Sky Lake: A Stand Of Ancient Cypress

Mississippi's Treasure from the AgesThe cypress of Sky Lake offer a glimpse into the past.

Liz Pipkin

Gateway to Ancient Cypress Trees

Sky Lake BoardwalkThe boardwalk is located approximately 7 miles north of Belzoni, Mississippi. When you arrive at the intersection of US Highway 49W and Highways 12 and 7 (at Belzoni), turn east onto Highway 7 (1st Street). At the first traffic light, the intersection of Highway 7 (also named Martin Luther King Drive) and Hayden Street, turn left. When the road forks at Old Highway 49 and Highway 7, bear right on Highway 7 and continue for approximately 4.9 miles to the intersection of Four Mile Road. Turn left and travel approximately 0.9 miles to the intersection of Simmons Road. Turn left on Simmons Road and travel approximately 0.8 miles, staying on the blacktop, to the entrance of the facility, which will be on the right. The coordinates are N 33° 17.101' W 090° 28.961'

Born From the Mighty Mississippi

Sky Lake was once part of the Mississippi River. It branched off from the main river, forming a distributary, during the Holocene age, about 7,700 years ago. It was a distributary channel of the Mississippi River for 1,700 to 2,800 years.

General Sherman, the biggest tree in the worldThe tree called "General Sherman" is not only the biggest giant sequoia, but it is also the biggest tree in the world. He is 83.8 m (274.9 feet) tall, his girth at breast height is 24,10 m (79 feet) (near the ground it is 31,3 m or 102,6 feet). The width of the crown is 33 m, and the first branch starts only at 40 m or 130 feet!

The baldcypress, commonly referred to as "cypress," is in the Cupressaceae family, the same family as the famous giant sequoia of the Sierra Nevada in California and the redwood of the Pacific Coast. They all grow very large trunks and produce small cones and needlelike foliage.

Significance of Sky Lake

Baldcypress trees are a wetland species often characterized by their moss-draped crowns, buttressed trunks and protruding "knees" emerging around them from the swamp. It is a deciduous conifer which means its needles fall off in the winter months (hence the name "bald"). It grows naturally throughout the Southern Coastal states and north into the Lower Mississippi River Valley.

This photograph was taken at the beginning of the boardwalk into Sky Lake June 29, 2014.

Sky Lake Boardwalk

Visitors need to check in at thePermit Stationbefore going intothe swamp.

Backwater Areas

Boardwalk to the Ancients

These Southern Giants reach for the sky…

Tree anatomy

Sky Lake Boardwalk Among the Trees

Reflections of the Past

“Sky Lake contains some of the largest and oldest baldcypress trees that remain on earth, and they have international scientific significance. Here at Sky Lake one can see what native Mississippi was truly like in the heart of her forested wetlands, an ecosystem of such diversity and productivity that it was rivaled only by the tropical rainforests of Amazonia.”

Dr. David StahleDirector, Tree Ring LaboratoryUniversity of Arkansas

Forest Regeneration

The baldcypress easily ranks as the largest and longest living tree east of the Mississippi. Thousand-year-old, first-growth trees attain heights of 150' and diameters of 12'. In fact, bald cypress of this size have yielded 100,000 board feet of lumber per acre.Baldcypress will cost about $1.50 per board foot. Faux satine crotch, a scarce veneer made from bald cypress crotch wood, occasionally shows up for commercial use in fine-furniture pieces and wall paneling.

Resources:

Resources:http://www.mdwfp.com/wildlife-hunting/wmas/north-delta-region/sky-lake.aspx

http://skylakemississippi.org/

http://www.wildlifemiss.org/Sky_Lake_Boardwalk.html

http://www.southernspaces.org/2004/mississippi-delta#sthash.N9j6NFfr.dpuf

http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/mississippi/sky_lake/sky_lake_wma.htm

http://www.newsouthernview.com/pages/nsv_ot_sky_lake.html

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/24518276/sky-lake-cypress-trees

Photographs by Liz Pipkin

Cobb, James C. The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Cohn, David. Where I Was Born and Raised. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1948. - See more at: http://www.southernspaces.org/2004/mississippi-delta#sthash.w7Iym8vi.dpuf