Frequently Asked Questions

The mission of the Friends of Cherry Hill Oak is to partner with Beaufort County Passive Parks to provide for the care and protection of the 2013 Heritage Live Oak and to support the preservation stewardship of the natural resources of Cherry Hill Park. These resources will provide significant ecological and economic benefits to Beaufort County residents for generations. 

Friends of Cherry Hill Oak operates through partnerships with local organizations and volunteers to raise funds and organize volunteers for the maintenance and stewardship of of the Cherry Hill Oak Passive Park

Passive Parks are fee-simple purchased properties acquired through the Beaufort County Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Program intended to provide open space and/or passive recreation to the residents and visitors of Beaufort County. For more information visit: https://www.beaufortcountysc.gov/passive-parks/index.html#:~:text=Passive%20parks%20are%20fee%2Dsimple,and%20visitors%20of%20Beaufort%20County.

To learn about the many benefits of the Rural and Critical Lands program please visit:

https://ruralandcritical.org/land-preservation-program/

The Community Foundation of the Lowcountry is a 501(c)(3) foundation "dedicated to helping donors, nonprofit organizations and other community members make a difference in the lives of Lowcountry citizens. Our impact will be achieved by bringing together financial resources, knowledge and collaborative networks to serve community needs."

Learn more here: https://cf-lowcountry.org/about/discover

Beaufort County completed the purchase of the Cherry Hill Oak parcel on September 22, 2023. The Park will be managed by Beaufort County Passive Parks. There is much planning and work to be done before the park is open to the public. Dangerous hazard trees need to be removed along with considerable clean up, maintenance, and installation of infrastructure. The Friends of Cherry Hill Oak is working with Beaufort County and the Town of Port Royal to accomplish these tasks. Please sign up for our email list to be the first to know about the park opening and upcoming events.

Here is a description from Master Arborist, Michael Murphy:

The Port Royal Heritage Live oak is the oldest and largest diameter tree to be documented to date in Beaufort County. It is estimated to be 350 to 400-years old. 

Trees will generally grow in three life stages: the young stage, the mature stage and the ancient stage. During the first two growth stages of trees, if trees are growing in their native and natural setting, human intervention or in many cases, human interference, is rarely needed and can sometimes be fatal. Soil compaction, installation of turf under the canopy, root cuts from construction, all can take a toll on tree longevity. This is why many trees never meet their ancient stage.

Our tree has not suffered from, but has prospered from, the benign neglect that it has had over its first 350 or so years on earth. In order to prosper during their ancient phase, trees need human intervention to survive. Conservation Arboriculture maintenance measures need to be put into place in order to assure that ancient trees fare better during this aging process. Once pruned properly using these measures, the tree will need to have an annual scheduled inspection and be inspected after severe storm events. Baring no other weather-related repairs, the reduction pruning would be scheduled with approximate 15-year intervals.

In the UK and Europe, where it has been in use for generations, Conservation Arboriculture explores the tree as a complex ecosystem, co-evolving along with everything within its canopy. 

It considers the tree as a home and food source for both the obvious vertebrates, squirrels, birds, etc., as well as the not so obvious, the invertebrates’ fungi, lichen, arthropods. Caring for trees in this manner forces us as arborists to think of tree management in a different and more holistic sense. Basically, we just want to make sure that the tree can hold itself up.

We plant trees for legacy so we should also consider pruning trees for legacy. When trees reach their ancient stage, they should be maintained and pruned as if they could live forever. This can be considered a reality because some trees do have an indeterminable life span. 

The scientific community believes that because of their vegetative nature, trees can live forever; we just have to make sure that they can hold themselves up. We need to concentrate on tree stability when they are pruned. That is how we need to manage ancient trees, manage them as if they could live forever. That is what Conservation Arboriculture, and its processes, - reiteration, restoration, retrenchment, reduction pruning, and High Halo Pruning is all about.

In the chronicles of human history there have been many quests for immortality; trees are the only living things to even come close. That Lorax chose quite a complex group to speak for.

Questions arise about this longevity primarily because it is hard for us as humans to truly comprehend the life span of trees because we naturally compare it to our own relatively short mortality. We need to realize that trees are multi-generational and the maintenance of appropriate species, like the live oak, should encompass their relative immortality.

The following is a list of maintenance needs that the Cherry Hill Heritage Live Oak will require. 

• Reduction Pruning - Reduce live end canopy weight 20% to 25% to decrease the risk of lead failures. Remove deadwood 2-inches to 6-inches. Pull-test deadwood 6-inches and larger and leave where possible. Estimated cost $ 2100.00.
• Install lightning protection system. South Carolina has the fourth most lightning strikes per year in the country. Lightning strikes can cause significant if not fatal structural damage to a tree in a matter of minutes. The long-term survival of this tree depends on maintaining its structural stability. Estimated cost $1680.00.
• Remove volunteer yaupon – This growth should be removed, root and all, either by hand with a mattock or pulled out by small bobcat using long chockers to keep machinery away from rootplate. Estimated cost $1400.00.
• “High Halo” live oak canopy by the removal of 2 pine trees which have fallen into live oak and 3 pine trees interfering with outer canopy ends. Grind stumps below grade. Estimated cost $4600.00
• Spread woodchips under live oak canopy creating a 30-foot radius mulch bed. Utilize the woodchips created from the pine removals. Estimated cost $460.00
• Work with Passive Parks to create a woodchip holding area where approximately 50 yards of multidimensional woodchips created by local arborists daily pruning can be stored. Estimated costs, if any to be determined.
• Annual inspections and post storm inspections by Board Certified Master Arborist – In-kind service contribution.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael P. Murphy

Board Certified Master Arborist

NJ 0146B