52-foot-tall box elder is named the
biggest known tree of its kind in Texas
Monday, August 7, 2006
By BILL TEETER / STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
STAR-TELEGRAM/PAUL MOSELEY
Joe Moore, assistant director of the Grapevine Parks and
Recreation Department, stands at the base of the
championship-winning box elder tree on Mills Run Trail.
GRAPEVINE -- Even after
overcoming great odds to win the title, this competitor won't be
making any speeches or creating a celebration spectacle.
Standing tall among its peers will be enough to mark the
occasion of being named the state champion giant box elder maple
tree.
The Grapevine tree is 52 feet tall with a trunk circumference of
106 inches and an average crown spread of 59 feet. It's the
biggest known box elder in the state, said Courtney Blevins,
regional urban forester for the Texas Forest Service, which
awarded the title in late July.
Box elders grow fast and have weak branches, so it is unusual
for one to survive so long and get so large, he said. The
Grapevine tree is probably less than 100 years old.
"This one, for a box elder, is a monster," Blevins said.
The national champion box elder, in Monrovia, Md., stands 120
feet tall with a canopy spread of 84 feet and a trunk
circumference of 230 inches.
State foresters keep an eye out for big specimens of trees and
check tips from the public to identify regional and state
champions, Blevins said. The box elder was nominated by Michael
Cutchins of Sachse, who enjoys walking wooded areas and
identifying trees during lunch breaks.
"Anything to get out from behind a computer screen," he said.
TREE TOPICS
For photos of state champion trees and a nomination form:
www.texastreetrails.org
More tree topics: texasforestservice.tamu.edu
A national registry of large trees: www.americanforest.org
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