A few years ago I got an email about a 510-year-old Black Gum tree growing behind an archery club in Niagara Falls. Nate Torenvliet, an arborist and amateur old-growth sleuth, had found the tree, drilled out a tree core (a pencil-shaped section of wood), and counted 498 annual growth rings. Another tree nearby was more than 400 years old. This unassuming woodlot near Niagara Falls was first identified in 2003 by the late Bruce Kershner, an old-growth researcher from New York State. Later the same … Read more