A Register RETROSPECTIVE.

SIXTY YEARS, THOUSANDS OF TREES, MILLIONS OF MEMORIES.

I guess you could call it a "bus man's holiday." After years of involvement in AMERICAN FORESTS' National Register of Big Trees, there I was on vacation last August with friends and family, looking for national champion trees in the Great Smoky Mountains. My guide: Big Tree Hunter par excellence Will Blozan, arborist and former park ranger. I was a little apprehensive about spending the day with Will because I once sent a Wall Street Journal reporter into the field with him, and I don't think she'll forget that trip anytime soon. Maybe she had spent too long sitting in an office or maybe Will took pity on us, but his field tour was like a walk in the park. We were impressed by the number and size of trees in this easternmost area of the park. Massive pines and tulip-poplars towered above, proving you don't have to go to California to find cathedral groves!

I remember thinking that my feelings among these giants must have been similar to those that inspired AMERICAN FORESTS to launch the National Register of Big Trees 60 years ago. In 1940 Americans saw war creeping ever closer. France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and others fell to Germany. Blitzkrieg intensified in London. But it was also a time of "firsts" in the United States: FM radio hit the airwaves, food could he freeze-dried, and M&M candy debuted in groceries. McDonald's sold its very first of billions of hamburgers.

One of AMERICAN FORESTS' firsts took place that same year when we launched the National Register of Big Trees. At first the program was simply called American Big Trees. By 1961, it was highfalootingly referred to as the Social Register of Big Trees. In 1978 we settled on the National Register of Big Trees. As the name changed, the list grew: from 100 champs to 355 in 1961 to more than 850 currently.

In 1940 America was a growing country facing impending involvement in another world war. The need for wood for the nation and its possible entanglement in war increased forest harvests on private lands. A concerned research engineer with Southern Hardwood Producers in Memphis, Tennessee, Joseph Stearns published his article "Let's Find, and Save the Biggest Trees" in the September 1940 issue of American Forests.

"One of the most tragic stories in the history of American forests is now in the making. It hasn't been written in its final form, but our children will live to see that day unless something is done. I refer to the gradual disappearance of our most magnificent remaining tree specimens," Stearns wrote The giants I have in mind are not necessarily the big redwoods of the West Coast; nor are they the well known famous and historic trees. Such trees are in the main well protected. I refer to the giants scattered throughout our remaining virgin forest stands..."

And he proposed that we do something about it. "Shall we sit idly by while this is being done? I believe that a few of our biggest specimens of each tree species should he singled out, marked, plotted on timber maps, and preserved. All lumber company employees should he notified that such trees are not to be cut, damaged by felling adjacent trees, or scarred by careless axmen ... So here is a challenge to every individual tree lover, to every forest conservationist in the country; to every forester; to every lumberman; to farmers; vacationists, to all who come in contact with trees."

Then he laid out his plan. "The first task, of course, is to locate the largest specimens of our major species--a happy task in which everyone going into the woods can participate. Then concerted action to bring about the protection and preservation of these great old giants. If an organization is necessary to accomplish this, then let's organize. Or, and this might prove more immediately effective, let every tree lover, every forester, every lumberman rally behind some established national forest conservation organization able and willing to fight for the preservation of our biggest tree specimens."

AMERICAN FORESTS accepted the challenge in those same pages with a call to action: "WANTED! The location and measurement of the largest specimens of...American Tree Species." Our rationale was simple. "Such a conservation activity will have incalculable benefits, not only in stimulating greater tree appreciation, but in establishing a nation-wide laboratory for tree and forestry studies by future generations."

We had some expert help in setting up the program. Frederick W. Besley, Maryland state forester and an AMERICAN FORESTS director for 18 years, wrote in October 1940 to offer his assistance. "I hope the Association, in its quest for records of big trees, will endeavor to establish a standard of measurement so that all can be properly compared." Besley shared Maryland's rules, which we still use today: "three standard measurements as more nearly giving a true evaluation of the size of the trees, namely the circumference of the trunk at 4 1/2 feet from the ground, which would take it beyond root swell, the greatest diameter of spread of branches in feet in a line that would touch the trunk of the tree and third, the height of the tree in feet."

Also included in Besley's letter was the nomination for a white oak as national champion. To this day, 60 years later, the Wye Oak on Maryland's Eastern Shore holds the title of national champion white oak. The Wye Oak is sacred in Maryland. Purchased by the state, it is the only tree in Wyn Oak State Park. Miles of cabling keep it erect, and it receives regular professional care. A metal plate on the trunk prevents public access to a hollow cavity that can hold a half-dozen people.

