The national register of Big Trees: 2002-2003 - A-Y - Statistical Data Included

American Forests, Spring, 2002

RELATED ARTICLE: Barbara Bosworth

AN AMERICAN PORTRAIT

Photographer Barbara Bosworth (shown here with her dad) remembers trees hosed on the people she meets along the way. When asked about favorites, she first remembers the forester who helped her or the nearby family who invited her for dinner. Trees also became favorites based on the pictures she takes.

One shot (and tree) dear to her heart shows a massive sycamore shading her niece who sits at its base, reading. Bosworth captures on film what most of us feel whoa standing in the shadow of a colossal national champion tree: joy, awe, and an appreciation for nature's wanders.

To achieve a crispness and detail not possible with a regular 35 mm camera, Bosworth uses an 8x10 box camera. Using black and white film, she pares down the essence of the tree to simple, beautiful silver tones.

Boswarth's pictures capture not only the trees but the environment in which they are found. Over the past 10 years her collection has shown a cross-section of the American landscape. A tree in a backyard with a child's swing, one at a midwestern Missouri crossroads, and a western cedar alone amidst a clearcut--the tree saved due to its national champion status. Her pictures ore a testament to our landscape and bow we hove chosen to use it.

Bosworth says she especially loves AMERICAN FORESTS' Big Tree Program and its notional champions because, "America loves the biggest and the best... and everyone loves trees!"

McKenzie Clement

ADVENTURES IN BIG TREE HUNTING

Have you ever been rhododendron surfing (crawling across the tops of rhodies so thick you can't get through them any other way), hiked 11 miles, and then crawled on your hands and knees for two hours to get to your destination or been inside o fence with an angry bull? As Champion Tree Coordinator for Tennessee I have the great pleasure of doing all of these.

My name is Kay Fermann and I have served as the state's coordinator for two years. My colleagues joke that I should write a book on bow to survive hunting champion trees because each hunt is a new adventure.

Over the past two years I've worked hard with tree hunters and Division of Forestry employees to update Tennessee's Champion Tree Program. The state's list was last published in 1988, and many of those champions have not been seen since 1979. The best advice give tree hunters is to furnish very detailed directions and provide coordinates. That helps me locate the tree and helps the nominator remember where it is. I cannot tell you how many times I've had a nominator say, "I wish I had written down better directions; I think the tree is over there."

The best part of being state coordinator is verifying the trees. I have seen several amazing specimens and have been lucky enough to go places very few individuals have seen.

Among the trees I've seen, the one that impressed me most was the Notional Champion Pecan, located in Cocke County. This tree sits within 10 feet of a highway in someone's front yard. I wonder what stories it could tell and how it has survived all these years. I have never fell so small as I did that day standing next to this magnificent tree.--Kay Fermann