Saluting Maryland's fallen champ

American Forests, Autumn, 2002

At nearly 100 feet tall, the Wye Oak, the long-standing national champion white oak and Maryland's state tree, seemed to fill the skyline. Its gnarled trunk stretched upward, reaching with massive limbs to cradle a crown spread of nearly 120 feet. A wooden fence surrounded it, defining the edges of what was the state's tiniest park and one created solely to protect a revered tree.

The Wye Oak, likely Maryland's most beloved citizen, was somewhere around 460 years old when it fell in high winds during a June thunderstorm. The outpouring of grief seemed appropriate for a tree that had become a national treasure: Mourners came by the thousands to gawk, shed tears, and pick up a leaf or a twig; news stories ran in papers nationwide; and the state carefully gathered and stored as much of the tree as it could until a suitable use can be decided upon.

The Wye Oak was one of only four trees that had held their title as the national champion of their species since AMERICAN FORESTS began keeping records back in 1940. In fact, the challenge to find a white oak bigger than Wye Mills' tree launched AMERICAN FORESTS' National Register of Big Trees. (The search to find a new national champion white oak for the 2004 Register is now underway.)

For tree lovers, the Wye Oak stood as more than a symbol of the grandeur nature could achieve. AMERICAN FORESTS links people to trees and the conservation movement by using big trees such as the Wye Oak as a focal point. When AMERICAN FORESTS created the Register in 1940, it was as a means of bringing public attention to the fundamentals of the nascent tree conservation movement. When people can see and touch big trees, they experience a mature piece of the natural environment in a lasting way.

The Wye Oak--which watched civilizations come and go from native Americans to the first European colonists to the present day--was also a symbol of stewardship and thoughtful care. The tree, hollow at its core and held together with 2 miles of cabling, was with us for so long because of steps taken to protect it nearly a century ago. The state of Maryland bought the tree and the two lots on which it stood back in 1939 to keep the tree from ever being cut down.

And although the Wye Oak has died, the issues for which it stood will live on. Perhaps its passing will inspire a whole new generation of conservationists.

Writing in the Maryland newspaper Bay Weekly, columnist Bill Burton recalled:

"Some were married under her spreading boughs, and others popped the question beneath her. Many an old-timer could recall picnicking as a child under her shade, while still others had just come to gawk as they drove past. All who had seen her standing never forgot her enormous proportions: a pretty much worn-out trunk rotted inside yet still with a girth of 32 feet.

"'Tis said four men could play cards around a table within her trunk, that's how round she was. Cables secured her limbs and infrastructure, she was well trussed, yet she was still alive, respected and loved, all 100 feet or more of her as she still reached for the sky. Those who saw her standing will remember her that way, an oak with the indomitable spirit of this great hardwood species."