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How this beloved historic tree in Georgia was declared its own owner

Gotta love a white oak with property rights.

via Wikipedia/TheTreeThatOwnsItself

A photograph of the Son of Tree That Owns Itself taken on a humid day in 2005

The concept of possessions isn’t rare across the animal kingdom. Anyone who has ever had a dog knows they have their favorite bones or chew toys they like to hide so no one steals them. Chimpanzees are known to craft tools for specific uses and keep them together in a kit.

But man is probably the only creature on Earth that dares to think they own a tree—an organism that’s usually a lot taller and lives much longer than the average homo sapiens.

That’s why the story of a tree in Athens, Georgia, is so touching. In the 19th century, a colonel loved a white oak so much that he liberated it from human possession and declared that it owns itself. The tree sits in downtown Athens on the corner of Dearning and Finley Streets.

Colonel William H. Jackson, the son of former Georgia Governor James Jackson, had fond childhood memories of a white oak on his family’s property. So he wrote up a will that gave it self-ownership. The will read, in part:

I, W. H. Jackson, of the county of Clarke, of the one part, and the oak tree ... of the county of Clarke, of the other part: Witnesseth, That the said W. H. Jackson for and in consideration of the great affection which he bears said tree, and his great desire to see it protected has conveyed, and by these presents do convey unto the said oak tree entire possession of itself and of all land within eight feet [2.4 m] of it on all sides.

tree owns itself, athens georgia, georgia landmarks

The only tree in the world that owns itself

via Wikipedia/TheTreeThatOwnsItself

The first printed reports of the tree owning itself were published in a local newspaper on August 12, 1890. The article stated that Col. Jackson deeded possession of the tree to itself as well as the land within 8 feet of its trunk.

The tree is adorned with a famous plaque that reads:

FOR AND IN CONSIDERATION

OF THE GREAT LOVE I BEAR

THIS TREE AND THE GREAT DESIRE

I HAVE FOR ITS PROTECTION

FOR ALL TIME, I CONVEY ENTIRE

POSSESSION OF ITSELF AND

ALL LAND WITHIN EIGHT FEET

OF THE TREE ON ALL SIDES

- WILLIAM H. JACKSON (c. 1832)


tree owns itself, athens georgia, georgia landmarks

The older plaque at the site of the Tree That Owns Itself.

via Wikipedia/TheTreeThatOwnsItself

Sadly, in 1942, the tree fell over in a windstorm. To keep the tradition alive, members of the Junior Ladies Garden Club of Athens planted acorns from the original tree and began growing a second-generation white oak.

On December 4, 1946, the Junior Ladies Garden Club of Athens planted the sapling, which is often referred to as the Son of the Tree That Owns Itself. Today, it stands as tall as its father, rising 70 feet tall, and according to local tradition, it also owns itself.

However, according to U.S. law, the tree has no legal rights.

"Trees have not been recognized as having legal rights in the U.S.," Mari Margil, associate director for Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) told How Stuff Works. "Some (trees) may have a certain level of protection that is different from other tree species, but that is not the same as having a legal right.”

But that hasn’t stopped the Athens community from caring for the Son of the Tree That Owns Itself.

"We ... like our quirky objects," says Steven Brown of the Athens Historical Society. "I think most Athenians genuinely love their city and love anything that stands out as symbolizing it."

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Heroes

Brazilian couple planted 4 million trees within 18 years to form a large forest.

Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado has seen a lot of devastating things in his life, but the state of his family's land in Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1994 likely ranks at the top.

He had just returned from reporting on the genocide in Rwanda which was traumatizing in its own right, but seeing his family's land that has previously been a fecund rainforest stripped of vegetation hit him at his core.

“The land was as sick as I was – everything was destroyed,” Sebastião told The Guardian.

What happened to Sebastião's land is far from unique. Over the last 30 years, the world's forests have been disappearing at an astounding rate. Between 1990 and 2016, approximately 502,000 square miles of forest have been lost, according to the World Bank, largely due to agricultural and industrial development. That's about the size of South Africa.

Not only does deforestation account for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, it's responsible for countless species of animals and plants losing their habitats, which ultimately endangers their survival.

Sebastião and his wife Lélia knew they could turn the deforestation on their land around. So, for the next 20 years, with the help of a small group of volunteers, that's exactly what they did.

 

In 1998, the Selgados founded Instituto Terra, a nonprofit dedicated to "ecosystem restoration, production of Atlantic Forest seedlings, environmental extension, environmental education and applied scientific research."

The nonprofit's theory is that trees produce oxygen and life, so the best way to re-invigorate land is to bring its native trees back. That's why they've spent the majority of the last two decades planting over 4 million tree seedlings from plant species found in the Atlantic Forest in the Rio Doce Valley.

[rebelmouse-image 19476490 dam="1" original_size="1413x1024" caption="Photo via Instituto Terra." expand=1]Photo via Instituto Terra.

The results speak for themselves.

With the return of the rainforest came many species of animals that had previously abandoned the area. This includes 172 bird species, six of which are threatened with extinction, 33 mammal species, two of which are endangered, 15 amphibian species and 15 reptile species.

[rebelmouse-image 19476491 dam="1" original_size="625x480" caption="Photo via Instituto Terra." expand=1]Photo via Instituto Terra.

