"A tree is a wonderful living organism which gives shelter, food, warmth and protection to all living things. It even gives shade to those who wield an axe to cut it down" - Buddha.
There are probably hundreds of majestic and magnificent trees in the world - of these, some are particularly special:
Dennis Myllyla thought hed struck a fine bargain with the Michigan Department of Transportation. MDOT would get fill for nearby highway construction by dredging a pond on his farm near Arnheim, Mich., and Myllyla would get the pond. Neither Myllyla nor MDOT expected to find a prehistoric forest too. But thats exactly what they uncovered, about 15 feet down.
We ran into logs, lots of logs. It was like a forest down there - Dennis Myllyla , who has been farming in the Arnheim area since 1948.
Forestry consultant Justin Miller was on site when the MDOT heavy equipment operators found themselves dredging up more logs than sand. Miller, who had been preparing a management plan for the forested sections of Myllylas property, was a 2000 graduate of Michigan Technological Universitys School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, and he knew just whom to call.
James Schmierer, forester from Michigan Tech and his colleague, Michael Hyslop, a GIS analyst and instructor of geomorphology and vegetation also from Michigan Tech, speculate that the trees were either transported or mowed down by the last glacier to move across the Keweenaw, before Lake Superior covered the peninsula.
That would make them more than 10,000 years old - James Schmierer.
Walkers are being called on to help identify ancient trees for the first national register of woodland heritage. The Woodland Trust Scotland want to collect information on old and unique trees across the country to help protect them and secure their future. Walkers in Aberdeenshire have already helped the trust to identify 55 ancient trees in the area since June but there could be hundreds more to find.
"We are asking people to look out for and record trees which are particularly old, fat and gnarled" - Clive Anderson, president of the Woodland Trust.
An ancient and legally protected oak tree was felled for a profit-making new housing venture, a court heard yesterday. Simon Pooley, 40, and Deborah Pooley, 39, both of Cardinal Close, Bury St Edmunds, and Anthony Leek, 44, deny illegally removing the gnarled oak from the plot in Maltings Lane, Ingham, near Bury.