Maine’s Champion Trees
by Tom Seymour
Elm tree on Pearl Street, Belfast, ca. 1900. To see “Big Trees” in your town, go to fishermensvoice.com E-Edition Extras.
Make a list of some typical American street names and words like oak, maple and elm come immediately to mind. As Maine towns and cities grew, so did the trees that were planted to line the roads and provide shade. In time, the trees became taller than houses, even taller than the tallest buildings.
Given the great numbers of truly large trees in Maine, it was only natural that people would begin wondering whether their local tree was so large that it might vie for the position of the biggest tree of its kind in Maine. To help people recognize the importance of trees to the ecosystem, the Maine Forest Service, in 1968, began listing the largest known specimens of both native and naturalized trees in Maine.
The 2015 list contains 167 species. But neither this nor any other list is ever finalized, since big trees die from old age, lose their limbs to ice storms and get struck by lightning. And so new trees are constantly being added while at the same time long-standing champions are being removed from the list.
Past National Champion white pine, Route 131, Morrill, Maine. Height 125 feet. Tom Seymour photo
Powerful Pine
Here’s an example of how the mighty have fallen from power. An eastern white pine, Pinus strobus, growing along Route 131 in Morrill no longer holds its title of national champion. In addition to being Maine champion, with a total score of 385 points, the 125-foot white pine also held the title of national champion. Maine was home, for a while, to the biggest white pine in the nation. Now, a white pine from New Hampshire with a score of 414 points has knocked the Maine pine off the national throne.
How many motorists, pedestrians and cyclists have passed the champion tree and never realized there was anything special about it? Even those with knowledge of the big pine’s status may question its qualifications, since storms and the passing years were unkind to the old champ. It just doesn’t look like a champion. But it is. Here’s how the Maine Forest Service calculates points.
To determine if a tree is a champion, the Maine Forest Service gives each tree a score based on a formula that adds circumference in inches, height in feet, and ¼ of the crown spread. Persons wishing to nominate a tree for inclusion in the register may contact Jan Santerre, Big Tree Coordinator, 22 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333 or call 1-800-367-0223. For an online look at the big tree register, visit http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/attach.php?id=543206&an=1.
Note that there are annual windows of opportunity for nominating any tree. But even if that window has closed for the season, it will open again very soon, so don’t hesitate to contact the Big Tree Coordinator. If your favorite big tree doesn’t make the list this year and you believe it qualifies, just wait until the next nominating process rolls around again.
Trees Essential
Getting involved with the champion tree program stands as a useful way to stimulate interest in our forest trees in general. Our Maine trees have much to recommend them. Trees separate (sequester) carbon dioxide gas from the air and release oxygen at the same time. In this day of climate change worries, anything that removes carbon dioxide from the air should be met with praise and thanks. And yet, most people don’t even realize all the wonderful things trees do for us.
In addition to capturing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, trees act as water reservoirs, removing great amounts of water from the soil and thus preventing flooding. Trees also serve as soil stabilizers, keeping flooding and erosion in check. Besides this, trees purify water and trap pollution.
Trees also store solar energy better than many human-made devices. This solar energy gets released as the wood burns. Trees present us with a renewable heat source.
Besides all these attributes, trees also go toward building our houses, barns, piers and places of worship. We owe a lot to trees. And for all the good they do, trees also nourish our inner needs. Trees give us beauty. They are the object of countless songs, poems and stories. Trees are essential in every way.
Copper Beech tree, High St., Belfast, Maine. Beech trees in New England have been dying from Beech Bark Disease for the last 50 years. They can grow to very large diameters. Tom Seymour photo
How To
So how do persons nominate a big tree for inclusion in Maine’s registry of Big Trees? First, write a nomination letter for your big tree. It must include the following information:
1. The correct name of the species or variety. For help, contact the nearest University of Maine Extension Service office.
2. Circumference of the tree in inches at 4 ½ feet from ground level. If branches or limbs are in the way, measure the most narrow point below 4 ½ feet.
3. Vertical height of tree. Use a Abney hand level or a transit. Or use a straight stick. Hold the stick by its base at arm’s length and check that the distance above your hand equals the distance from your hand to your eye. Then walk backwards (use caution when doing this) away from the tree while staying as level with the tree’s base as possible. Stop walking when the stick above your hand looks like the same length as the tree. Sight over your hand to the tree’s base and standing still, sight over the tip of the stick to the top of the tree. Now measure how far you have walked away from the tree and that figure represents the tree’s height in feet.
4. Date measured and by whom.
5. Name and address of property owner where tree stands.
6. A high-quality photograph of the tree, with the date taken.
7. A description of the tree’s physical condition and state of preservation.
8. Name and address of nominee.
Mail your letter to Jan Ames Santerre, at the address given above.
Helpful Publication
The booklet, Forest Trees of Maine, by the Maine Forest Service, has been around for a long time. First published in 1908, the booklet was revised in 2008. During that hundred year span, the booklet went through 14 different revisions. These were on thick, card-stock paper and included black-and-white drawings. The Centennial edition, though, uses glossy paper and contains high-quality color photos for each chapter.
In addition to lots of useful side information about trees, chapters dealing with the different trees all include photos of the bark, leaf (needle) clusters and in the case of conifers, clear photos of cones.
Besides all this, each tree section cites the Maine Register of Big Trees if and where a big tree makes the list. Information on each big tree includes common name, circumference, height, crown spread and location.
For someone just getting interested in learning more about Maine’s forest trees and shrubs, this booklet makes an excellent starting point. With it, a reader is enabled to properly identify all of Maine’s forest trees plus a select number of large shrubs.
And while the 2008 Centennial edition has been out for eight years, it has as of 2011, already gone through three printings.
For more information on this informative booklet contact Maine Forest Service, Department of Conservation, at (207) 287-2791 or email them at forestinfo@maine.gov. Also, visit the forest service website at www.maineforestservice.gov.
It is estimated that Maine now has 96 percent as much forest as when the first settlers arrived. Most of this huge forest is privately owned, but most commercial landowners allow for individuals to pursue their favorite outdoor sports on their land.
Small woodlot owners have long ago adopted the habit of sparing overly-large or very old trees. These “wolf trees,” even those in some stage of decay, provide a home for innumerable insects, birds and even mammals. Such old trees can seed in a large area, thus propagating their own kind.
And yet the truly biggest trees in Maine are often not on some commercial parcel, but rather on someone’s private woodlot and sometimes, like the big white pine in Morrill, stand along a public highway.
Other big trees are found in our towns and cities. Many towns have given names to their favorite big trees. Other huge, ancient trees are gone but their memory lingers on. Older Belfast residents can easily recall the huge elm tree, the “Courthouse Elm” that for so long overshadowed the city’s Superior Courthouse. But that noble elm, like so many of its kind, became a victim of so-called, “Dutch Elm Disease.”
Like any plants, trees germinate from seeds, grow to maturity and sometimes reach epic proportions. Does your town or city have a tree that may qualify for the big tree program? Use the contact information listed here and check and see. Imagine the feeling of local pride that comes from being the person to take one of Maine’s big trees from obscurity to fame.
Trees, big and small. We cannot live without them.
See Maine Register of Champion Trees at fishermensvoice.com E-Edition Extras.
Also in this issue of the Fishermen’s Voice is “A Note on the Once Great American Chestnut Tree”.