Welcome To Coastal Bryan Tree Foundation!

We hope you enjoy this website and join us in our mission as stated below. If you would like to become a member and help us out please click the Membership link in the menu above!

Our Vision:

Working with the community to create a legacy of trees.

Our Mission:

The mission of the Coastal Bryan Tree Foundation is to plant, promote and protect trees, especially live oaks, the Georgia State Tree. The Foundation values tree canopy as an essential element in the quality and unique character of life on the coast. We recognize trees as economic, aesthetic and ecological assets for today and as a legacy for future generations.

About Us:

The Coastal Bryan Tree Foundation began in 2001 as a volunteer outreach of the Richmond Hill-Bryan County Chamber of Commerce. Today, the Foundations is an IRS 501(c) (3) non-profit environmental education organization with a focus on restoring canopy shade trees to our community. We are supported by contributions from individuals, other non-profits, members of the business community, and by grants from foundations and government sources. Contributions to The Coastal Bryan Tree Foundation are tax deductible.

Coastal Bryan Tree Foundations volunteers have planted and cared for over 2,000 trees in Richmond Hill since 2001.

The Official State Tree

In 1937, the live oak was adopted as the official tree at the request of the Edmund Burke Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

It flourishes along the coastal plains and on the islands where the first settlers made their homes. Many famous Georgians, as early as General James Edward Oglethorpe, were able to enjoy its beauty.

Live Oaks and the Georgia Coast

While the live oak already serves as Georgia’s official state tree, if one tree was selected to represent just the Georgia coast, it would have to be Quercus virginianan. The live oak earns its name from the fact that it appears to retain its leaves year-round, thus always be “live.” Actually, the tree drops its leaves on its own schedule from October to April. The live oak’s timber is resistant to rot and weathering, and was prized for shipbuilding in the nineteenth century for its toughness and odd shape that could be fashioned into key elements of ship design.

Today, its twisted, tough grain makes it unpopular as lumber: Just try splitting a log with an ax. Live oaks thrive in poor, sandy soils of the Coastal Plain of the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf states, and have a shallow, spreading root system.

The tree grows very quickly, causing some to overestimate the age of a favorite live oak on their property. The favorite saying is that live oaks spend 100 years growing, 100 living, and 100 years dying.

As you travel the coast, you may notice that live oaks take many shapes, from more spindly oaks with a pruned, thick canopy in a maritime forest, to the singular specimens that grow huge, spreading trunk-sized branches in more open areas.

The largest live oak in Georgia is near Baptist Village, Waycross. It is 86 feet high, has a trunk diameter of 10 feet and a 143-foot crown, which shades almost half an acre.