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Florida has more species of trees than any other
state in the continental United States.
Of the 625 native trees in the U.S., 275 are found in Florida.
We are now privileged to see first hand life on
Mars, through a camera looking cold, dry, and most nutritionally deficient. Our planet Earth must have looked similar
over 4.5 billion years ago when formed.
Essentially our planet Earth was birthed and nursed into life by
trees. Before humans, the first
organisms were bacteria, algae, and fungus.
Humans owe their genetic development, physiology, and conceptual thought
to trees. These fundamental facts
suggest close relationships between plants and humans. It took 2.5 billion years before photosynthetic
bacteria, single-celled algae, and an array of microscopic invertebrate animals
that feed on these primary producers began to develop. These organisms are adapted to live at the
edge of biological tolerance. From
these types of organisms developed other microbes, including the single –celled
protozoans, fungi and all of the animals, including us. The evolution from algae to land plants must have
been a lengthy process. The first fossils
of macroscopic land plants have been found in Ireland. They are about 425
million years old. Our trees are relatively
recent as cone-bearing trees appeared 275 million years ago and the evolution
of flowering plants, including our broadleaf trees 130 million years ago. The
25 million years old DNA of fossilized cypress is nearly identical to the DNA
of modern cypress. Some of our living
trees are very old. The classic case is
California’s bristlecone pines, which are 4000 years old and the sequoias about
3,500 years old. Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples, FL estimates
that some of their cypress trees are 500 years old. Our heritage of trees, their decay into soil and formation of oil
took millions of years.
Humans evolving 1.7 million years ago have long
appreciated trees and plants. Trees
have provided oxygen for us to breath, soil for us to grow crops, wood, coal,
oil, and gas for warmth and products, and given food to sustain our bodies, and
shelter to protect us. Now with much
cutting and removing of trees, we are coming full circle by going back to the
beginning by producing again a barren earth with no trees. No more coal and energy can develop, no more
new soil for our existence.
Much of our tree wealth is gone. The maximum extent of the world’s forest
occurred about 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.
Originally agriculture and more recently housing developments have removed
many acres of forest. Only about half
of the original forest cover remains, and that is being cut at an accelerating
rate. Over 60 % of the temperate
hardwood and mixed forest is gone, as well as 30 % of the conifers, 45% of the
tropical rainforest, and 70% of the tropical dry forest. Since 1950, nearly a third of our forests
have been destroyed and over half of the remaining has already been degraded,
much of it severely. According to E.O.
Wilson, “the loss of forest during the past half-century is one of the most profound
and rapid environmental changes in the history of the planet. Its impact on animals and plant species is
automatic and severe.”
At PIAS we are hoping to at least reverse the
tremendous lost of trees in Indian River County. We have developed and presented to the Board of County
Commissioners a revised Tree Ordinance that attempts to save some of the trees
in the County. Currently our county’s
tree ordinance is one of the weakest in Florida. Even Sebastian, Vero Beach, and neighboring counties have
stronger tree ordinances.
We hope you will support this new tree ordinance
when it comes up for public hearings perhaps at the end of this month. Please write or call your commissioners and
urge them to pass the stronger tree ordinance.
Richard H. Baker, President (April 2004)