In the lands of the current Los Alerces National Park, located in the province of Chubut, about 2,630 years ago, a sprout of a tree emerged that still stands tall, imposing. This is the Grandfather Larch, the oldest tree in Argentina and the second oldest in the world, a marvel of the Argentine Patagonia.
From the footbridge that crosses the Arrayanes River, at the mouth of Lake Verde, it is necessary to walk about a thousand meters to reach Puerto Chucao. There, a catamaran sails through the green waters of Lake Menéndez, until finally reaching the larch forest: the forest where larches coexist with arrayanes, lianas, and wild orchids, on the banks of the Cisne River.
Characteristics of the second oldest tree in the world
Among all the larch trees, the Grandfather stands out with its 57 meters in height and an impressive 280 centimeters in diameter. It is the second oldest certified tree on the planet, behind the Pinus Longaeva found in the United States.
The age of trees is calculated by counting the rings on their trunk, with two new rings added each year: one in spring and one in autumn.
To establish the age of the Grandfather Larch, a perforation was made to the center of the trunk and a thin wooden rod was extracted, without causing damage. This determined that it is over 2,600 years old, having coexisted with 10 generations of arrayanes, 400 generations of condors, and 87 generations of huemules.
UNESCO Heritage
The indigenous peoples of the region called the larch tree lahuan, an expression that means “solitary grandfather”. Most of the 263,000 hectares of Los Alerces National Park are virgin territory.
In 2018, about 188,000 hectares were recognized as UNESCO World Heritage for its high degree of preservation. Only about 300 parks in the world have this certification.
“The flora and fauna of these forests date back to the times when the continents were connected,” they explain in the National Park. The formation of the larch forest was a slow process, favored by the special humid environment of the place, where it rains 300 days a year. Under these conditions, each tree grows one millimeter in diameter every 365 days.
The millenary Grandfather Larch stands as a symbol of conservation in protected places from human destruction.
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