Their re-forestation work is incredible, but it will only last if people in the surrounding areas learn to respect the importance of such ecosystems. That's why they started the Center for Environmental Education and Recovery (CERA).

By December, 2012, CERA had developed over 700 educational programs reaching up to 65,000 people. The aim is to educate farmers, teachers, businesses and government officials about environmental recovery and conservation methods and why they're vital to keeping lands (and the people living on them) healthy. The hope is that they'll help inspire those working on and near the land to adopt more sustainable practices.

Deforestation will affect animals and humans in a significant way if we let it continue at such a rapid pace. Organizations like Instituto Terra are doing their part to protect their revitalized jungle, but that's just one small area of the 30% of forest that covers our planet. It's going to take more individual support to save the rest.

If you want to learn about what you can do to help, the Rainforest Alliance offers several great ways you can get involved and make a difference.

Heroes

How India managed to plant 66 million trees in a single day and why we should copy them.

One and a half million volunteers planted a record-shattering 66 million trees in India on July 2, 2017.

The campaign took place along the Narmada River in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Volunteers young and old gathered together to plant more than 20 different species of sapling.

This top's India's 2016 record, which saw 50 million trees planted.

It can feel like it's hard to make a difference, but this is an incredible example of what people can accomplish together.

Forests provide food, shelter, and jobs to billions of people around the world. Despite that, we lose more than 45,000 square miles of forest every year to industry, agriculture, and other human activities.

Reforestation can help reverse that trend.

Volunteers planting a tree in Honduras on Earth Day 2012. Photo by Orlando Sierra/AFP/GettyImages.

Even better, reforestation can help take a bite out of climate change.

Trees breathe in carbon dioxide, the main gas responsible for climate change, turning it into, well, wood.

Here in the United States, reforestation projects have helped reforest old coal mining land. In Australia, a start-up company is testing drones that could plant a billion trees a year. In Chile, seed-carrying border collies are helping plant seeds after forest fires.

Open fanny packs full of seeds mean the dogs deposit the next generation of forest with each jump and bound. Photo by Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images.

This also shows that other nations are still committed to the Paris Climate Agreement, with or without the United States.

While Trump's decision to renege on the Paris agreement essentially removes the United States from the negotiating table on climate change, other nations are stepping up. (As well as state and local governments too.)

India, for example, has promised to spend $6 billion reforesting 12% of its land under the Paris agreement.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh's chief minister, said in a tweet that "by planting trees we are not only serving Madhya Pradesh but the world at large," The Independent reports.

But the best part of this whole endeavor may be that just about anyone can take part.

Chouhan said that people both young and elderly took part in the July 2 project.

Thanks to these volunteers, there are now 66 million more wild, animal-sheltering, carbon-scrubbing machines pumping away in India.

Heroes

Plant a billion trees a year? This drone company's response: 'We can do that.'

We lose the equivalent of nearly a football field worth of forest every second.

Community leader Luiz Lopes gives a tour of illegal logging near his town in Brazil. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Seriously.

We lose between 46,000-58,000 square miles of forest every year, according to the World Wildlife Fund. If you do the math, that's about 48 regulation football fields every minute.

Well over a billion people rely on forests for food and shelter. But unsustainable logging, clear-cutting, and other man-made activities are threatening our forests like never before.

The good news is that people are actively pushing back. There are major reforestation projects underway, and in some places, like Washington state in the U.S., logging companies are required to replant any areas they harvest. But a couple of workers or volunteers with shovels and backpacks just aren't going to beat fleets of chainsaws and bulldozers.

To save our forests, it's time to go high tech. Like, "flying aerial cannons" high tech.

[rebelmouse-image 19530526 dam="1" original_size="480x270" caption=""Hello!" GIF from Info Biocarbon/YouTube." expand=1]"Hello!" GIF from Info Biocarbon/YouTube.

One company, BioCarbon Engineering, wants to use flying drones to plant trees.

BioCarbon's system uses two drones. The first is shaped like a small airplane and reads the land, scanning for obstacles and picking out the best places to plant trees. The drone then feeds this information to a bulky helicopter-like drone that flies over the areas, firing pre-germinated seedlings into the soil.

Image from  Info Biocarbon/YouTube.

Their goal is to plant a billion trees a year. And they might be able to do it.

"We're firing at one a second, which means a pair of operators will be able to plant nearly 100,000 trees per day — 60 teams like this will get us to a billion trees a year," BioCarbon Engineering's CEO Lauren Fletcher told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[rebelmouse-image 19530528 dam="1" original_size="750x391" caption="Image from Info Biocarbon/YouTube." expand=1]Image from Info Biocarbon/YouTube.

The system can work 10 times faster than human hands and is cheaper than hiring laborers, according to Dr. Susan Graham, the company's CTO. It can also reach places that'd be impossible for people to get to safely. For example, the company has been testing their drones over land abandoned by coal mines in Australia.

Now that tests are looking good, the company is currently accepting customer contracts.

We desperately need our forests, and this could help balance out human impact on the world.

Forests are a vital part of our planet and provide innumerable value to both individuals and humanity as a whole. They capture carbon and provide food and shelter to both people and animals. To fix deforestation, we should consider not only good old elbow grease and local efforts, but high tech approaches as well.

And I don't really see how you could get much more high-tech than this.

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