Horticulturists announced Tuesday they had successfully cloned a genetic replica of an ailing 130-year-old giant sequoia planted by conservationist John Muir in the 1880s on his ranch in Martinez, Calif. 
 
 And many more are apparently on the way, they say. 
 
 If all goes according to plan, the first clone nurtured in a Michigan laboratory will be shipped within a year to California for planting at Muir’s homestead, which is now a national historic site about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco, said David Milarch, cofounder of the nonprofit Archangel Ancient Tree Archive. 
 
 “That tree is the last living witness to Muir’s life and times,” Milarch said. “We expect to ship its clone to the John Muir National Historic Site when it’s about 18 inches tall. Once rooted, it’ll grow several feet a year.” 
 
 Muir, regarded as the father of the modern conservation movement, returned from a Sierra Nevada trip with the original seedling wrapped in a damp handkerchief. He planted the specimen beside a carriage house on his family’s Martinez fruit ranch. 
 
 Today, the sequoia is 70 feet tall and dying of an airborne fungus. 
 
 As part of an effort to preserve a living connection with Muir at the site, Keith Park, a National Park Service horticulturist, trimmed two dozen cuttings from healthy young branches and shipped them to Archangel, which has successfully cloned trees planted by George Washington at Mount Vernon. 
 
 Jake Milarch, an archive propagator and David Milarch’s son, snipped the cuttings into 400 smaller pieces and treated them with an experimental combination of misters, artificial sunlight, nutrients, four hormones and a temperature of 74 degrees in the nonprofit group’s laboratory in Copemish, Mich. 
 
 “Critics said it was impossible to clone a giant sequoia more than 80 years old,” Milarch said. “But my son proved it can be done. Right now, we have one clone. But we’ll get more, no doubt about it.” 
 
 Others could be donated to national parks and other areas with the proper climate and soils to grow them. 
 
 “Any organization with a John Muir giant sequoia clone will draw lots of crowds for a long time,” Milarch said. “Our own board of directors said that while we cannot sell any tree, we could produce clones for people who financially support our work.” 
 
 Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com ||||| Michigan-based Archangel Ancient Tree Archive announced this week that it has successfully cloned a giant sequoia tree planted by renown conservationist John Muir. 
 
 About 130 years ago, Muir transplanted the tree from Yosemite to his home in Martinez, California. Now 75 feet tall, the tree suffers from two fatal fungal diseases. 
 
 Archangel's co-founder David Milarch said a forester from the John Muir National Historic Site sent cuttings from the sick tree to Archangel. 
 
 Milarch described his conversation with the forester. "He said we're in trouble. John Muir's tree is dying. We would like to have John's last living witness to his life and times stay alive." 
 
 Milarch continued, "We said sure. We will clone your beloved tree so that not only the country, but the world, has the tree that John revered so greatly at his home." 
 
 Archangel has a propagation facility in Copemish, Michigan. 
 
 Milarch says the cuttings were treated with a "hormone cocktail," and says the recent appearance of roots indicates the success of the cloning. 
 
 He says the National Park Service will plant the tree's clones in national parks with suitable climates. He hopes one will be planted in Michigan - specifically in the Arboretum at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 
 
 Muir is sometimes referred to as the father of the National Parks. A famed advocate for wilderness preservation, he played key roles in the establishment of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. 
 
 Archangel's mission is to propagate the world's old growth trees before they are gone, to create a genetic library of ancient trees, and to clone them for purposes of research and reforestration. 
 
 In April 2012, Michigan Radio previously reported on the work of Milarch and Archangel. 
 
 - Virginia Gordan, Michigan Radio Newsroom
– Big news in the world of horticulture—literally. Scientists have managed to successfully clone a genetic replica of a famed giant sequoia. Three reasons why this is a big deal: The 70-foot tree was planted by John Muir, who had a heavy hand in the founding of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks; the tree is being ravaged by an airborne fungus; and critics didn't think a tree of this species could be cloned after its 80th birthday, reports the Los Angeles Times. This tree is about 130 years old. The credit for the feat goes to the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, which has other feathers in its cap: It has also cloned trees planted by George Washington at Mount Vernon. The clone was born in a Michigan lab from one of two dozen cuttings from the tree, which were divided into much smaller pieces and subjected to what Archangel's co-founder describes to Michigan Radio as a "hormone cocktail." Roots have formed, indicating that the cloning worked; the clone needs to grow to a foot-and-a-half in height before it can leave the lab. Once that happens, it'll be put in the ground at Muir's San Francisco-area homestead, hopefully within a year. (Another famed tree that will live on: the one Anne Frank watched from the Secret Annex.)