 Re: hi all help with tree age
We are such a long way from really understanding why certain individual trees are able to persist for extraordinarily long periods in the face of incredibly unfavourable conditions, yet generally trees of all species struggle (relative to their potential life span) in our anthropogenic environment.
I would love to take samples of the roots and the soil (the rhizosphere in other words) from such trees, examine the drift and solid geology, the history of the site, the particular physical characteristics of that tree..leaf size, photosynthetic rates, sap flows etc...establish just where it is getting its water from. No simple one size fits all answers for me...in all likelihood this tree is not really that old, compared to the age it could potentially reach (but never will) However for me such trees should be used to help us recognise our own history, our own impacts good and bad...change along the eastern seaboard goes on at such a pace in less than 10yrs areas are totally unrecognisable, lessons learnt are lost in the mists only to be repeated over and over...but hey you can always plant another pine!
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We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran
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