2012 Research

I conducted the following study in Jefferson Park, Oregon, which is located at the NW side of the base of Mount Jefferson (10,499 feet high). The elevation of this alpine park is approximately 6,000 feet above sea level.

The tree ring counts were made on dead trees, which I cut, and then counted the growth rings (one ring per year) with the help of a 10X power hand lens. I counted the tree rings of the cross section of each trunk four times to insure accuracy.

Tree Type        Tree Diameter       Number of Tree Rings # of Rings per Inch

Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)     2.75 inches       45             16

Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) 1 inch             20                    20

Type unknown     6.25             80             13

Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) 2.75             70             31

Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) 2.75             150             54

Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) 3.25             130             40

I noted several things from this study:

• The average number of rings per inch of the above trees is 29. This means that, on average, a 10 inch diameter tree at the 6,000 foot level in Jefferson Park is 290 years old! In the Willamette Valley below these same mountains, which is at or slightly above sea level, a similar aged tree would theoretically be four or five feet in diameter. 
• Subalpine firs seem to have a slower growth rate than mountain hemlocks, which is by far the dominant species of conifer in the Jefferson Park area.
• The trees that grew out in the open tend to grow faster than those that are under the shadow of larger trees (that are 12 to 24 inches in diameter) and are thus competing for scarce soil resources and sunlight.
• The growing season in Jefferson Park is approximately only three to four months long each year.
• Trees that are 20 inches or more in diameter in Jefferson Park (of which there are a vast number), must be of immense ages— probably 500 to 600 years old.

2019 Research

In August of 2019, I conducted similar research at Demaris Lake (located below Chambers Lakes in area between the Middle Sister and South Sister mountains—each is well over 10,000 feet high—on the east side of the Cascades) as I did at Jefferson Park in 2012. There I examine the dead root of a white bark pine (Pinus albicaulis) at the 6,000 foot elevation. The diameter of the root was 4.5 inches. A one inch diameter root section had 100 growth rings making the tree root some 450 years old. The tree root was dead. For how long, it’s impossible to say based on simple visual observation. My guess based on the decay of the log from which the root came would be about 50 to 100 years making the root somewhere between 500 to 550 years old.

Conclusion

In the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington in the 6,000 to 7,000 foot elevations, there are countless numbers of pines, firs and hemlocks that are of immense ages. I suspect that most intrepid trekkers to these lofty alpine regions give these trees little more than a passing thought, much less give them the respect that they deserve as ancient entities and survivors in some of the harshest growing conditions on the planet. 

Moreover, it is amazing to think that the cousins of these same trees that exist in ideal growing conditions near sea level in the valleys below at the same age are four to six feet in diameter!

So next time you find yourself high in the mountains surrounding by these ancient conifers, I encourage you to take a selah moment to pause and reflect on these coniferous oldsters some of whose roots go back nearly to the Columbian era. Let these trees help you to get in touch with yourself—with your own ancestral roots. Let them to “speak” to you about being a survivor, about beauty, about growing old gracefully, about weathering the storms of life, about having your “roots” anchored firmly and deep in the good soil of virtue, about resilience and solidity in the face of an ever-changing environment. 

How does such an old specimen make you feel? Young? Small? Temporary? Humble? How does this affect your view of life—what you do, who you are and the mark­ you will leave on this earth—your own legacy?

There is much to learn from trees. Please take a moment and think about it. Better yet, go out into the woods and hang out with some trees. Take a note pad and record your thoughts as trees teach you something about yourself and life in general.

Moreover, it is amazing to think that the cousins of these same trees that exist in ideal growing conditions near sea level in the valleys below and are the same age as  are four to six feet in diameter!

So next time you find yourself high in the mountains surrounding by these ancient survivors, I encourage you to take a selah moment to pause and reflect on these coniferous oldsters some of whose roots go back to a barely post-Columbian era. Let these trees help you to get in touch with yourself—to “speak” to you about being a survivor, about beauty, about growing old gracefully, about weather the storms of life, about having your “roots” anchored deep in good soil, about resilience and solidity in the face of an ever-changing environment. 

How does such an old specimen make you feel? Young? Small? Temporary? How does this affect your view of life—what you do, who you are and the mark you will leave on this earth?

There is much to learn from trees. Please take a moment and think about it. Better yet, go out into the woods and hang out with some trees. Take a note pad and record your thoughts as trees teach you something about yourself and life in general.