The Oldest Trees in North America

Join us for a photographic journey across North America to see the oldest trees and forests starting high up in the White Mountains of California, where we will learn about 5,000-year-old Bristlecone Pines. How do some trees live for thousands of years? Our journey then takes us to see other trees, including Whitebark and Foxtail Pines, that live for over 2,000 years. We will travel to North Carolina’s blackwater swamps to see 2,600-year-old Bald Cypress and Ontario to learn about 1,600-year-old Northern White Cedar trees. We will visit the Fish Lake National Forest in Utah to learn about the estimated 8,000-year old Pando Aspen clone. We won’t forget the recently discovered “oldest fossil forest” globally, the 386-million-year-old Cairo, New York fossil forest. We will finish in New Hampshire, where we will learn about the oldest broad-leaf tree in North America, the Black Gum.

This will be a free online presentation hosted by the Camden Public Library. Here is the link to register for the event and receive the Zoom login info.

Our presenter, David Govatski, is a forester and environmental consultant who worked for the U.S. Forest Service for more than thirty years. He has conducted forest inventories, developed and supervised forest management plans, and written assessments of the environmental impact of forest plans and policies. From his base in New Hampshire, he conducts field inventories and prepares management plans for endangered plant and animal species. He is also a professional trip leader and leads canoeing, birding, and hiking expeditions throughout the United States and Canada.