Bristlecone Pines predate Bible

The gnarled and surreal shapes of the trees of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest stand out starkly on a slope in the White Mountains in the Eastern Sierra. Some living trees are estimated to be about 4,800 years old.
While some plants which exist as colonies may be older, the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) is believed to be the oldest single plant on earth. The oldest tree, at more than 4,800 years, is named Methuselah. It grows at an undisclosed location not far from here. The oldest living tree on the planet was cut down in 1964 for research by a graduate student who was unaware of its unique age.
The Sierra Crest in the distance provides a stunning backdrop to the White Mountains and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest northeast of Big Pine, Calif.
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest visitor center near the Schulman Grove burned down Sept. 4, 2008. A trailer will house the center until it is rebuilt.
Near the Schulman Grove visitor center, hikers can walk the 4.5-mile Methuselah trail. Dr. Edmund Schulman discovered more than 20 4,000 year-old trees in the White Mountains.
Hikers on the 2-mile Bristlecone Cabin Trail will encounter an old mining cabin as well as stunning Sierra views.
One doesn't accidentally visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest; you have to want to get there. It is a long desolate drive to over 10,000 feett in the seldom-visited White Mountains. There are no services and the campground has no water.
Fractured slabs of dolomite provide the soil for the slow-growing bristlecone pines. It is the stark, dry windy conditions and rocky dolomite soil that gives these trees their longevity. The wood becomes dense and resistant to decay and disease. Bristlecone pines in moister, richer soil grow larger but have much shorter lives.
In the Methuselah grove, scientists have found dead wood that is more than 7,000 years old on the ground. By crossdating the tree rings to newer dead trees and then back to living trees they have been able to establish a timeline 10,000 years back in this grove.
The hard, durable wood of the bristlecone pine is polished by ice and wind-driven sand as the centuries pass.
Since there is little rainfall, the shallow roots of bristlecone pines seek out cracks in the rocks as they reach into the earth for moisture.
The bristlecone pine gets its name from the spines on its cones. Even old trees produce viable cones. The needles on this tree can live for 20-30 years.
The Discovery trail provides hikers with an easy 1-mile loop trail near the Schulman Grove Visitor Center at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest of the White Mountains in California's Eastern Sierra.
By studying the rings of this bristlecone pine, scientists were able to determine that it died about 1676, at approximately 3,200 years of age. The slow-growing trees may add only an inch of ring growth in 100 years.

By Orange County Register | Orange County Register

May 24, 2010 at 6:31 p.m.

When legions of slaves toiled to build the Great Pyramid at Giza in 2560 B.C., Methuselah was already growing.

When Columbus crossed the Atlantic, this ancient bristlecone pine tree was probably more than 4,000 years old.

This super-senior citizen of the tree world grows with many others in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest of the White Mountains of California’s Eastern Sierra.

The age of these gnarled, sinewy, windswept trees is hard to comprehend. A human is lucky to see 30,000 sunrises in a lifetime; Methuselah and some of the bristlecone pines have seen 1.75 million and counting.

While some Swedish scientists disagree with the math, the U.S. Forest Service’s official website says, “The Great Basin bristlecone pines rank as the oldest living trees in the world.”

Visiting the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is not done by accident. You don’t pass by quickly on the way to somewhere else. You have to want to get there. It is a long, desolate drive of more than 10,000 feet of elevation in the sparsely visited White Mountains. There are no services. The campground has no water. The visitor center burned down in 2008. A trailer will serve until it is rebuilt.

Ironically it is the stark, dry, windy conditions and rocky dolomite soil that give these trees their longevity. The wood becomes dense and resistant to decay and disease. Bristlecone pines in moister, richer soil grow larger but have much shorter lives.

You can’t find Methuselah. To protect it, the Forest Service won’t identify the tree or its exact location. There once was an even older tree named Prometheus, speculated to be nearly 5,000 years old. Incredible as it now sounds, the oldest living tree on the planet was cut down in 1964 for research by a graduate student with permission of the U.S. Forest Service.

The government agency said it was unaware of the tree’s age.

Next time you are hurrying up Highway 395, turn east at Big Pine and go far up in the mountains to contemplate the timeless solitude of the ancients.

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