Not neccesarily. trees do survive floods, they grow from the roots, so does grass, all sorts of stuff. you should try killing a tree sometime. It's very difficult. You really have to uproot it completely. or use poison of some sort. Right outside my door are thousands of trees with their roots underwater, they grow out of the edge of the river, strong and sturdy. massive as a matter of fact. They love the location, with their roots underwater.

how exactly do they count tree rings accurately without cutting the tree down anyway? it would have to be an estimate, not an actual ring count. Various factors can add more than one ring per year also. Bex found some info about that.

the forest service claims there are lots of trees that old, some older than that. why would they protect that one?