The late Chester Sewell of the state forestry agency expressed the immense pride people had in the Wye Oak with a true story he told new recruits. His professional career started on the Eastern Shore in the shadow of the living legend. Introductory training required him to travel to other parts of the state. A couple hours into his maiden trip, a dispatcher on the fire control radio reported the Wye Oak had fallen. Shaken, he pulled his car off the road and sat in a stupor for some time before turning back. He found the tree still standing but having lost a limb larger than many mature trees. Sewell was assigned to watch over the fallen limb day and night until it could be properly removed.

With its excellent sells and active state forester, tiny little Maryland held the title of state with the most champs in the program's early years. Another of its champions was also a famous and historic tree. The tulip tree (yellow-poplar or liriodendron tu1ipifera) known as the Liberty Tree, on the campus of St. John's College in Annapolis, reigned as national champion from 1940 to 1966. Indian treaties were signed in its shade, and Francis Scott Key George Washington, and General Lafayette all sat beneath its spreading branches. The Sons of Liberty used the tree as a meeting place to plan the American Revolution. Sadly, the tree was deemed unsafe by the college and removed last fall.

The National champion osage-orange, outside Patrick Henry's Virginia home, is also famous for historical reasons. Popular legend holds that the doctor who treated Henry wept beneath the tree when Henry died. We now know this is not true, but the tree's real story is even better. Grown from fruit sent back by Lewis and Clark, it was presented to Henry's daughter by Thomas Jefferson. The osage-orange species was unknown until Lewis and Clark "discovered" it on their expedition.

As this story shows, while the trees are spectacular it is the people--the big tree hunters, both nominators and owners--who make the Big Tree program possible. They range from the extremely dedicated, who search for champs regularly, to those who have nominated only the tree beside their home. A common bond unites them: They love "their" trees.

Nominators send in vacation pictures of big trees; owners have bragged about their trees to friends and neighbors. One woman, wheelchair-bound, asked her mailman to measure her tree for Register. When the home of one champion's owner caught fire, he told the firemen, "Don't spray the house, it's too far gone. Save the tree!" Missing a good picture of the tree, one nominator sent in beautifully detailed drawings. Tony's Steak and Lobster House in New York prominently features its champion on its menu. The nominator of the yellow poplar featured the tree on his Christmas cards. Even celebrities can own celebrity trees: weatherman Willard Scott is the former owner of the national champion gumbo-limbo in Florida, and Clint Eastwood is the proud owner of the bluegum eucalyptus champ (see Register page 14).

Nominators, or big tree hunters, have been our strongest supporters for quality control in the program. They have helped us fine-tune our nomination requirements and weed out ineligible species. And in a few cases, when a discrepancy or disagreement arose over the title, groups of hunters committed to work together to take the measurements. Two notable cases are those of the sitka spruce and the giant sequoia.

In 1975, with the help of the National Geographic Society, AMERICAN FORESTS' representatives trekked to the California home of the big trees and measured several contenders for the throne. The sequoia General Sherman held its title by sheer volume alone. An expedition of big tree hunters settled the issue of which of two sitka spruce challengers would ascend to the throne. And while the program calls for simple ways to measure trees, 21st century technology now enables hunters to use lasers to gauge a tree's height to the exact centimeter. A growing listserve of big tree hunters now lets them debate size and species in cyberspace.

It may take high-tech solutions to resolve some of the good-natured competition among big tree enthusiasts. Washington and Oregon have often competed for champs of the massive species that grow in the great Northwest. When a Douglas-fir champ was crowned in Washington, a reward was offered to anyone who could find a tree in Oregon larger than the Washington champ. Kentucky desperately wants the Kentucky coffeetree title (now in Maryland), while Ohio wants the Ohio buckeye champ (now in Kentucky). In fact, every state wants the champ of their state tree!

And we can learn from big trees. A mathematics professor uses our way to calculate a tree's point total as an example of a weighted formula. Forestry researchers have used big tree data to estimate size and composition of prehistorical forests.

The 1990 Register was the first to benefit from the sponsorship of the Davey Tree Expert Company. While reading a 1988 National Geographic. I noticed an ad from Davey that featured its care of the national champion live oak, the Seven Sisters, in Lewisburg, Louisiana. I thought, if Davey cares for one national champion, maybe it would like to care for them all! We launched Davey's sponsorship by planting a tree with Senator John Glenn in 1989 at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington. It's a great educational partnership with an important message. Big trees bring more benefits--social, economic, and ecological--and for a tree to grow big, it needs care.

This is perhaps the most important message of big trees. Any tree can be a national champion, hut all trees are champions of the environment. Humans share a vital symbiotic relationship with trees and could not exist without them. The monarchs of the forest are symbols of all that trees bring to the environment and human life. They deserve our respect and appreciation--and our protection.

Deborah Gangloff is AMERICAN FORESTS' executive director.