“If they could talk, the stories they could tell,” Steve Houser, an arborist and founding member of the Dallas Historic Tree Coalition, told the Associated Press. The trees, he said, “were like an early road map” for American Indians.
The trees are known as Indian marker trees or trail trees and were bent by Native Americans in their youth to mark trails or other landmarks, like a creek crossing.
Houser’s mission: to protect the historic trees and their stories. The group has identified four marker trees and is looking into reports of 32 more across Texas.
Groups like Houser’s are popping up across the country to protect and maintain the trees. Mountain Stewards, a non-profit based in Jasper, Georgia has compiled a database of 1,850 marker trees in 39 states, reported the AP.
The group’s process to verify a tree is indeed an Indian marker includes age, it must be at least 150 to 200 years old, and finding marks that show where the tree was tied down.
From Indian Country Today Media Network: https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/04/05/trees-bent-by-american-indians-being-identified-and-preserved-106631?utm_source=Week+in+Trees+April+6&utm_campaign=WIT&utm_medium=email