The Story of the Treaty Oak Tree

To celebrate Arbor Day, we’re going to share a story about one of the most famous trees in Texas, the Treaty Oak in Austin. This is a 500 year old tree in the center of the city. Folklore holds this as the spot that Stephen F. Austin, leader of the colony that eventually became Texas, signed the first treaty with the Native Americans that lived there. The American Forestry Association put the Treaty Oak into its Hall of Fame as the most perfect specimen of a North American tree. Suffice to say, this is a pretty important tree both locally and nationally.

In 1989, Paul Cullen poisoned the Treaty Oak, using enough of the herbicide Velpar to kill 100 trees. He thought the tree represented his love for his ex-girlfriend, and he would no longer love his ex-girlfriend if the tree were no longer alive. Arborists thought that the tree was doomed. Former Presidential Candidate Ross Perot wrote a blank check to fund efforts to save the tree. His money was put to good use by the arborists. They did everything they could to save the tree. DuPont, the manufacturer of Velpar, said that they never needed to reverse the effects and didn’t know how, but offered their assistance and a reward for finding the poisoner. A piece of the tree was cut off and planted next to it, in hopes that if the Treaty Oak died, there would still be something to remember it by. Eventually, with a lot of sugar to counteract the Velpar and a lot of pruning, the tree survived. Both the main tree and the baby tree are thriving today. Paul Cullen was sentenced to nine years in jail and passed away in 2001.

The Treaty Oak isn’t a cedar tree, but it’s still a great tree worth celebrating this Arbor Day. It’s a symbol of our Texan heritage and strength. Just like we wrote about Lewisville Lake, it shows how people and nature can combine to create something great. But mostly, we just wanted to share an interesting story about a tree.

More info:
Wikipedia
Criminal podcast episode 36: Perfect Specimen

Thanks to Matthew Rutledge on Flickr for the photo.

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Humans and Nature: Lake Lewisville

CedarCide has a lot in common with Lewisville Lake, the 29,000 acre lake that’s about a mile from our warehouse in Lewisville, Texas. Both are combinations of human power and nature to create something awesome. Lewisville Lake, like every lake in Texas, was man made. The lake provides water to the city of Dallas and its surrounding suburbs, and CedarCide provides natural insect protection to people around the world.

The lake’s primary purpose is to provide water, but it gives so much more. There are 10 parks around the 233 miles of shoreline, providing beaches, picnic facilities, and scenic golf courses. There are 7 campgrounds that allow people to really get in tune with the lake. Fishing is a common activity on the lake, and there have even been fishing competitions. There are a few restaurants and bars on the shores as well as Captain Jack’s Floating Bar and Grill which is actually on the lake. The lake provides commerce as well, with many companies selling, renting, repairing, or storing boats. CedarCide matches the lake again, offering pet shampoo and sunscreen in addition to the insect products.

Many of the people who work at CedarCide have a personal connection with Lewisville Lake. Ray and Dave take Dave’s boat out to the lake and go wakeboarding every weekend when it’s warm enough. They’ve also been known to go when it’s freezing cold. A few of us have accepted their invitations to join them. Matt used the lake as his training ground while he was training for a marathon last year. The I-35 bridge over Lake Lewisville provides a great view for Austin and Neil, who live in Denton. They’ve been able to appreciate it for an extra long time due to the 4 year construction project on that road.

We’re very big fans of Lewisville Lake. It’s a wonderful, powerful combination of nature and human engineering that we aim to be as well.

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Update on Zika

We previously reported on suspicions that pesticides used to combat Zika, and not the Zika virus itself, were causing microcephaly in babies. It turns out that this is not true. Reports in the New England Journal of Medicine and the journal Science directly associate microcephaly with the Zika virus. This just adds to the urgency in containing and eliminating the virus.

Zika virus has not become a huge problem in the USA, but it has also definitely not gone away. As of April 6th, there have been almost 350 cases of Zika found in the States and all of them have been linked to travel in areas heavily affected by Zika. Nobody in the continental US has acquired Zika from a local mosquito, which hopefully means that there are no Zika-carrying aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the country.

The best way to avoid Zika is not to travel to countries that have affected mosquitoes. The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning against travel to over 40 countries due to Zika. They keep that advisory up to date with the latest Zika outbreaks. All of the normal advice against mosquitoes still applies: wear long clothing when possible, try to avoid wet areas where mosquitoes thrive, and use effective insect protection. CedarCide offers CedarCide Original Biting Insect Spray, a natural and effective insect repellent that does not contain DEET.

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  CedarCide Original Natural Personal Insect Repellent

  from $19.95

Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/united-states.html
http://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa1601824
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/04/11/science.aaf6116

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