The Woodland Pasture, or Wood Pasture, habitat is one of the rarest landscapes in the world. Here are four, in different places. See if you can identify the location. The person with the best answer will get an 8×10 print of a woodland pasture photograph (Note: we will be sending out pictures to donors and […]
Maps and GIS are at the core of our work at Venerable Trees, Inc. A GIS, or Geographical Information System, “lets us visualize, question, analyze, and interpret data to understand relationships, patterns, and trends” (ESRI). The usual way of looking at GIS data is by the creation of a map, but that is far from the […]
Venerable Trees, Inc, has a single mission – to conserve ancient trees and woodland pastures for future generations. We are holding a brief fundraiser to provide seed funding for two of our most important projects, Stems for STEM and our mapping program for woodland pastures. As a benefit to our donors, we are offering high-quality […]
Venerable Trees, Inc. and Andrea James, together with other partners soon to be named, are pleased to announce a new program to involve kids on the North Side of Lexington in nature study and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) projects. The program is called Stems for STEM. Lexington parks are home to an […]
Urban parks in Lexington Kentucky contain many trees that were growing long before the parks were established. It is common for parks to include large, old trees, but these usually were planted after estalishment of the parks. In Lexington, most urban parks in the older parts of town were small parts of large estates. The […]
The goal of Venerable Trees, Inc is to conserve woodland pastures in rural areas and to preserve ancient trees in urban developments whenever possible. We recognize that it is not always possible to preserve every ancient tree in a development. However, there should be a public discussion before any tree is removed. The bur oak […]
Urban forestry often focuses on planting and management of young trees. Very large, old trees are rare in urban settings outside of parks and cemeteries. Not so in the Bluegrass, where huge, ancient trees are abundant throughout our cities and towns. In the Bluegrass, cities have grown up on land that used to be woodland […]
New slideshows are now appearing at our photography web site, The Lives of Trees. Visit the Latest Stories at the Lives of Trees to see what’s new. We will continue updating stories at both sites. We will post information about all updates to both sites here.
Woodland pastures have been a dominant feature of the Bluegrass landscape since before settlement in 1779. Today, central Kentucky farms are still the home of ancient trees in woodland pastures. Click the picture below for a slide show of woodland pastures in the Bluegrass. .
Shumard oak, Quercus shumardii, is a puzzling tree. It is not abundant anywhere in its large range. It is easily confused with other red oaks, and it probably hybridizes with them. In the Bluegrass, Shumard oak is common, but highly variable. Here is a slide show of Shumard oaks in the Bluegrass.
There is a beautiful old catalpa tree at Ashland, in Lexington, KY, that has been loved by generations of visitors. I suspect it is the most photographed tree in the Bluegrass. A close look at the tree shows the great character that develops with age. Here is a slide show of the old tree.
Tom Eblen, a fine reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader, has written a really good article about our work at Venerable Trees. Tom Eblen: Effort takes root to protect Central Kentucky’s most majestic old trees