They shade inspiring halls, populate the Quad and have become as much of a University hallmark as Mike the Tiger — and soon LSU’s famed stately oaks will be found in people’s backyards.Using Seeds of Life — a business endeavor by Florida-based gift enterprise The Magnolia Company — anyone can own an LSU oak grown from acorns collected from on-campus trees.Small LSU oaks could be available for sale as early as 2010, said Matt Roth, president of The Magnolia Company, and plans are in development to sell the seeds themselves.”When I talk with people at LSU, I see how much pride they have in the campus there and the history of the campus, and I feel honored that we can serve people in this way,” Roth said.HISTORICAL ROOTSThe stately oaks originated with Steele Burden, a landscape architect who came to campus in the late 1920s and began planting the trees in the early ’30s.Most of the original campus landscaping was done by another firm, but the oaks were Burden’s work, said Van Cox, landscape architecture professor. “[Burden] thought [the oak] was the most beautiful tree on Earth,” Cox said. “He came to campus, and the president at the time liked what he was doing and hired him to handle the landscape of the campus. Burden pretty much had free reign, and his love for live oaks shows.”Burden planted a special oak near the Bernie Moore track stadium that has been named the Steele Burden Oak. The tree is unique because it was allowed to grow naturally, Cox said.”All the rest were generally pruned up,” he said. “The natural habit of oaks is to droop downward and [the Burden Oak] is the only one on campus that has the true form of a live oak.”Burden planted about 1,000 southern live oaks during his time on campus, one of the most durable types of trees, Cox said. “They live hundreds of years and tend to look even better as they get older,” Cox said. ROOT OF THE PROBLEMThough the oaks’ above-ground growth is beautiful, their complex root systems underground can invade pavements and asphalt streets. Cox said the key to preventing problems is not allowing roots and concrete to compete, though sometimes sidewalks do have to be replaced.”In the long run, the value of these live oaks is so much greater than the value of these sidewalks,” Cox said. Roots also cause concern during construction, said Richard Humphreys, Facility Services arborist manager. “We do a lot to restrict construction on the root zone of the trees,” he said. “We have a tool that allows us to blow soil away from the roots so we can expose them and figure out how to go around them.”Most of Facility Services’ work with the trees deals with safety, like clearing dead wood so it doesn’t fall on anything and cutting branches that could be obstructions, Humphreys said.Cox said the oaks are beautiful, but they were not the best choice for a roadside tree.”The use of the live oak as a street tree is not a good idea,” he said. “They branch so low, and their limbs are so heavy — that’s why it’s hard for trucks to drive around campus right now.” THE GREENThe oaks pose technical challenges, but the leafy green icons help the University financially. In addition to their aesthetic appeal, Humphreys said they save the University $1 million per year in utilities.”They keep the sun off surfaces and reduce the atmospheric temperature, which reduces the amount of cooling we have to do on the buildings,” he said.The trees were last appraised in 1998, when they were valued at about $15 million, Humphreys said. The oaks are not insured because of the changing nature of trees, he said.”The value [of trees] can become diminished even though aesthetically it looks to have value,” Humphreys said.The trees are also financially self-sustaining through the LSU Foundation’s Endow an Oak program, which allows people to donate to the upkeep of trees and dedicate a tree to someone.Donors can endow an oak in the Quad for $50,000, one on the Parade Ground for $10,000 or any other on-campus oak for $4,000. About 250 oaks have been endowed since the 1990s, and 1,200 more are currently available.Money donated to the program is evenly divided between the immediate care of the trees and an endowment providing perpetual funding for trees, said Scott Madere, LSU Foundation public relations director. Madere declined to reveal how much the program has received to date.The program appeals to many donors because people identify the oaks as part of their memories at the University, Madere said.”Our urban forest is something everyone at LSU gets a chance to experience,” he said. “You can’t say everyone gets to experience a certain class, or even a football or baseball game. But one common experience is they all enjoy campus.”—-Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]