OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) - Those looking for majestic live oaks in South Mississippi don’t have to look far. The trees are ingrained in our Coast Life, and one Gulfport man is doing his part to make sure it stays that way.
“I’m studying live oaks,” explains Larry Tucei. “I measure and document them. I have a passion for these trees.”
Since retiring, Tucei’s passion has taken him all over in search of the next great live oak.
“I’ve measured more live oaks than anyone in the world,” he added.
He’s documented more than 300 of those on the Mississippi Coast.
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“They’re like people. When you’re young, you’re handsome and beautiful, but when you get old, you’re a little bit rougher. This tree has been through two centuries, so it’s kind of rough. Trees are spiritual. This is a living organism. It’s its own ecosystem. It’s the most prevalent tree in the South. It’s the one everybody wants to get married by.”
One of the hundreds of trees Tucei has spent some time researching is the Ruskin Oak in Ocean Springs.
“People have been coming to this tree for 100 years or more.”
About 20 years ago, Tucei got involved with the Eastern Native Tree Society. He has a system for recording the exact measurements of every large live oak he finds. After getting the width of the base using a tape measure, he moves out and uses a laser to measure the height and total space the tree takes up.
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“The crown on [the Ruskin Oak] from north to south is 141 feet.”
The tree is also more than 60 feet high. These measurements will be listed in his growing catalog.
“I call it the Live Oak Project. My goal was to document the great live oaks of Mississippi and share them with people, making people aware of how beautiful and how important it is to save as many trees as you can.”
Tucei says the larger the trees are, the more positive impacts they provide on the environment, including oxygen input.
“The scientists have proven that the larger trees are more important than these little pines that they plant everywhere like corn because it would take 10,000 of those little trees to make what one big live oak would do.”
With those benefits in mind, Tucei hopes that plans for future developments on sites where large live oaks exist at least consider ways to keep the trees.
“I understand there’s development, but let’s do smart development. Build around the tree that’s been done for a long time in all these cities.”
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The trees Tucei documents will continue growing long after he’s gone, while the research he’s compiling can be used by future generations to understand the value of the century-old fixtures.
Tucei has posted many of the trees he’s documented on the Ocean Springs Mississippi Historical Archives Facebook page. He’s also working on publishing a full list.
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