Published: January 01, 2010 10:48 pm      

Ancient trees found on Ga. state land

MOUNT PLEASANT — James Holland, Altamaha Riverkeeper, says the state has just purchased a stretch of land that harbors a few natural surprises.

“They have an area of old, ancient trees back there, and they don’t realize what they’ve got,” he said.

Holland found a site with several very large Cypress trees between Long and McIntosh counties.

“I stumbled on to it about three years ago. When the river’s flooded, I fish out in the backwaters,” he said.

When he first saw the trees, he knew they must be old, but it wasn’t until recently that he returned to the site with state officials to take some measurements. It was then that he realized just how old they are.

The largest tree measured 44 feet and 5 inches around at chest height. That’s very large for the species, but Holland said it was tough to determine a definite age.

“You know they are hollow, and we won’t be able to take a bore sample,” he said.

He said there are some very old Cypress trees nearby, including a few on Lewis Island that are estimated to be more than 1,000 years old, but even those don’t compare to this find.

“These trees are way bigger,” Holland said.

The big one is not alone either.

“We know that we measured several more that measured between 30 to 38 feet,” he said. “These did not just show up in the last few generations.”

Aside from the large basal areas, there are other telltale signs that they are old trees. They have big knees.

The Cypress knee is a part of the root system that sticks out of the ground away from the tree. It acts as a snorkel for the tree when the roots are under water during a flood.

“Average knees are 3 to 4 feet tall,” Holland said. “These are 15 feet tall.”

Cypress trees are cousins to the California Redwood, and Holland said that may be why they have such long life spans.

“These trees were probably here when Columbus was,” he said.