Champion Trees Inspire Us While Battling Climate Change
Oct 31, 2024 ● By Sheryl DeVore
Photo with permission from the University of Illinois Extension.
Of Illinois’ 183 native tree species, nearly 100 are represented on the Big Tree Register as state champs, says Extension Specialist in Forestry Justin Vozzo, who runs the program.
“The citizen outreach program encourages people to go explore places they haven’t been before, and it gives them a deeper connection to nature,” Vozzo says, adding, “It’s also a humbling experience to see a tree that’s been here a lot longer than we have.”
The Wheeling High School elm, likely more than 150 years old, was growing long before the school’s founding in 1964. It survived the spread of Dutch elm disease, which decimated many of the nation’s American elms. Some, however, like this one in Wheeling and another in Aurora, have endured. The Aurora elm held the state championship title until Seth Marcus, who serves on the Prospect Heights Natural Resources Commission, nominated the Wheeling tree. Now, they share the co-champion title. Trees are scored on circumference, height and crown spread. The Aurora tree, standing at least 113 feet tall, earned 339.8 points, while the Wheeling one has 340.4 points.
The big tree program serves as a learning tool for the public. For example, “People think Dutch elm completely wiped out American elms,” says Extension Forestry and Research Specialist Chris Evans.
“Yes, it killed about 60 percent of our elms, but it’s actually the number one most abundant tree in Illinois. There are still a lot of small ones. The big ones tend to be the most vulnerable,” he explains. Those that survived likely have some genetics that protected them from the disease.
Anyone can nominate a tree by visiting the website Extension.Illinois.edu/forestry/big-tree-register.
“Most of the state’s largest trees grow in southern Illinois in areas that have not been disturbed by development or agriculture,” Vozzo says. “But the recent addition of the Wheeling High School elm to the Big Tree Register goes to show you there are still undiscovered big trees out there in the Chicago area,” he adds.
Many from the Chicago region are already on the register. For example, the state’s largest witch hazel grows at Midway Woods, owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. A champion inland serviceberry grows at South Suburban College, in Cook County, and a champion slippery elm thrives at St. James at Sag Bridge Cemetery, also in Cook County.
The state’s largest Ohio buckeye stands 75 feet tall at the Hyatt Lodge of Oak Brook, in DuPage County. A state champion black maple grows in Messenger Woods Nature Preserve, in Homer Glen, and a Kansas hawthorn at the Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, holds on to a winning title. The state’s number one champion is an eastern cottonwood, growing at a Byron forest preserve, in Ogle County.
“Finding big trees that were here even before European settlers came is really exciting, especially in a state like Illinois where we’ve had a lot of changes in our landscape,” Vozzo says.
Large trees help battle climate change. Research shows that large, old trees grow faster and pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than young trees, according to the University of Illinois Extension Service. With more cracks, notches and hollows, large trees provide shelter for many species of birds, mammals and other wildlife. For homeowners, large trees increase property value, reduce energy bills and add privacy.
“Trees are such a significant part of understanding conservation,” says Alan Branhagen, executive director of the Natural Land Institute (NLI), in Rockford (NaturalLand.org). “They are the biggest living plant. The amount of biomass is incredible.”
Photo with permission from the University of Illinois Extension.
The institute recently started its own tree legacy program in 12 northern Illinois counties, including Winnebago, Ogle and DeKalb. NLI’s Legacy Tree Program recognizes a tree monthly, and one of them is the 200-year-old eastern cottonwood in Mount Morris. It is considered the largest tree in the state, and the institute had a hand in saving it.
The NLI helped the Byron Forest Preserve District acquire the former ranch land on which the tree stands. Soon afterward, the district began restoration work, which led to the discovery of the cottonwood.
Todd Tucker, executive director of the Byron Forest Preserve District, recalls walking past invasive plants and other trees in the preserve and stumbling upon the cottonwood. He was amazed.
“It took me six times to put my hands around the bark and measure where my last hand was,” he told the extension service when nominating the tree.
Before that nomination, a bald cypress in southern Illinois held the number one spot on the register for 27 years. The cottonwood has surpassed the cypress to earn the number one spot. After getting placed on the state register, the cottonwood also was added to the NLI’s list of legacy trees.
Photo by Alan Branhagen, Natural Land Institute.
“The cottonwood is 122 feet tall and more than 25 feet in circumference,” Branhagen says. “It’s agigantic tree. Think of all the nature that engages in these trees,” he continues. “People think of oaks as keystone species, and they’re right, but the cottonwood is also a keystone species. A diversity of insects relies on cottonwoods; for example, the big poplar sphinx moth and the red-spotted purple butterfly.”
Other northern Illinois trees also have several distinctions. A bur oak in Winnebago County was dedicated by the extension service as outstanding tree of the year in 1986. Known as a witness tree, this oak was growing when the original land survey of Winnebago County was completed between 1836 and 1840. According to the NLI, “Surveyors walked the boundary of every square mile in the county and took notes on the soils, vegetation, streams and other features of the landscape.” The NLI also added the bur oak to its legacy list.
Perhaps the most exciting of all the state’s champion trees is the 75-foot-tall Ohio buckeye in DuPage County that also holds a national championship title, though a new list coming out soon may change that. Located in Oak Brook, this 150-year-old buckeye was planted by an early settler and is bigger than the largest one in Ohio. Researchers have studied the genetics of both of the trees to determine whether buckeyes can self-pollinate. The champion in Illinois was able to do so. The article, “The Lonely Life of a Champion Tree,” was published in 2022 in the peer-reviewed journal Forests (mdpi.com/1999-4907/13/10/1537).
Photo with permission from the University of Illinois Extension.
“Big trees on public lands are a major draw and people want to come and see them,” Evans says. “People think they’ve seen big trees, but then when they see the state champs, they are blown away.”
Evans and Vozzo recommend the public visit the recently created map showing where the champion trees are located: Go.Illinois.edu/championtrees. Many are on public property and can be easily visited. Future extension service public tours of some of the big trees, as well as opportunities for volunteers to get involved in the program, will be posted on the website.
Sheryl DeVore has written six books on science, health and nature, as well as nature, health and environment stories for national and regional publications. Read more at SherylDeVore.WordPress.com.
