2019 Maryland Big Tree Program Report
In 2019, the MBTP volunteers measured, re-measured, or deleted 344 trees. There were 187 trees newly measured, 109 trees were re-measured, and 48 deceased. We were unable to obtain permission forms to re-measure 54 trees and they will be moved to the “Inactive” file. There are currently 2202 active trees (measured in the last 10 years) on the Maryland database, 525 deceased trees & 637 inactive trees (trees not re-measured in the last 10 years for various reasons). We were not able to re-measure 6 trees and they will be carried over to 2020. It is the goal of the MBTP to measure/re-measure/delete 200 of the registered trees each year.
The MBTP was funded by grants from the Maryland Urban and Community Forestry Committee, the Anne Arundel County Forestry Board, and several other MD Forestry Boards that provided reimbursement to their members, or in-kind donations.
Highlights
The web site, www.mdbigtrees.com, continues to be an
important source of new big tree referrals, with most
of the new trees being referred automatically from the web site nomination
form. The designer of this web site went
out of business in 2014, but we were extremely fortunate that a volunteer was
able to lease a new hosting site and migrate the web site to this new
site. In 2017 a campaign was started to
raise funds for a new website and Ken McCathran volunteered to prepare the
specifications for the solicitation of bids.
As of the end of 2019, bids returned from the
RFP far exceeded available fundraising, and Ken is redrafting the RFP to
hopefully entice lower bid costs.
Since 2010, the MBTP was managed by the Cecil County Forestry Board. In 2016 a new State-wide committee was formed from members of the Maryland Association of Forest Conservancy District Boards.
The Committee met on 11/24/19 and approved new language relating to several existing and new policies. Copies of the new policies are available upon request and relate to reimbursement for expenses, measuring trees in right-of-ways, permission forms, and tree eligibility standards. The Committee also established a new policy that allows each local Forestry Board to limit the number of trees required to be re-measured each year.
Six State Champion trees have died this year; four native species, and two non-native species:
Bitternut Hickory Harford County (former U. S. Champion) 332 points - native
White Willow Calvert County 317 points – non-native
Pin Oak PG County 304 points – native
Eastern Hemlock Harford County (former U. S. Champion) 288 points – native
Sugar Maple Baltimore City 267 points – native
Autumn-olive Howard County 54 points – non-native
Thirty-six new State Champions were crowned in 2019. These were newly discovered trees—not formerly measured trees that replaced dead champions.
#*Northern Red Oak Cecil County 435 points – native
*Ginkgo Baltimore County 362 points – non native
Purple Beech Harford County 328 points – non-native
#*Siberian Elm Baltimore City 327 points – none-native
Silver Linden Montgomery County 326 points – non-native
#Bur Oak Baltimore City 317 points – native
Water Oak Montgomery County 295 points – native
Dawn Redwood Harford County 292 points – non-native
#*Yellow Buckeye Baltimore City 289 points – native
#Pignut Hickory Cecil County 261 points – native
Laurel Oak Caroline County 225 points – native
#Nordmann Fir Washington County 219 points – non-native
Balsam Poplar Caroline County 204 points - native
#*Virginia Pine Cecil County 196 points – native
#Red Mulberry Cecil County 196 points – native
Japanese Flowering Cherry Harford County 181 points – non-native
#Ohio Buckeye Baltimore City 176 points - native
#Caucasian Wingnut Baltimore City 161 points – non-native
#Red Pine Montgomery County 158 points – native
#Camperdown Elm Baltimore City 141 points – non-native
#Black Willow Washington County 140 points – native
Pond Pine Caroline County 138 points – native
#Golden Larch Montgomery County 124 points – non-native
Fraser Magnolia Harford County 121 points – native
#Arizona Cypress Baltimore City 118 points – native
#White Fir Washington County 113 points – native
Southern Bayberry Queen Anne’s County 90 points – native
Black Ash Caroline County 82 points – native
#Staghorn Sumac Washington County 61 points – native
*Striped Maple Harford County 54 points – native
#Hercules Club Baltimore City 50 points – native
#Devil’s Walkingstick Baltimore County 48 points – native
Ashe Magnolia Harford County 48 points – native
Hazel Alder Caroline County 42 points – native
Swamp Tupelo Caroline County 32 points – native
Swamp Dogwood Caroline County 29 points – native
*Co-champion #Publicly accessible
Maryland is unique in having 14 white oaks 350 points or greater. We re-measured 6 of them in 2018.
Cecil County Oak – 406 points, up from 392 points in 2008 – remains Maryland State Champion
Calvert County Oak – 399 points, up from 386 points in 2008 – some tip dieback, looks good
Harford County Oak – 396 points, up from 379 points in 2008 – no health issues noted
#2 Cecil County Oak – 385 points, up from 379 points in 2008 – huge cavity in trunk
Prince George’s Oak – 365 points, up from 329 points in 2008 – greatest increase in points
#2 Calvert Oak - 363 points, down from 369 points in 2008 – drop of 20 feet in height
We measured two additional white
oaks in 2019—both in Harford County--384 points, up from 363 points & 353
points, up from 329 points. Unfortunately we had to move a 381 point white oak in Kent
County to the “Inactive” file as we were unable to contact the owner for
permission. We did visit the tree and
found it still to be alive and in good health.
In addition we measured two new white oaks in
2019, both at 349 points—one each in Harford and PG Counties.
The Cecil Oak is now #2 on the all-time list, well behind the Wye Oak at 506 points
The ARBUTUS OAK, a Maryland
Bicentennial Tree, split in two and died this year.
There were 8 media accounts regarding Maryland Big Trees in 2019:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aegis/ph-ag-harford-champion-trees-0208-story.html.
“Arbutus Oak has
split in two, but legacy could live on”, Baltimore Sun, 9/24/19
“Big Tree at Chapel
Point State Park” 6/10/19, local newsletter
“Nature Notes: Hackberry’ Sweet Cousin”, Bethany Dellagnello, Frederick County FB, 10/27/19
www.gracefound.net/champion-trees-of-taylors-island.html.
“UMES is home to one-of-a-kind tree.” UMES newsletter, 1/30/19
https://www.londonderrytredavon.com/five-champion-trees-recognized-at-londonderry-on-the-tred-avon-by-the-maryland-big-tree-program/.