Trees: Big deal; Memorials, hunters, controversy, and TV. Just another spring in the lives of arboreal giants. (Editorial).

Michelle Robbins

Back in 1921, when the nation was searching for the proper way to remember those who died in World War 1, First Lady Florence Harding took a shovel and threw the first spadeful of dirt for a memorial tree planting at AMERICAN FORESTS' headquarters at the time on 16th Street NW in Washington, DC.

It was the kind of gesture a war-weary country was seeking. Life-giving, peaceful trees speak to the senses as they hint at immortality. To stand in the woods in the early morning is to feel yourself in the presence of a greater power that will persevere long after you and your troubles have passed on.

This winter AMERICAN FORESTS continued that legacy by announcing plans to plant Memorial Tree Groves across the nation in memory of those who died September 11. That effort, done in conjunction with retailer Eddie Bauer, falls under the umbrella of AMERICAN FORESTS' Memorial Trees campaign, one of three major tree planting initiatives we announced this spring (see Clippings).

Trees are more in the news than usual this spring, it seems, and that statement is in part a sly allusion to the unusually hefty magazine you hold in your hand. This issue contains the 2002 installment of American Forests' biennial National Register of Big Trees, the definitive list of the largest of 826 species of native and naturalized trees in the U.S.

As always, the Register is a hotbed of new champs, dethroned favorites, state rivalries, and much-sought-after bragging rights. No good tree list is without at least a little controversy, and this year's edition is no exception. We dispatched experts to Florida and Louisiana to sort through the good-natured rivalry over who should hold the title of National Champion Baldcypress: Louisiana's reigning champ, the Cat Island baldcypress, a monster truck of a tree, or Florida's regal Senator, a towering symbol of state arboreal pride.

You'll find the answer in Whit Bronaugh's "Sovereign Species," (see page 10 of the Register). But you can see the trees on PBS this spring, when genial Jeff Meyer, director of AMERICAN FORESTS' Historic Tree Nursery, hits the road weekly in a lighthearted quest to find "Tree Stories" (see page 7). Jeff visits with Smokey Bear in Washington, tries to avoid bears in a national park in California, and climbs into some of the most amazing tree houses you'll ever hope to see.

He'll also give you a firsthand look at one of the biggest challenges we face with the Register: judging just who deserves the title of "biggest" and why.

As we move into an era of more and more high-tech equipment and methods, we want to eusure that the Big Tree program is the best it can be. Thomas Elias, director of the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, has recently renewed his pledge to provide us with technical support on questions of species eligibility, species identification, and verification of measurements and ranges. We have also gathered an Advisory Committee of state coordinators, hunters and nominators, owners, and forest geneticists to improve coordination at the state and local levels and to set standards for species eligibility and measurement specifications.

All this is designed to give you the best Register--and the best Big Tree program--we can provide. As our executive director, Deborah Gangloff, says, we'll still accept nominations from anyone from the President of the United States to the kid next door. We just want both to find a Register that's more accurate and even more awe-inspiring. Enjoy!