Lifestyle

There's a place in Oklahoma where trees have escaped axe, drought and weather for centuries

Dino Lalli Guest columnist
Published 5:00 a.m. CT Jan. 17, 2022 | Updated 6:06 a.m. CT Jan. 18, 2022

Upon arriving at the Keystone Ancient Forest near Sand Springs, keep in mind the old phrase “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” But what is truly fascinating is when you take the time to look at the trees, you are literally looking at some of the oldest living inhabitants in Oklahoma.

For example, one of the oldest trees found there is well over 500 years old. Where else can you go to see something that was perhaps a seedling or a sapling that was alive the day that Washington Irving passed underneath on horseback?

Sitting along the shoreline of Keystone Lake sits this beautiful 1,360-acre preserve just west of Sand Springs known as Keystone Ancient Forest. When you look at the trees, they are not giant redwoods, but instead are sturdy post oaks and cedars, hanging on for life on the rocky hillsides. They are the remnants of the Cross Timbers, a wooded belt that straddled Oklahoma from Texas to Kansas for centuries. But a good portion of the Cross Timbers has been lost to farming or development over the years.

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