Pando is a grove of approximately 47,000 quaking aspen trees in Utah. This remarkable group of trees is considered a single organism, because all the trees share a single root system and each tree is genetically identical. New trees are produced by sprouting from the massive parent root system. It is estimated that Pando has been alive at least 80,000 years, making it one of the oldest living things on the planet.

Consider that when this tree colony first sprouted from the ground, humans would still not arrive on North America for another 50,000 years. In some parts of the planet, Neanderthal people were still 30,000 years from going extinct. The 106-acre grove of trees has seen unimaginable changes, living through the ice age and at times being completely burnt down above ground, but surviving and renewing itself below ground.

~ Jocelyn Mercado

Aspens in the Elk Mountains – photo by D. Pennala, bigstock.com, used with permission