Environment

One of the Oldest Oak Trees in the US Dies

Basking Ridge, N.J. is a quintessential small town. Like all good small towns, it has a defining feature. Or at least it did. This summer, heat stress and heavy rain conspired to fell a 600-year old oak tree at both the town's literal and cultural centre — the tree sits at the point where West Oak Street turns into East Oak Street, hanging over the Presbyterian Church's graveyard.

What precipitated the oak's rapid decline was a two-week stretch when the average temperature was higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit in late July. The heat stress made the tree's pores essentially go on lockdown during the hot, dry period to keep its water availability up. Unfortunately the stretch of hot weather was followed by two separate days where heavy rain fell in mid-August.

Rob Gillies, an arborist in Basking Ridge who has tended to the tree, told the New York Times that "the roots were soaking because it couldn't process the water," ultimately dealing the fatal blow.