Wednesday, March 14, 2001
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Wednesday, March 14, 2001 |
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Fayette roots grow tall trees By DAVE HAMRICK
Fayette County is home to at least two specimens that are the largest of their kind in Georgia, and may have a third as well. Measurements completed on a loblolly pine in the Timberlake subdivision last week knocked that tree out of the running, but a white oak owned by George and Ellen Long on Ga. Highway 92 north could go to the top of its class. It's not the tallest. Three white oaks currently listed as co-champions in the Georgia Forestry Commission's champion tree program are 125 feet, 97 feet and 79 feet tall, respectively. But height alone does not a champion tree make. You take the height in feet and add the circumference in inches. Then divide the crown the width from the ends of the longest branches by four and add that number to the previous sum. It is the circumference of the Longs' tree that seems to put it over the top, so to speak. The tree is 21.5 feet around, measured at breast height (four and a half feet off the ground). That's 258 inches, compared to 239 inches for the thickest of the competition, and that tree is the shortest of the bunch, at 79 feet. An East Point specimen towers at 125 feet, and its 122-foot crown dominates the landscape, but its 187-inch circumference doesn't measure up. The Longs' tree also has an 80-foot crown, giving it a score of 368 points, 66 more than the current co-champions. Fayette County's Engineering Department has been working lately to identify the county's largest trees as part of its efforts to strengthen the county tree protection ordinance. "We're trying to make the timbering operations a little more compatible with the county's norms," said Ron Salmons, county engineer. "There is a great deal of interest in trees here," he said, adding that his office has received numerous complaints about timbering operations and clear-cutting for construction. Steve Upchurch, an inspector for the Engineering Department, is friends with Nick LeCroy, an arborist for Arborguard Tree Specialists, and found out about the Longs' tree through him. As part of his work, LeCroy regularly measures trees in concert with Park Pride, an Atlanta nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting green space in the Atlanta area. LeCroy submitted the Longs' white oak to Park Pride's annual Big Tree Search, but it didn't meet the group's criteria. The Forestry Commission, however, uses a different formula that gives more weight to circumference. He is waiting for a nomination form for that program, LeCroy said. Fayette already has two champion trees on the books: A black maple owned by David Warner on Hwy. 92 south stands at 88 feet in height, with a 145-inch circumference and a 66-foot crown; Sandra Milavic's Japanese pagoda tree is listed at 40 feet tall, with 44-foot crown and 77-inch circumference, a giant among its species. If you have a tree, or know of one, that's big for its kind and you think it might be a champion, check out the Forestry Commission's Web site at http://www.gfc.state.ga.us. Click on the "Forestry Management" page, then on "Champion Trees" for a list of current champions. If your measurements rival those of the champion, there's an application on the site that can be downloaded, or phone the commission at (800)428-7337. "We'll get the information back and then come out and check it out for ourselves," said Willard Fell, coordinator of the program.
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