Featured photo is of Manistee’s giant sequoia being climbed by a member of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive at Lake Bluff Farms. Photo by Pat Stinson.
By Pat Stinson
The public is invited to Lake Bluff Farms at 2 p.m., Sept. 16, when Jesse Ketchum and Jake Milarch, of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive in Copemish, will climb Manistee’s giant sequoia tree.
Ketchum said they will gather cones and cuttings and also measure the celebrated tree.
“We’ve collected from it several times in the past 10-12 years,” he said.
Ketchum, inventory manager and general manager of Archangel’s propagation facility, said they will use seeds from the cones to grow giant sequoia seedlings at their Copemish tree nursery and also use cuttings (taken from the top of the tree) to produce clones.
Lake Bluff Farms’ spokesperson William “Bill” Zielinksi said it is important for his organization to help Archangel in this effort.
“Clones of our tree will be useful to expand the known range of where these giant sequoias can be planted,” Zielinksi said, adding that the Lake Bluff tree is a “rock star,” with high numbers of people visiting it, some from “very far away.”
During Archangel’s visit, clones of two giant sequoias from California will be planted at Lake Bluff Farms, along with a third tree grown from seed.
“One of the trees planted Friday will be of the Lake Bluff tree,” Zielinski said.
Manistee’s sequoia has “giant” significance
In a Nov. 3, 2021 story published in clickondetroit.com, David Milarch, co-founder of Archangel, said Dr. Bill Libby, professor emeritus of forestry and genetics at the University of California-Berkeley, told him the Lake Bluff tree ” … might be one of the more important sequoias on Earth ….”
Milarch told this reporter: “It’s really a unique scenario to have a tree of that size growing in Manistee County. Most experts say it’s way too cold; it should be stunted, at best.”
He added that the tree’s ability to “withstand cold winters” is “obviously in the genetics somewhere of that giant sequoia.”
“It’s an anomaly,” he said. “It shouldn’t be, but it is .”
Milarch said his son, Jake Milarch, leads the cloning initiative. Jake has told him the tree is more than 110 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter at shoulder height. New measurements will be taken to ascertain its exact size.
California’s sequoia clones to debut
One of the California clones to be planted Friday is from Stagg tree, the fifth largest tree in the world, and one of the largest giant sequoias, according to Ketchum. The second California clone is from Waterfall, a 225-foot-tall giant sequoia killed in the 2020 Castle Fire. A website for the Giant Sequoia National Monument, where Waterfall was located, stated it “might have been the largest tree on Earth.” Milarch said the clones are from trees 3,000-4,000 years old.
“Manistee celebrates the forest festival every year, which was really about the white pines that were lumbered and the demise of the forest,” Milarch said. “We need to shift that, to be a leader in reforestation.”
For 25 years, Archangel has propagated old growth trees and helped to reforest several parts of the world with giant trees. Archangel’s website lists some of the benefits of giant trees, including their ability to capture carbon and release oxygen. Of the trees, Archangel’s mission page states: “They are essentially a global warming solution.”
Lake Bluff Farms is located at 2890 Lakeshore Dr. Designated overflow parking to see the giant sequoia is available across the road. Follow them on Facebook @lakeblufffarms. For more information about the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, visit: www.lakeblufffarms.com.
For more information about Archangel Ancient Tree Archive and its nonprofit mission to plant clones and seedlings of old-growth and giant trees, go to: www.ancienttreearchive.org. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
2 Comments
I had no idea there was a giant sequoia in Manistee!
Beautiful tree
Great story!
I’d love to try to grow one
It is an impressive tree. Thank you for your comments, Don.