Researchers made a surprising discovery at Big Bend National Park in Texas earlier this year, finding an oak tree thought to have been extinct for the last 11 years.
In a press release published on July 7, the Morton Arboretum announced that a team of botanical researchers representing several different botanical and environmental conservation institutions found a single Quercus tardifolia, also known as a Lateleaf oak, back in May.
The tree stands approximately 30 feet tall and is described as being “in poor condition” and “in immediate need of conservation.” The researchers who found the tree stated that it appears to have a severe fungal infection and fire scars around its trunk.
“It was not a vision of vigor, that is for sure,” said Emily Griswold, one of the researchers who found the tree. “But it didn’t feel to me like it was at death’s door. I think it could hold on.”
Still, the researchers agree that one more fire or drought has the potential to kill the tree. If it is actually the last of its kind, then the tree is the rarest oak in the entire world, according to Murphy Westwood, vice president of science and conservation at the Morton Arboretum.
She stressed the importance of conservation in the press release, stating, “This work is crucial to preserve the biodiversity that Earth is so quickly losing. If we ignore the decline of Q. tardifolia and other rare, endangered trees, we could see countless domino effects with the loss of other living entities in the ecosystems supported by those trees.”
Accordingly, the researchers are now working with the National Park Service and several conservationist groups to reduce the risk of wildfires breaking out in the tree’s immediate vicinity and find Quercus tardifolia acorns from which to grow further specimens.
The discovery was the culmination of years of work by the team, who scoured West Texas for years in hopes of finding just one living example of this rare oak tree, according to The New Republic.
“As soon as I saw it, it stood out from everything else,” said Michael Eason, a conservation officer for the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. “It was sort of astonishing.”
Big Bend National Park is located in West Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.