The world ’s oldest trees have live one thousand of year of droughts , floods , thunderstorms , and pathogen . But now , thanks to humans , they ’re disappearing . Logging and ontogenesis have crucify woodland that grow , in some cases , for millennia , and less than 10 percent of honest-to-god - development woods in the U.S. still survives .
But , if humans are largely responsible for destroying forests , they ’re also work intemperately to preserve them — and one preservation chemical group is taking a truly originative approach .
According toSmithsonian , a non - profit organization ring theArchangel Tree Archiveis trying to save iconic trees by clone them .
So far , the establishment has compiled a leaning of one hundred iconic trees to preserve — but they also take request . scientist from the organization travel around the universe , gather genetic information from the trees , then identify young locations to embed them in .
While some of the trees were selected for their telling years , others were chosen for the historical events they stand witness to . For case , Archangel has not only cloned California ’s sequoia , but also preserved tree near the historic house of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson .
The projection serves two main purposes . scientist go for to study the transmitted physical composition of old trees in ordination to determine what makes them so long-lived . But the organization is also concerned in historic conservation : They want to ascertain these trees live on for future generations .
Jim Duby , the program coach for Seminole County , Fla. , is one of the Archangel Tree Archive ’s biggest fans . After a famous Seminole County bald-headed cypress bed as theSenator was burn downthree year ago , Duby bug out to worry about the many other historic tree in the field — especially the Senator ’s former neighbour , an around 2000 - year - old tree diagram know as Lady Liberty .
Fortunately , Archangel agreed to add Lady Liberty to its list . The group will be visiting Seminole County ’s Big Tree Park in December to collect shoots from the ancient cypress .
“ I had parents who recall going to see the Senator with their grandparents , and their grandparents had been there with their grandparents , ” Duby toldSmithsonian . “ I think we ’d be kicking ourselves if , God nix , something similarly tragic happened to Lady Liberty and we had n’t done the cloning . ”
[ h / t : Smithsonian ]
