Britain's woodland wonders: protecting our natural heritage

rlchew · #1 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 02:02 PM

Now I am a long way off being a tree expert (I think I can recognise the Oak and maybe a few others

) but I did find this article in The Independent both interesting and thought provoking.

Britain's woodland wonders: protecting our natural heritage

Why is it that buildings receive awards and plaques for their historical context but we know very little about some of our ancient trees and do so little to protect them? Just think of the history that a 1000 year old tree will have witnessed or contributed to.

Incidentally, our oldest tree is thought to be the Fortingall Yew. Fortingall is a small village in the heart of Perthshire at the entrance to Glen Lyon and not far from Loch Tay. The Yew tree is believed to be around 5000 years of age thus dating its origins to about 3000 B.C. It is the oldest living organism in Britain and possibly the world.

Richard

nightshade · #2 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 04:22 PM

There are many fine old trees but they do need protecting
from councils and developers

Paul mabbott · #3 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 06:01 PM

Of course. However, I suspect that highlighting and publicising important trees would lead to vandals attacking them ....

I think that overall the best policy is to protect all woodlands and all trees over a certain age. At present people can chop any tree down unless there is a preservcation order on it. Indeed, raze a forest to the ground. The responsibility should be the other way round - no trees to be destroyed unless an onus of 'need' rather than profit can be demonstrated.
In the meantime, we should all support the Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust which has a simple of philosophy of buying, planting and protecting trees ....

Dan Salter · #4 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 07:04 PM

Im not sure how true this is but my ecology lecturer told us a story ( probably well known but i didnt know it) that some time ago ( not sure which decade) it was decided a group of trees ( not sure in what country...ha ha im not sure about much am i ) was thought to be the oldest living trees/organism on earth.....the "Ecologists" chose one and chopped it down to count the rings....something like that? And it turns out the one that was chosen to be chopped and counted was indeed the oldest tree in the world ! ...gutted...and a few read faces all round....i think carbon dating was invented shortly after this method !

eeyore · #5 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Im not sure how true this is but my ecology lecturer told us a story ( probably well known but i didnt know it) that some time ago ( not sure which decade) it was decided a group of trees ( not sure in what country...ha ha im not sure about much am i ) was thought to be the oldest living trees/organism on earth.....the "Ecologists" chose one and chopped it down to count the rings....something like that? And it turns out the one that was chosen to be chopped and counted was indeed the oldest tree in the world ! ...gutted...and a few read faces all round....i think carbon dating was invented shortly after this method !

that sounds like an urnban myth dan - aging of trees is normally done with a core sampler which drills a very small section through the tree which does not harm it - it is very unlikely that ecologists would fell a tree to count the rings

Dan Salter · #6 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 07:20 PM

hmmm ok ...maybe your right
I shall pin her down about it next week.

maybe it was the tallest tree? but im sure it was oldest?.....

and i think it was pre carbon dating and maybe core sampling

eeyore · #7 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

hmmm ok ...maybe your right
I shall pin her down about it next week.

maybe it was the tallest tree? but im sure it was oldest?.....

and i think it was pre carbon dating and maybe core sampling

if it was the tallest they definitely wouldnt have cut it down - you can measure the height of a tree using a clinometer (thats a thing like an upsidedown protractor with a pumb line attached) although these days a laser range finder might be more usual.

Paul mabbott · #8 (**permalink**) 13-01-2007, 07:30 PM

Sounds like an urban myth - or a rural one in this case!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Im not sure how true this is but my ecology lecturer told us a story ( probably well known but i didnt know it) that some time ago ( not sure which decade) it was decided a group of trees ( not sure in what country...ha ha im not sure about much am i ) was thought to be the oldest living trees/organism on earth.....the "Ecologists" chose one and chopped it down to count the rings....something like that? And it turns out the one that was chosen to be chopped and counted was indeed the oldest tree in the world ! ...gutted...and a few read faces all round....i think carbon dating was invented shortly after this method !