Visited New Yorks smallest state forest of ONE tree

Finally got to see the smallest State forest in New York. The entire State forest is 348 square feet and has one tree that dates back to 1699. Not much left of it, but seems it IS still alive. Back in the early 50s, a Harvard college professor/scientist drilled a hole in it and took a core-sample. That so he could count the rings and ascertain the exact age. Some scientists now think the professor's core-sample made the tree sick and cut its life short.

This tree is also one of the only three trees in the entire United States that is Federally protected.

The tree is an Eastern Cottonwood. At one time, locals thought it was a biblical "Balm" tree, and named the area "Balmville."

Kind of amazing to think this tree was there before George Washington's mother was born, and well before the United States existed.

Funny thing is . . . after many attempts by colleges and tree-experts to clone this tree, ALL attempts failed. Then what? Some local non-expert stuck one of its twigs in his yard and it sprouted. It is now a small tree (at least, last I heard).

This all makes me think about the book "The Tree" written by Grey Owl (if anybody remembers him other then me). He wrote the book in 1937 about a very old Jack Pine and what the tree had seen in its own lifetime. I suspect Grey Owl is now better known in Canada then the US for work he did to save beaver habitat.

The "State Forest" tree in better days . . .

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Much of eastern Washington is too dry to support trees, except along creek bottoms. Someone planted a conifer of some kind (a pine, I think) near the the highway at Connell, and nobody could figure out how it survived. Closer inspection indicated someone may have been sneaking out under cover of darkness and watering it (but covering their tracks pretty well).

This went on for 20 years or so, tree doing well, and at some point, some wag put up a sign- "Connell National Forest". Just good clean fun.

The end, of course, came at the hands of a feckless youth who thought it would be funny to cut it down. They never found out who did it, possibly because he overheard several adults discussing what they "thought would be funny" to do to the perp.

All the pavement around and over it's roots hasn't done it any good either.

Interesting....thanks for posting!

hay jde
Is that one of the parks slated for closure in our current economic climate? haha Looks like it could still be appreciated even if it is closed, unless the state decides to put a $500,000 fence around it so knowone can enter. Interesting; what town or city is it in?

bald cypress is protected, what is the other one?

they used an increment borer to take a core sample & count the rings. Its a hollow drill that leaves a 1/4" hole where the core was removed. Fungus, etc. can invade the hole, which goes all the way to the center of the tree.

If they never found out who done it how do they know it was a feckless youth?

If they never found out who done it how do they know it was a feckless youth?

I lived on 9W just above Milton for 5 years from "64 to "69. Drove by that tree many times and never realized it was on "State land".
It was, as they say, in reasonably good shape for its age at that time.

I think the stories about clones failing is probably just a line of talk. Cut a branch and put some Rootone on it and I bet you'll have a new tree every time (especially with a fast-growing weed tree like cottonwood).

Being it is in the [i:d14d224562]Populus[/i:d14d224562] genus, cottonwood by definition will sprout from cuttings shoved in the ground. The fact that it is one of the shortest lived large tree species in the US, it is surrounded by concrete, and looks to have some "interesting" pruning done in the past its no wonder its dead or dieing.

To be technical, it's "Salicaceae Populus deltoides John Bartram ex Humphry Marshall"

The Eastern Cottonwood was first identified, researched, and propagated by John Bartram and Humphry Marshall, both from Pennsylvania during hte 1700s.

Both were Quaker farmers, botanists, and horticulturalists in Pennsylvania near the Delaware River. Bartram is regarded as the "Father of Botany" in what now is the USA. He worked alongside Ben Franklin.

Bartram had the firt botanical garden in this country, and his cousin Marshall - the second.

In 1785, Marshall published "Arboretum Americanum: the American Grove, an Alphabetical Catalogue of Forest Trees
and Shrubs, Natives of the American United States"

I have a copy, and it's one of the first comprehensive tree books for this country.

As to the trimming in Balmville? It had to be done after a hurricane split it in half. Had to be cut and cabled all over. Also the road got rerouted.

As to easy propagation? Not this tree. Generally speaking, yes it supposed to be easy. But trees have individual characteristics, just like people. That's why tree species have so many cultivars identified, and the lists keep growing.
Each tree can be slightly different, just as one tree can differ over time as it ages.

And why do you think it's "just a line of talk?"

All trees have slight differences even though the same species. Also, same trees differ over time.

This tree had money spent on it with perhaps, too many "experts."

Regardless of who tried what, it did not respond to common rooting practices that usually work well on cottonwooods, willows, etc.

Various university "experts", foresters, etc. tried to root cuttings for 20 years and all efforts failed until one non-professional was successful.