Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The “Big Tree” at Goose Island State Park is kind of a big deal

This tree is incredibly unique.

Mike Mullenweg is the Park Interpreter.

In 1969, it was measured. It was approximately forty-four feet tall. Had a ninety foot crown spread and really, the impressive stat on the “Big Tree” was the trunk circumference. They measured it at four feet off the ground and the trunk of the “Big Tree” measured at around thirty-five feet in circumference.

The “Big Tree” isn’t the biggest in the nation…

But it is probably one of the oldest. By comparing it to other trees that we know the age of, we have estimated that the “Big Tree” is somewhere over one thousand years old.

In that time, the tree has survived a lot

According to climatologists, the “Big Tree” has survived anywhere between forty and fifty major hurricanes. Hurricane Rita that two years ago tore through the Beaumont Area, the “Big Tree” has seen its fair share of storms that size and survived them all. Not to mention, anything from droughts, floods, wildfires, any probable natural disaster that you can think of in the last thousand years, I’m sure that the “Big Tree” has seen it.

For more information on the “Big Tree,” visit passporttotexas.org

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Kate Lipinski… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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