Mourning a champ: Maryland's Wye Oak. (News from the World of Trees).Maryland residents and Americans everywhere lost a treasure on June 6, when a severe thunderstorm thunderstorm, violent, local atmospheric disturbance accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, often by strong gusts of wind, and sometimes by hail. felled the national champion white oak, the Wye Oak The Wye Oak was the honorary state tree of Maryland, and the largest white oak tree in the United States. Located in the town of Wye Mills, in Talbot County, Maryland, the Wye Oak was believed to be over 460 years old at the time of its destruction during a thunderstorm on June 6, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The 460-year-old Wye Oak, which stood nearly 100 feet tall and had a circumference of more than 31 feet, was one of only four champs that had kept its title since AMERICAN FORESTS American Forests is a nonprofit conservation organization that promotes healthy forests and urban tree planting. The organization was established in 1875 as the American Forestry Association, by physician/horticulturist John Aston Warder and a group of like-minded citizens began keeping the National Register of Big Trees The National Register of Big Trees is a list of the largest living specimens of each tree variety found in the continental United States. A tree on this list is often called a National Champion Tree. in 1940. The three remaining members of the class of 1940 are California's General Sherman giant sequoia, the Bennet Juniper western juniper, and Utah's Jardine Juniper Rocky Mountain juniper. Scores of Marylanders came to mourn the loss of the state's largest tree as it lay sprawled across Route 662. With them they took photographs and twigs that state Department of Natural Resources Many sub-national governments have a Department of Natural Resources or similarly-named organization:
"It's like a little piece of everybody's life went down with it," neighbor Gail Daddis told the Baltimore Sun. "I've lived around this tree for most of my life. It's so sad to see it like this." The death of a champion tree is a tragic event but a frequent one, according to AMERICAN FORESTS' records. Last year alone, AMERICAN FORESTS recorded 41 last champions. State officials told The Sun they were not sure whether lightning or high winds brought the champ down but emphasized that the rotting tree was destined des·tine tr.v. des·tined, des·tin·ing, des·tines 1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic. 2. to fall sometime. Some of its limbs had been reinforced with steel cables, and concrete had been poured around its base for added support. The tree's death leaves the National Register of Big Trees without a champion white oak. To learn how to nominate a tree for consideration as a champion, please visit www.americanforests.org/ resources/bigtrees. |
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