By David Palmer for the Atlantic Forestry Review
Everyone has a favourite tree, or maybe two or three. Everyone, that is, who loves the woods, and that would certainly be all our readers for sure.
Twenty-eight years ago, under the auspices of the Canadian Forestry Association (CFA), and at the urging of Glen Blouin, David Folster, Executive Director of the provincial chapter of the CFA, undertook a project to identify and catalogue the Great Trees of New Brunswick. Members of the public were invited to nominate candidate trees from around the province. From the 135 nominations, fifty were selected and immortalized in the 1987 publication, Great Trees of New Brunswick.
Today, nearly thirty years later, the Atlantic Forestry Review has decided to do two things. The first is to revisit the original Great Trees to see if they are still surviving and take stock of their condition, and the second is to solicit nominations for new Great Trees, not only from New Brunswick, but from all the Maritime provinces. The goal is to assemble an inventory of the ancient, tall, unique, beautiful, whimsical and historically interesting denizens of our country and city forests. Perhaps, one day, there could even be a new publication that honoured these wondrous specimens from the plant world of the Maritimes.
The original Great Trees book featured 23 species, thirteen native to the region and ten exotics from Europe and Asia. The list included four “Trees of the Past,” as the name implies trees that are no longer with us. Nine of the fifty were elm, seven were sugar maple, six were white pine and three were red oak, making up half of all the trees in the book.
What was missing from the Great Trees original were many of our thirty-two native tree species – there were no yellow, white or grey birch, for instance. There were no black spruce, black cherry, black ash, or black willow, no red or silver maple, no beech, butternut, bur oak, balm-of-gilead or balsam fir, and no trembling aspen, tamarack, jack pine or serviceberry.
So that is why Atlantic Forestry is inviting its readers to take up the “Great Tree Challenge” and fill in the missing gaps with a new and updated Great Trees list.
“What makes a tree great is a good question,” stated David Folster in the foreword to the original book. Folster’s criteria included height and girth, to be sure, but age, beauty, character, form, history and other ethereal qualities were important as well. No doubt the 465 year old red spruce found in Fundy Park in 2005 by Ben Phillips should be on the new list, as well as the 300-year old pair of red pines he came upon just a few weeks ago in northern New Brunswick. PEI’s largest tree, an American elm in Victoria that is 108’ in height, with a canopy of 129’ and a circumference of 21’, would certainly be a Great Trees of the Maritimes candidate.
In the meantime the task of tracking down the original Great Trees has already begun. Vince Zelazny and his family followed the Great Trees trail to Campobello Island, where they found two of the original nominees, a Wych elm (Ulnus glabra) and an English oak, both in pretty good shape. Another Great Trees quest in the Woodstock area was not so lucky – all three of the big trees were deceased.
Like the trees themselves, many of their nominators have passed on – good people like David Folster, Hank Blenis, Leigh Waldron, Dorothy Hallett and David Walker, to mention just a few. We are lucky, though, to have Geoff Ritchie alive and well and on the tracking team –he worked on the original publication, photographed many and visited 80% of the trees. Geoff loves trees, especially the unusual ones, more than anyone I know.
The hard part is deciding where to start. Naturally, we are curious and anxious to see if any of the elms might still survive, or if they have all fallen victim to the deadly Dutch elm disease. There was one near Dorchester penitentiary that got its start in the mid-1800’s, and another in St. Andrews nominated by Earle Caughey called the Caleff elm that was cut down by a town crew in 1987. I likely climbed that tree during the winter of 1979 when employed by the town. We were cutting out dead limbs that harbour the beetle that transmits the disease. There was a third elm on the road to Glassville that was destined to be cut down in the early 1900’s, but was saved by a local lumberman, Charles Lockhart, who bought the tree and the 20’ by 20’ plot of land it was growing on. The tree, known as The Old Elm Tree, had its own deed that was valid “so long as said tree remains standing.” We hear that the tree is gone now but wonder what became of the plot of land.
There are so many interesting trees and stories to pursue, but let’s start with an Eastern White Pine and Eastern hemlock from Fredericton’s Odell Park, home to one of the best preserved and oldest eastern hemlock stands in New Brunswick. (That stand of trees is in the news as it is the proposed site of a controversial disc-golf course expansion. Meanwhile, a group called Friends of Odell has been formed and has called for a moratorium on course expansion until a full review of the environmental and safety issues have been examined.)
In 1987, the hemlock looked strong, but age was taking its toll. The trunk was hollow and leaning hard, and a good storm could take it down. Sure enough, 28 years later, the tree is barely hanging on. The main trunk broke off about thirty feet up in a storm years ago, leaving only a large side branch. Rot is evident on the main stem. Several of its elderly companions in the same stand came down during Hurricane Arthur’s rampage last July.
As for the pine, known affectionately as the broccoli tree, it is still resplendent on the large lawn in front of the lodge and looks healthy from a distance. Up close, though, it has been the victim of uncaring humans who have vandalized it and burned one of its limb stubs.
So, take your camera to the woods, and when you come upon that special tree stop and capture its essence. Send the photo to us, along with specific directions as to how to find it, and any pertinent historical or biological information you might have. Some trees are at their best in the fall or winter, so don’t be afraid to wait for the best seasonal profile. It will take a year or two to assemble this collection so time is of no concern.
Submit your photographs and stories to Tracy at forest@conservationcouncil.ca.
The Conservation Council of New Brunswick is happy to support the Great Tree Challenge.