day-in, day-out for a living).

I feel like it's such a shame I don't have that swamp trekking experience. I've done plenty of alpine climbing and backpacked 1,100 contiguous miles out west, I really need to delve into some Louisiana adventures. Right now, I'm eyeing the Lone Star Trail for Memorial Day, but it's only 100 miles and I'm not expecting the coolest of scenery.

If the Boy Scouts ever open up their resources to the public for the Swamp Base in the Atchafalaya, I'd love to camp at their spots while kayaking.

My other back-burner idea is a hike on the levee from Natchez to New Orleans, somewhat following in the footsteps of one of my ancestors who made a made of the river and the lining plantations in the 1850s. That'd be more of a personally rewarding kinda thing.

I'd love to make the jump to expedition style treks, but that's just so much planning, time off and money that I don't think it's realistic at this point. I guess there's just something more alluring to me (perhaps as a Louisianan) about doing that kinda thing in the swamps than the mountains.