Official State of Texas Photo of New Champion!
Posted on 04/21/2003 3:03:52 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
62-foot live oak reigns as state champ of species
Mammoth in Brazoria is new title holder in Big Tree Registry
04/21/2003
HOUSTON – The Texas Forest Service on Monday will crown a new state champion live oak, replacing a tree that has held the title as largest of the species since 1966.
The oak, located deep within the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge about 50 miles south of Houston in Brazoria County, is the most recent addition to the state's Big Tree Registry, which has kept a record of the largest of Texas' 250 tree species since the 1940s.
The oak, which is 62 feet high with a trunk more than 10 feet wide, was discovered by federal wildlife biologist Michael Lange. The previous champ is a 43-foot-tall, 9-foot-wide giant from Goose Island State Park.
The new title holder, with a trunk the shape of the letter "V," is more than a foot wider and nearly 20 feet taller than the former champ. It's old enough to have survived the 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston Island.
The property where the new champ lives is off-limits to the public now. Soon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to start tours to the mammoth tree.
Mr. Lange estimates that the tree has lived for more than two centuries.
He stumbled onto the tree in late 2000, then lost it for a time.
"You don't notice it until you get within 30 feet," because the area is so densely forested, he told the Houston Chronicle in its Sunday editions. After several times trying to relocate it, "some thought I might have made it all up. Others jokingly suggested that maybe the tree had somehow sprouted legs and moved itself."
It didn't, and now its latitude and longitude have been mapped.
"It's a really neat tree," Mr. Lange said. "It may hold the record for 50 years, or we might find a bigger one. Who knows?"
The tree is surrounded by its own micro-environment, said Mickey Merritt, the Texas Forest Service's urban forest coordinator for the Bayou region. Mr. Merritt verified Mr. Lange's measurements.
"Trees of this size go a long way to controlling air pollution" and purifying water, Mr. Merritt said. "There is environmental value and historical significance."
"The biggest of any species has a uniqueness," said Pete Smith, coordinator for the Texas Big Tree Registry, which receives about 100 nominations for state champs each year. In the last two years, 30 new state champions have been named.
"People are drawn to these trees," Mr. Smith said. "Some are simply proud of it. Some are die-hard Texans who like bigger things."
But not everything is bigger in Texas. The new champ doesn't measure up to the national live oak co-champs in Louisiana and Georgia. One of the trees towers 77 feet in the air; the other has a trunk with a waistline of 36 feet.
However, the Lone Star State is home to 69 national champions, trailing only Florida and California for the most oversized tree species. Only 11 percent of the state is forested.
I see that the A/P fails to provide a picture with the article. And I couldn't find anything the Houston Comical on this article either.
The tree declined to sign a photographer's release. The photographer asked several times, but the tree just ignored him.
Official State of Texas Photo of New Champion!
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