So apparently Tree Hunters are a thing. Which is kind of cool.
Some guy recently re-discovered the largest Cottonwood tree in NY. I would love to visit it but try as I might, I can not find the exact location or coordinates.
If you Google ‘Schaghticoke cottonwood’ you will get tons of hits from news articles to scientific articles. I even tried the Big Tree Registry with no luck.
I’m not sure why the mystery of keeping it’s location secret. But if someone with better googling skills than I could take a whack at finding it’s location, I’d appreciate it.
I take your point but that has to a one off. The General Sherman tree is widely publicized and visited by millions and no one has cut it down yet. The same could said of hundreds, if not thousands, of other famous trees.
It’s not. Keeping the locations of superlative (largest, tallest, oldest) trees is pretty common. Even if there’s no ill intent, large numbers of untrained and unrestrained visitors will severely damage the trees and the environment around them.
I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life. There are lots of trees here, but most are small due to periodic logging. Probably less than 0.1% of Ohio trees are “old growth,” and there are aficionados who like to hunt for them. There’s even a Facebook group called Big Trees Ohio where people stand next to their finds. Some of those trees are huge.
I measured the maple tree in my front yard a few years ago. It is quite tall - I triangulated it at over 110’ but it is skinny. It’s only 100 years old and I have a photo of it from 1930 when it was 5 years old. Sadly that seems to be the age these particular maples grow to as many of them around the yards have already died. This one looks great though. I’m not sure what species it is. My neighbor told me one time decades ago, perhaps silver maple. He used to run a sugar bush. I tapped a few of my trees but what a job to get it all boiled down to syrup. I reduced it on the kitchen stove. Yeah,. yeah, I know. I might as well have sprayed the kitchen walls with glue.
Just the other day I was reading about the oldest olive trees. Some are over 3500 years old. One tree in Croatia is “only” 1600 years old but still bears 30 kg of olives each year. They are pressed for oil. Talk about some expensive olive oil but I doubt the family sells any. That only like 4 or 5 bottles of oil.