THE ANCIENTS
The Black Gums Of The Northern NeXus
Two hundred and twenty six years before Christopher Columbus these trees sprouted from tiny
seeds. Over the next 750 years they would survive
blizzards, ice storms, hurricanes, forest fires, earthquakes, beavers and man. The black gum trees of
the Northern NeXus have been cored by scientists
and are currently identified as the oldest known
living deciduous trees in North America.
Even though born in the year 1266, Nyssa sylvatica.
(Scientific name), is certainly younger than the giant
redwoods of the Pacific Northwest. Yet among trees
that have leaves, (and not evergreen needles), it has
no rival. Found in the backwoods of Wah-Tut-Ca the
story of these trees survival is an ecological wonder.
It is not a rare tree, but
the age of these growing
in the NeXus are extraordinary. Sometimes
referred to as a “Sour
Gum” it grows from
Florida to New England.
The NeXus lies close the
end of its northern range,
where geography and
history conspired to give
our Black gums an extraordinary life span.
They grow in Fens- marshy swamps with alkaline
water chemistry. The heavy limestone content of the
hills neutralizes acid rain creating the ideal chemical
platform for their growth. The Fens in the NeXus are
located in small high basins in the transitional space
between the New Hampshire Seacoast and the
Lake/Mountains region of the Granite State.
The location is key to their survival. In the years
before European colonials settled New England,
beavers ruled the forests. But the sharped toothed
rodent passed them by. The small basins were not
large enough to interest beavers to use them for
dams.
The Black gum is an exceptionally hard wood and
has very little commercial value. Additionally colonists agreed with the beavers that the land they were
living on wasn’t worth much. Unlike the southern
swamps, draining the high basin Fens just wasn’t
worth the effort.
One factor in its longevity is that it is very slow
growing. This allows for it to survive poor growing
seasons and damage from the weather.
When you come to the stands of NeXus black gums
you come to a surreal place. It looks a lot like the
forest that Yoda from Star Wars lives in. They grow
on little hills called hummocks. The trees themselves
have odd branches growing in un-orderly directions.
They almost seem lifelike. This is the result of storms
of the past.
Many are hollow. Looking inside you can see
charred wood from past forest fires. You may also
run into a skunk or porcupine that have made the
hollow a home. It is often the home of wild bees that
build their nests in these convenient pre-fab homes.
They are the ultimate survivors. This summer you
can choose a hike to the Black gums as a rare
adventure 750 years in the making.