On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:47:00 -0500, Debbie Wolf <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>"An historic, pre-Civil War tree on our campus is beyond being saved and
>according to our arborist needs to come down. We would like to
>memorialize the tree in some way, perhaps placing a plaque in its
>location."

Here's an idea:

Why not cut out a cross-section of the tree from the trunk, have it
preserved in polyethylenglycol (PEG) and make individual plaques regarding
events that occurred sine the planting of the tree with pointers to the
growth rings that correspond to the events?  (they commonly refer to these
sections as 'tree cookies')

I've seen this done with some of the Giant Sequoias here in California and
it's real interesting to tie the historic events the tree had lived through
to the tree itself.

The display could also include photographs (where available) of the tree at
different stages of it's life and an etched metal plate depicting the tree
to memorialize it.   

PEG treating of wood is a common practice used by wood turners with burls or
other tree sections to allow it to be 'worked' further and it does an
excellent job of preservation by penetration into the wood. 

http://www.nativetreesociety.org/dendro/tree_cookie_preservation.htm 

Larry 

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