1/19/2010 Jim E. forwarded an email from Laurie Huckaby, tree-ring and fire-history specialist from with the USDA Forest Service’s Research Center in Fort Collins. Laurie wrote about the analysis of a charred juniper stump collected within a GVM greenbelt. Laurie said: “I did manage to date the section that we cut from that stump that John [Popp, Forestry Technician, USDA Forest Service] pulled up last summer. It was a Rocky Mountain juniper, and the pith date was 1608 AD. Not the oldest juniper I’ve found in the area, but definitely one of the older ones. The outside date was 1854, and I think that was pretty close to the death date. Juniper tends to burn up in fires and not make scars, but this one actually had scars from fires in 1685, 1696, and 1735. All of those were widespread fire years in the area.”