Endangered Florida Trees - The Florida Torreya

(Torreya taxifolia)

Little known to most Floridians and visitors from other states, is an endangered tree species that is nestled along the Apalachicola River in the big-bend region of the Florida panhandle. These conifers are located in a state park that is considered a virtual botanical gold mine.

The tree itself, is extremely rare species that in Florida, only grows on the bluffs along the Apalachicola River. Its botanical name is torreya taxifolia.

This tree, once thriving along the river, has almost disappeared, through what some say might have been a fungal plant disease of the 1950s. Its ultimate cause of decline is still unexplained and many believe it may be an early victim of global warming.

Torreya trees are among the rarest conifers in the world. Pioneer botanist Hardy Bryan Croom discovered the Florida trees. Torreya is a member of the ancient gymnosperm family Taxaceae, whose biological ancestors were evolutionarily distinct from all other conifers nearly 200 million years ago.

Today, the four existing species grow only in isolated locations only in northern Florida, Central California, Japan, and China. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 Torreya trees.

Today, 99% of them have died. Once these little known conifers stood 60 feet tall, now the few remaining are seldom over ten feet tall.

The trees here in Florida can be seen at Torreya State Park. The park is only 2,500 acres but it is home to more than 600 plant species in 129 families that includes more rare plants per acre than any other area in Florida.

It's thought that the park's plant diversity results from its wide range of elevation and unique geography that can be compared to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

There is a controversial race to save the Torreya, which is often described as the world's most endangered conifer. The rescue plan is known as "Assisted Migration" or "Rewilding." This simply means that they can be planted by anyone who chooses to do so without any governmental oversight or prohibition, provided that private seed stock is obtainable, and that one or more private landowners volunteer appropriate acreage. It's seen as an easy, cheap, and legal rescue plan.

The controversy is, that some view this plan as the easy, cheap, and legal rescue plan -- it is frightening, because again it can be done by anyone with care or abandon. Thus, rewilding can undermine decades of public education about non-native plants, and in the end promote negative ecological consequences.

For anyone who would like to learn more about this tree, please go to thier website where the effort is to protect the few trees that remain in the wild in Florida; clone genotypes; and replant progeny in a legally approved recovery plan administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

There is a world wide race to save endangered trees. Endangered trees such as the Torreya Pine, are of equal importance.

Perhaps, nowhere else in this world are there more endangered trees, than those found in Brazil. You'd have to live under a rock to not have heard of the many tree species that have been logged off the Amazon rain-forest.

However, most of us would be surprised to learn that the Amazon region isn't the only area in Brazil with endangered trees.

This country's Mata Atlantica area's forests once covered 520,000 square miles, now they only cover 36,400 square miles (roughly 7% of the original wooded area). This is the only area in the world where a certain Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia Nigeria) is native and grows.

Across the ocean and on another continent, there is a race to save many tree species inside the Central Africa's rain forests, such as the ones found in the Madagascar tropical rain forest .

There, endangered trees continue to be logged off, destroying the habitat, of still other endangered species of wildlife, particularly the chimpanzees and Gorillas. Inside Africa, trees are endangered in both the Eastern and Western tropical rain forests.

We are in a world-wide race to save endangered trees and everyone on the planet should devote at least a small part of their time and thought to this important topic.  Every day trees all over the world disappear, with people giving little thought to the fact that each tree is needed if we want to continue to breathe.

Rewilding (a.k.a. Assisted Migration) - Endangered trees planted by anyone who chooses to do so without any governmental oversight or prohibition, provided that private seed stock is obtainable, and that one or more private landowners volunteer appropriate acreage.

Preservation - Preserving old growth trees for the production of new trees.

Reforestation - Replanting seedlings in areas where the trees were once found originally.

Sustainable Resources - Planting enough trees in forest plantations to meet the needs of harvesting coveted woods (managed tree farms).

Other world-wide regions where endangered trees are losing the race:

• New Zealand or Australian temperate rain forests
• Madagascar tropical rain forest
• Mascarene tropical forests
• Colombian rain forests
• Caribbean tropical forests
• Indonesian rain forests
• Philippine rain forests
• Indian mountain forests (Ghat region)
• Himalayan forests
• Chinese tropical forests

Since most people tend to think of "rain forests" as something you would find in South America or Africa, it's important to remind everyone that here in the U.S. we have our own rain forests. Any American concerned about endangered trees needs to think about the:

• Kalamona; and
• Alaska's coastal temperate rain forest

First, Hawaii's tropical rain forest has several endangered trees:

• Cooke's kokia
• Hawaiian Cotton Tree
• Nanu
• Lanai sandalwood
• Kalamona

All of which are unique and not found anywhere else in the world. All are in need of protection and reforestation efforts. Additionally, one of the biggest dangers to them -- other trees! It is the encroachment of non-native invasive trees that a primarily attacking Hawaii's tropical rain forest.

When it comes to Alaska's coastal temperate rain forest, it's probably a surprise to most of us, that Alaska could even have a "rain forest." There was a time when this rain forest encompassed forested land from the California redwoods to the coastal region of Alaska. This rain forest has the same enemy of most of the world's rain forests -- humans cutting down the forest commercially.

This pristine area is one of our virtually unknown national treasures and houses over forty percent of the world's old-growth temperate coastal rainforest. Alaska's rainforest is ninety percent contained within the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, so you would think it would be safe, yet we've allowed about one million acres to clearcut logging and roads, just in the last fifty years.

Think about this Alaska rain forest example:

• The Tongass National Forest is the only one in America, where we've allowed commercial logging in road less areas.
• The Sitka spruce found in this rainforest, as well as other old growth trees, are home to Bald eagles, wolves, salmon, and bears.
• This forest is also a watershed for those same wildlife species, clear cut logging roads, greatly impact their survival, along with the trees.
• The real shame in allowing commercial logging in Alaska's road less areas, is that we the American taxpayer have allowed our U.S. Forestry Service, to cost us $1 billion dollars in subsidizing commercial clear cut logging of trees that are more than two hundred years old (some are estimated at more than seven hundred years old).
• The U.S. Forestry Service is selling the trees for less than they are worth.and we get to pay for the cost of building the logging roads and maintaining them.

Image the lasting impression you could make on your children, by taking them on a reforestation vacation? The concept is simple:

• Involve them in the vacation planning by having them help you find out about endangered trees in your state or chosen vacation state
• Spend your vacation visiting that state park, wildlife refuge, and national park
• This doesn't have to be expensive, and can be simply a family day trip

There are a number of ways that the average citizen, living anywhere can make a difference in the reforestation of the world. Roll up your sleeves, and find an idea what works for you by:

• Sharing your basic knowledge about endangered trees
• Donating your time to reforestation, rewilding, and preservation projects;
• Donating your financial support to reforestation, rewilding, and preservation projects;
• Taking a reforestation vacation
• Going green in your use of products that use timber
• Teaching the next generations the value of trees
• Planting trees on your property

• We lose four acres of trees per minute in the United States.
• The Federal government does not own the majority of trees in the U.S.
• Sixty percent of all forested acreage in the U.S. is owned by private individuals and families.
• The majority of all privately held forested acreage in America is owned by individuals over the age of 55.
• As the private owners of this acreage age, the ownership is likely to change hands and be sold or divided by heirs.
• With inflation, the value of the land may give way to widespread deforestation.
• Large acreage and tracts of land with forests are at risk of mismanagement
• Large acreage and tracts of land with forests are at risk of subdivision
• Large acreage and tracts of land with forests are at risk of being developed