Travel Stories
Eastern America
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The Old American Elm trees (Ulmus americana)
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John Hansel of Elm Research Institute, in Keene (New Hampshire) is a specialist in the American Elm (Ulmus americana). Aware about my travels, he financed my first Internet site. John succeeded to elaborate a species which resists against the graphiose, parasitic disease of this tree and wishes that America be again planted of elms as it was it formerly. But he also fights to preserve the old specimens and it is him who shown me the Elm Herbie (Ulmus americana), in Yarmouth, Maine; old of almost two hundred and thirty years, it is one of those planted by the pioneers and who resisted against the graphiose.
Elm tree of Warren Kinney |
Elm tree of Amherst |
The Elm of Warren Kinney (Ulmus americana), New Jersey or this of Amherst (Ulmus americana), Massachusetts are also famous for their longevity and their splendid crown.
It is close to Amherst that my friend Bart Bourricius, specialized in the construction of canopy' platforms of tropical forests, installed one of them, provided with a footbridge connecting two trees to about thirty meters in height. To disadvise to people prone to the giddiness!
The Venerable Oaks of the Eastern' United sates
It is a professor of art and impassioned of the old trees, June Julian, who reveal me, in the area of Gladstown (New Jersey), where I had succeeded to discover her, some beautiful specimens:
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The Oak of Warren Kinney (top), a white ancient oak (Quercus alba) of almost five hundred years, the Oak of Basking Ridge (Quercus alba) (top right) whose impressive foliage has taken care for more than three hundred years on the peaceful cemetery of the presbyterian church or this of Brooklake Country Club (Quercus alba) (right). |
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Dave Johnson, another expert and arborist, takes part in the New Jersey in the inventory of the old trees. Since 1940, a national register was set up to contribute to the census of the old trees and to thus make it possible to protect them while making aware the Americans with their environment. Most beautiful or oldest trees are announced by a panel indicating their age, their size and specifying their species.
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Among the whole of the heritage planted with trees of the New Jersey, we can quote the Oak of Keller (Quercus alba) (top left), this of Mount Laurel (Quercus alba) (top right)which, June 19, 1778, during the Independence' war, sheltered under its shade a quota of the British army ordered by the Clinton General; or even the Oak of Christophe Colomb (Quercus alba) (left) or this of Salem (Quercus alba), particularly beautiful, growing in a cemetery. |
Little St Simon's Island
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On the aircraft which carried me towards Florida, I had the privilege to talk with Philipp Berolzheimer. Because he liked himself the old trees, he proposed to me to accompany him in his private island, Little St Simon's Island, in Georgia. I thus accepted his invitation. It was a beautiful adventure. It is a marvellous, calm, relaxing place, surrounded by alligators, herons, a luxuriante wildlife .
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It is an island considered for honeymoons and various bungalows made with wood await the guests.
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Philipp Berolzheimer, became a friend, indicated to me an ancient Live' oak (Quercus virginiana) in his property. Then the day after our arrival, Philipp, his guide and myself left for an excursion.
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Some splendid incense cedars and superb animals on our way, whose Berolzheimer family protects since the beginning of the century (It is a Reserve of Biosphere)
Philipp explained me that he also lived in California and that I was welcome there. He has a Wood Product Company of incense Cedar to make little plates for the pencils company. I promised to him that I would contact him once returned to California. He is very conscientious about the sustainable development and he likes the old trees.
The old Live' Oaks (Quercus virginiana)
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The Live' Oaks (Quercus virginiana) are found in all American south-east and it is in South Carolina that I photographed the Angel's Oak of Charleston and the Oak of Middleton Place, helped by Julia Cart, an American photographer. In general, these trees are not particularly high but their can have a huge crown which can sproud sometimes very far, that gives them a great majesty. Only the oldest have massive branches which fall down on the ground to open out there and sometimes take root.
These Live' Oaks owe their name to their capacity of resistance against the intense storms of the southern coasts of the United States. Perhaps also because their green leaves and shinny remain on the branches all the year and do not fall only when the young sproutings appear. They remain the symbol of the Old South like are the cotton plantations in Louisiana where we find besides ancestral oaks like this of Mandeville, the Dobby Seven Sister Live' Oak, close to the lake Pontchartrain. Old of more than thirteen hundred years, it deploys its branches on the ground, such of the tentacles of giant octopus.
Few months after the Hurricane Katrina, I eared that this huge live oak still exists. If you have some information just let me know at: arbresvenerables@wanadoo.fr |
The Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) of Louisiana
Honey Island Swamp is a splendid swamp close to Slidell, in Louisiana. Private property, it belongs to Nature Conservancy, an American organization which buys estates to preserve them.
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It is during an excursion in the canoe with Dennys Holmberg (Ecotour), who tries his best to preserve these swamps, than I could see and photograph the bald Cypresses (Taxodium distichum), probably thousand years old with their pneumatophorous out of water and which make it possible the trees to breathe. I saw there raccoons, frogs, alligators, fish and birds as gray herons or the eagles. But tourism and its powerful motor boats, sources of sound nuisances and pollutions, more and more often come to disturb the ecosystem of this swamp. To preserve it, it would be necessary to generalize the ecotourism and the canoe! No noise! No pollution!
Few days after the Hurricane Katrina, I eared that Dennys Homlberg still alive. If you have some information just let me know at: arbresvenerables@wanadoo.fr You can also help Dennys to repair his swamp and harbor place.
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