Big count: 3 down. (Clippings).

As the July 15 deadline loomed for nominations to AMERICAN FORESTS' 2004 National Register of Big Trees, aficionados were mourning the recent loss of three notable champs while continuing to search for successors to a favorite- the Wye Oak--that fell in 2002.

The national co-champion American elm, a beautiful, classically shaped elm that graced a field in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, died after a two-year stuggle against Dutch elm disease. The champ, known as the Buckley Elm, was diagnosed in 2001 with the fungus that devastated cities in the mid-part of the last century and still wipes out thousands of elms each year. When last measured in 1997, the elm stood 112 feet high with a circumference of 23.5 feet and a crown spread of 115 feet for a total of 423 points. Its co-champ in Tennessee, for now the sole titleholder, stands 122 feet tall with a circumference of 23 feet and a crown spread of 84 feet for a total of 420 points.

In Illinois, meanwhile, the Witt family was celebrating Mother's Day when strong winds blowing across the state toppled their national champion hackberry. Before the massive tree broke in half and crashed to the ground, it stood 84 feet tall and nearly 21 feet around. The Witt's tree had reigned as top common hackberry since 1994. When it lost several large branches three years ago, owners John and Carol Witt followed the advice of experts and tree-lovers and had the remaining limbs cabled to try to save it.

"We heard a big groan and this big crack, and then boom! Down she came," Carol Witt said. "Not 15 minutes before that tree came down we were out under it. Poor old girl. She stood a lot of years."

A third tree, a massive longbeak eucalyptus in Pinal County, Arizona, died after vandals set fire to its trunk (see Vandals Kill Champ, page 16).

AMERICAN FORESTS has kept the National Register of Big Trees since 1940-a listing of the largest-known trees of 826 native and naturalized species in the United States. California's General Sherman giant sequoia remains the nation's largest tree and the world's largest living thing. The impressive specimen is one of three trees that have been on the Register since it began in 1940. The other two are a Rocky Mountain juniper in Utah's Cache National Forest and a Western juniper in California's Stanislaus National Forest.

Ninety-nine species and six states- Delaware, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming-as well as the District of Columbia remain champ-less. For a list of the species without champs and the states in their growing range, visit www.american forests.org. You can also nominate potential champs online, read detailed instructions for measuring a potential big tree, and, in the online Register, view pictures of a number of the champs.