Trees are some of the longest-lived organisms on the planet. At least 50 trees have been around for more than a millenium, but there may be countless other ancient trees that haven’t been discovered yet.

Trees can live such a long time for several reasons. One secret to their longevity is their compartmentalized vascular system, which allows parts of the tree to die while other portions thrive. Many create defensive compounds to fight off deadly bacteria or parasites.

And some of the oldest trees on earth, the great bristlecone pines, don’t seem to age like we do. At 3,000-plus years, these trees continue to grow just as vigorously as their 100-year-old counterparts. Unlike animals, these pines don’t rack up genetic mutations in their cells as the years go by.

Some trees defy time by sending out clones, or genetically identical shoots, so that one trunk’s demise doesn’t spell the end for the organism. The giant colonies can have thousands of individual trunks, but share the same network of roots.

Here’s an excerpt:

As a nation, the U.S. uses a large amount of wood and generates a significant volume of wood waste in the MSW and C&D waste streams. Interest is growing in utilizing this wood waste for a myriad of lumber and related products. The efficient reuse and recycling of wood waste presents an opportunity to extend our timber resource, reduce consumption of new resources, conserve landfill space, reduce costs through avoided purchase/disposal fees, preserve carbon storage, reduce energy and environmental burdens of producing ‘new’ products, and create ‘green’ jobs.

The full version is available through their website for free here. Check it out.

We recently had the opportunity to have a load of our large slabs dried in a commercial vacuum kiln. Drying slabs so they are suitable for use in building or woodworking is typically accomplished by air drying the slabs for one or more years. Vacuum drying is a unique, and from what we’ve gathered, highly optimal way to reduce the time required to make green, newly milled slabs ready for use.

The nice folks up at PCS VacDry allowed us to use their facility to test dry a load of Cucumber Magnolia and Red Oak. The results look very promising and we’re exploring strategies to take advantage of this technology in the future.

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