{"id":15870,"date":"2023-09-05T22:46:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T02:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&p=15870"},"modified":"2023-09-05T23:09:10","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T03:09:10","slug":"live-oak-at-floridas-governors-mansion-splits-during-idalia-casey-desantis-posts-photo-to-social","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/live-oak-at-floridas-governors-mansion-splits-during-idalia-casey-desantis-posts-photo-to-social\/","title":{"rendered":"Live oak at Florida’s Governor’s Mansion splits during Idalia; Casey DeSantis posts photo to social"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The day Hurricane Idalia hit Tallahassee, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis posted a photo of a split tree in the grounds of the Governor\u2019s Mansion to her social media. Arborists and historians are taking an interest in the fate of that live oak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People in Leon County tend to be proud of their trees and the canopy roads they provide. Stan Rosenthal, who was Leon County\u2019s forester for 30 years, played a key role in creating that pride.<\/p>\n

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He says when a hurricane is Category 1, he and his wife stay put; when it gets to Category 2, they leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cPine trees will start to break at the root system or snap off at Category 1s, even if they\u2019re healthy and structurally sound,\u201d he said. \u201cOlder water oaks and laurel oaks start breaking apart. You start to get into a Category 3, and live oaks \u2013 really sturdy trees, like this one, that don\u2019t have that structural problem, good-sized branches and stuff start to break off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosenthal says trees can fail for a number of reasons. One is poor health; another is strong storms, like Idalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot every tree fell. Well, the ones that fell probably had some problem with them,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so, health can be one of those, like a tree that has a rotten root system. Well, it\u2019s doing pretty well, but when a strong wind hits it, it\u2019s too much for it. Trees can flat-out die, and then as they decay, they\u2019re more risky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like all living things, trees die \u2013 not always of natural causes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings we do to trees, like when we have developments, or we do construction work around a tree and we cut the root system,\u201d he said. \u201cThe University of Florida did a bunch of research around hurricanes and trees, and we know that trees in older subdivisions did better than newer subdivisions because they didn\u2019t have as much root damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Lady Casey DeSantis estimated the fallen tree\u2019s age at roughly 100 years. Historian Jonathan Lammers has been studying aerial photos of the Governor\u2019s Mansion to search for the tree in years past.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there\u2019s no tree there in 1941. At that time, there was the previous Governor\u2019s Mansion, which was torn down and rebuilt in 1956,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd based on an aerial photo from the mid-Sixties, it looks like the tree that fell down was most likely planted when the new Governor\u2019s Mansion was built in the 1950s. And so, we\u2019re looking at a tree that\u2019s probably around 70 years old or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lammers says it takes 70 to 100 years for live oaks to get to adulthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd once they get up to that size, you\u2019re also looking at the fact that they are little islands, biological islands unto themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are communities of insects and birds and other animals that use these trees\u2026They really are little arcs of life. And we would do better to think about our urban tree canopy in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of its age, the live oak at the Governor\u2019s Mansion had become synonymous with the house at the time of its demise. On Thursday, WFSU went to the Governor\u2019s Mansion to view the tree but wasn\u2019t allowed on the grounds. Officers said the remains of the tree had already been removed. <\/p>\n

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