Julius and Irene Russell can take their lawn chairs and sit in the shade of their champion slippery elm tree. Later, they can stroll across the yard and shun the sun under their impressive black walnut tree, another Arkansas champion tree.
Champion trees are the largest of their species as recognized by the Arkansas Forestry Commission. Foresters are always on the lookout for them, said George Stowe-Rains with the forestry commission.
List Of Champions
Visit the Arkansas Forestry Commission website to view the complete list of Arkansas champion trees. At the home page, click on Arkansas champion trees to see the list.
Source: Arkansas Forestry Commission
He's noticed potential champion trees while fighting wildland fires. Most of the time though, a landowner calls the Forestry Commission about a potential champ. A forester then goes out to look at the tree and take some measurements. If it's the largest of its species, it's designated a champion tree.
The Russells, who live in the country outside of Bentonville, are proud to have not one, but two champion trees in their yard. Their home is sits between the slippery elm tree and the black walnut. The two champions are about 40 yards apart.
The couple sat in their front porch swing on a cool Friday morning in June, not far from their champion slippery elm tree. The trunk is so thick a grizzly bear couldn't wrap its arms around it. The leafy canopy is wide as a two-car garage.
"When the guy came to look at it, he said 'I don't even need to measure that. It's the biggest elm tree I've ever seen,'" Russell said.
The couple didn't give the big elm much thought when they moved to their home in 1980.
"I didn't pay any attention to it. It was just a big tree," said Russell, who is 92.
Friends remarked that the big elm might be an Arkansas champion. After enough encouragement, Russell called the forest service.
On the other side of their home, the black walnut stands tall and stately. Its leaves nearly drip with lush green and the trunk's bark is gnarly and dark. A large rock with the name of the tree species sits on the ground at the base of the trunk.
The Forestry Commission provides the carved boulders for landowners to display with their champion trees. Boulders have a plaque inlaid in the rock with the common and Latin name of the tree, and wording says the tree is an Arkansas champion.
There's no charge to the landowner. Foresters deliver the boulder to the tree.
The infamous ice storm of 2009 damaged the slippery elm, but it has recovered. Heavy ice snapped a thick branch that landed close to the couple's pickup.
"If Julius had been standing there it would have killed him," said Irene, 87.
Champs Of All Sizes
Not all champion trees are giants like the Russells' two trees. Some, like the champion redbud or dogwood, are small, Stowe-Rains said. The largest champion is a bald cypress tree in Arkansas County that is 120 feet tall. The circumference of the trunk is 43 feet. Only native tree are recognized as champions, he said.
Foresters use a clinometer to measure a tree. The tool allows them to stand at a distance and do the measuring. A tree's height and crown spread are measured. So is the circumference of the trunk. Those and other measurements are plugged into a formula that determine the tree's "bigness index," Stowe-Rains said.
That huge cypress has a bigness index of 638. A Siberian elm champion tree on Curtis Smith's property in Rogers has a bigness index of 230. The tree is near Dixieland and Persimmon streets at Smith's real estate business.
"It's always nice to be associated with a champion," Smith said when the Forestry Commission delivered the carved champion-tree boulder and set it next to the trunk.
Northwest Arkansas has its share of champion trees. The champion yellowood tree is at Compton Gardens in Bentonville. A downy serviceberry champion tree is at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and has a bigness index of only 79, says the Arkansas Forestry Commission website.
The champion white pine is also at the museum with a bigness index of 210. There are other champions at Crystal Bridges.
Stowe-Rains said not all champion wannabes make the cut. He was called to a brush fire at Pea Ridge National Military Park not long ago. While dousing the flames, he noticed a big tree. Stowe-Rains was sure it would be a champion.
"We checked it later and it wasn't a champion tree," he said.
Irene Russell joked that her husband claims bragging rights to their two champion trees.
"Julius takes credit for them, but God put them there," she said.
Outdoors on 07/31/2014