Pando of Fishlake National Forest

I did a lot of research before heading out west. Something I knew very little about were aspen trees and how they grow. Throughout our trip we found groves of these white-barked trees. We first found them on the north ridge of the Grand Canyon growing along with ponderosa pines and fir trees. Part of the purpose of our trip to the west was to see and experience the oldest and largest trees on the planet. I've always loved trees and felt the presence the Divine while in the presence of ancient trees. There's something that I find mystical and sacred about the peacefulness of forests. I've already written about seeing the Bristlecone Pines of the White Mountains and Great Basin National Park. They are the oldest individual trees on the planet. But, just a days drive from Great Basin, in Utah not far from Capital Reef National Park is a grove of Aspens known as Pando.

Looking up at Pando

The Pando Aspen Grove is the world's oldest clonal colony believed to be 80,000 years old. Some scientists suggest it could be as old as one million years old! Old growth forests have been dropping seeds for hundreds of thousands of years throughout the United States, Pando is different. Aspen groves exist with the same DNA for all the singular trunks in each grove. The root system of an Aspen grove is one living organism with many tree trunks. These groves can live on for millennia, the roots sending up new tree trunks constantly, but always with the same DNA. Pando has been found to be the oldest Aspen grove in the world and possibly the oldest living organism in the world. It's also the largest living organism in the world at 106 acres and 6,000,000 kilograms.

When traveling to see Pando we were amazed by the sheer beauty of the National Forest. Of course, like all the great forests, it is suffering from climate change and the insects and diseases taking advantage of weakened trees. But Fishlake National Forest was one of the most lush and dense forests that we saw. And the lake was awesome too.

The openness of pando. Such amazing green, white and blue.

As we drove toward where Google told us the 106 acre plot of ground exists we weren't sure what to look for. Suddenly we were among lots of Aspens, but weren't sure if they were what we were looking for. The trees just look like all the other aspens of the Colorado Plateau. There was no visitor center or even parking area for hiking. We were soon at a lake resort area with info on the national forest. So, we asked some questions and drove back into the area of aspens. We found a place to pullover and spend some time with Pando, assured now that we were in the right place.

The five of us took some time in the forest to ourselves. Lyle didn't really get it, but they gave me enough time or some quiet solitude with the trees. This single living organism has been alive for about 2066 generations of human beings. This singling living creature was alive during the Pleistocene, it lived through the last ice age. If this tree has memory it remembers sabertooth tigers, dire wolves, six foot long giant beavers and the massive giant sloth. When this plant was young human being were still only found in Africa. The entire planet was wild with megafauna and ice-ages would remain so for many thousands of years. Almost all of the megafauna, the giant mammals of the earth's recent past, went extinct because of human beings. One of the only remaining North American species remaining is the American Buffalo, though not present much at all in Utah's wild lands. The Pando forest, one living organism, lived through the last mass extinction of planet earth, most assuredly caused, at least in part, by human beings, and it is now living in the midst of earths sixth mass extinction.

You can see there are no small trees in the area with no fencing.

It was hard to imagine the reality of the place we were in and the company we were looking upon. We took some time to be quiet, to pray, to consider the Creator, to consider saving this creature and this place for millennia to come. Today, scientists say Pando is dying. Due to cattle grazing that is allowed in the national forest and other factors new tree trunks are not present in much of Pando. Big old trunks are present and seem healthy but new ones are no where to be found; except in the areas that the forest service has fenced off from deer and cattle. Those spaces are thriving with new trunks and other undergrowth.

Carved trunks thanks to people over the past decade or so.

Pando is a sacred place, a thin place, a place so wild in its history that we can only imagine the stories it holds. Some of its recent scars tell of the people who have been here, but these trunks will soon fall to the ground and new ones will arise, as long as ranchers stay away and hunters control the deer. Or maybe someday, pando will be healthy again because large predators exist in our forests to keep the deer and other grazing animals in check. Today though, Pando is a place we can imagine, maybe visit, but more importantly just know about and remember as we consider our smallness, the shortness of time that we have, and the extreme importance of the next few years, knowing that we must turn the tide of climate change if any of this beauty, all around the planet, will be saved from human caused global warming and mass extinction. We can do it, we are the generation that must do it. Pando has seen 80,000 years go by, it was alive during the last human caused mass extinction of the Pleistocene, but it will not survive an increase of 6 degree celsius. Civilization won't either. Humanity must and will change if any of us are to survive. All of this is one with us and we with it. The same Spirit that enlivens and sustains the Pando forest enlivens all of creation and every human being. Dwelling in this forest I realized the intimate connection that we all have with all of creation, with each other. Pando bears witness to the importance of our quest to save the planet and may bear witness to our success.

Some small trunks grow among older ones in a protected space of Pando.