Pando-one of the Earth's oldest organisms
But first, a little historical tree trivia-
Legend has it the the Persian king Xerxes was traveling with his army when he came across a Sycamore
tree of such size and beauty, he forced his army to stop and share his adoration of the tree.
tree of such size and beauty, he forced his army to stop and share his adoration of the tree.
He would not leave and spent several days in unabashed admiration of this lovely tree.
The tree was adorned with gold, jewelry-bracelets, necklaces, robes of gold....etc.
His impatient commanders and soldiers were beside themselves, they threatened mutiny.
The story continues with Xerxes finally agreeing to leave the tree-only after a gold medal ,with a likeness of the tree on it, was made for him to wear and only if the tree was left with a guard, to keep it safe.
Rumor has it he left one of his Immortals behind to guard the tree for the rest of his life.
*I wish more trees and Arborists were treated like this! I also wish more wives appreciated their husbands
in this fashion-robes of gold, unabashed admiration,adoration, our likeness on gold medals.Glorious!
.My wife has heard this story a thousand times and refuses to budge on her "non-adoration" of me. I still believe, somewhere hidden, she has a giant, gold medallion with my face on it.
.My wife has heard this story a thousand times and refuses to budge on her "non-adoration" of me. I still believe, somewhere hidden, she has a giant, gold medallion with my face on it.
Earth's most massive and oldest living organisms. There is a grove of Quaking Aspen in Utah, believed to be 80,000 years old, with arguments suggesting that number could be 1,000,000 years old.
This grove of Aspen in Fishlake National Forest, Utah covers 106 acres of land. There are roughly 43,000 individual stems/individual trees.
What is truly astonishing -Pando is a single living organism. Each individual stem has the same genetic marker, they are all the same tree. Over thousands of years, trees continue to sprout up from the same growing, expanding root system. When a tree dies, the roots send up sprouts that grow
into a new tree/stem.
A small portion of the grove that is Pando
Nature never ceases to amaze us. From the giant Redwood and Seqouia, ancient Bristlecone Pines, to the
venerable Oaks of Europe,one theme remains constant. We are all subject to the laws of nature.
venerable Oaks of Europe,one theme remains constant. We are all subject to the laws of nature.
The saddest, most bitter law of nature is this: all living things must one day die.
Pando is dying- It doesn't make it any easier knowing how long this ancient grove has been around.
We all want things that are beautiful, mythical and make us happy to last forever.I know I do.
A combination of drought, disease and insect damage are killing off areas in this Aspen grove at a rapid pace. There is some hope-the Western Aspen Alliance at Utah State University is working with a
coalition of land owners, foresters and conservationists on a plan to help keep Pando alive/healthy.
They will try to stimulate the root system of Pando by cutting some trees down and burning the ground in other areas. As crazy as that sounds, it is a technique that creates a chemical reaction, causing roots to send up new sprouts.
Trees seem to be a microcosm of human life. We both sprout fast, get stronger and
sturdier with age. In between growing and aging we have bouts of sickness/disease. We get beat up, broken limbs, but we survive. As we both continue to age, our resistance to these problems weakens. We start to fall apart, the system breaks down, leading to a long or short spiral with the inevitable ending.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Enjoy those things and people that are beautiful, mythical and make you happy, you never know how long they will be here.
Only time will tell if Pando can survive.
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