Champions in size and value - trees as environmental contributors - Editorial

American Forests, Spring, 1998 by Deborah Gangloff

Like the miner's canaries of old, trees warn us of environmental danger. They react early to acid rain, air and water pollution, drought, and climate change.

Trees are also harbingers of environmental health. They flourish when conditions that suit their species are good - rainfall and drainage, nutrients, sunlight and soil. They thrive where man has protected and cared for the land and the trees. This is perhaps their greatest role as indicators - showing us where we have made it possible for them to reach their full grandeur.

As the largest and oldest living things, trees inspire us, connecting us both to past events and future possibilities.

But there are even better reasons for us to help trees reach their full potential. Trees double their environmental contributions after 35 years. That means twice as much carbon sequestered and stored, twice as much oxygen, twice as much improvement to air and water quality.

Forests that attain great age and size have proved even more valuable. Old-growth forests' carbon storage and ecosystem values alone outweigh any other values, making their preservation imperative. In cities, when trees are given the space to properly grow above and below ground and can reach maturity, they cast more cooling shade and can better clean the air and filter rainwater.

The National Register of Big Trees recognizes champion trees of 687 species, each the largest known of its kind. Exemplars of the arboreal world, they clearly demonstrate the potential all trees have to provide significant environmental values to the earth and all who share it. They capture our imagination and deserve our appreciation. This Register salutes all they've experienced and can provide - and the people who hunt and care for them.

As you look for the titleholders among your favorite species or for the champs near where you live or work, join us in paying tribute to these giants among trees. And remember the rallying cry of Joseph Stearns, forester and catalyst for the Register, who wrote in 1940: "Let every tree lover, every forester, every lumberman rally...to fight for the preservation of our biggest tree specimens."

If we fail to heed that still-resonant challenge, we have only ourselves to blame for the results. We will lose not only our environmental "early warning signs," but an arboreal legacy key to our future global environmental health.