Question: What is the name of the 500-year-old tree in Austin that a vandal tried to poison in 1989?
Answer: The Treaty Oak. The massive live oak tree is the last of a grove of 14 such trees that Native Americans called the Council Oaks. According to legend, Stephen F. Austin signed a boundary treaty with the Tonkawa and Comanche at the site, but there is little historical evidence to support the claim. In 1927, the American Forestry Association recognized the Treaty Oak as a historic tree, and the city of Austin purchased the property on which it was planted ten years later.
In 1989, a vandal named Paul Cullen applied the herbicide Velpar to poison the tree. The incident generated international headlines, school children wrote “Get Well” cards, and Ross Perot signed a blank check to fund efforts to save the tree. While nearly two-thirds of the tree died, it ultimately survived. In 1997, the Treaty Oak produced acorns for the first time since it was poisoned.
