Wanted: National Champion Trees

American Forests
Monday, 10 March 2003

American Forests Seeks Nominations to National Register of Big Trees

Does your community have a huge maple or massive oak tree? If so, AMERICAN FORESTS (americanforests.org) wants to know about it before July 1, 2003, the deadline for nominations to AMERICAN FORESTS' 2004/2005 National Register of Big Trees.

Since 1940, AMERICAN FORESTS has kept the National Register of Big Trees—a listing of the largest known trees in the United States. There are 826 species eligible for listing on the National Register. Nomination forms and instructions can be downloaded from AMERICAN FORESTS' website, www.americanforests.org.

AMERICAN FORESTS relies on the general public to track down and nominate potential champions. State Big Tree coordinators then verify those nominees ensuring the most accurate and complete Register possible. Taking part in the hunt for big trees is easy. Once you find a big tree and identify its species, take a picture of the tree, and measure it. National Champion trees are ranked based on a point system. A tree's points are calculated by adding the trunk circumference in inches, the height in feet, plus 1/4 of its average crown spread in feet.

Visitors to www.americanforests.org will find downloadable files of states and tree species that currently do not have champions. Champions are needed for more than 90 species ranging from the fireberry hawthorn and velvet elder, to the desert apricot and sweetbay magnolia. Five states—Delaware, Kansas, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming and the District of Colombia —do not have champion trees listed on the Register.

The General Sherman giant sequoia in California remains the nation's largest tree and the world's largest living thing. The impressive specimen is one of three trees that have remained on the Register since it began in 1940. The others are a Rocky Mountain juniper, called "Jardine Juniper," in Utah's Cache National Forest; and the Western juniper, or "Bennett Juniper," in California's

Stanislaus National Forest. Maryland's National Champion white oak, called "the Wye Oak," was toppled by a storm last June. News of the Wye Oak's death made national headlines, calling for nominations to replace the giant tree. Today, almost a year later, American Forests' sill searching for the new National Champion white oak.

The 2002 National Register of Big Trees is available online at www.americanforests.org and features a big tree database searchable by height, width, circumference, crown spread, points, species, and state. For further detail, visitors can also view Big Tree Trivia, which highlights facts such as the most notable trees, and states and regions with the most champs. The Davey Tree Expert Company sponsors AMERICAN FORESTS' National Register of Big Trees and AMERICAN FORESTS' National Register of Big Trees Calendar. The Register is available for $7.95 or is free with a $25 donation to AMERICAN FORESTS, PO Box 2000, Washington, DC 20013.

For more information, or to contact American Forests, see their website at: www.americanforests.org