| National Champion
American Elm Buckley, Michigan  crown spread: 115 feet |
|---|
|
|---|
A giant elm tree discovered on a northern Michigan pig farm is exciting scientists, who suspect it may be resistant to a disease that ravaged Metro Detroit's stately elms two decades ago.
Standing alone in a Wexford County field, the tree has shattered state records and is the largest known elm in Michigan.
Botanists believe it survived the deadly fungus called Dutch elm disease that felled 80 percent of the state's elms and could provide genetic stock for a heartier strain of trees.
Elms once lined urban boulevards in Detroit and many other American cities, and were prized for the shady "cathedral" canopy they created.
"It's an amazing find—there's no question about that," said Dr. Elwood Ehrle, president of the Michigan Botanical Club, which keeps records of the state's largest trees.
"We think it could rank as the biggest elm in the entire country. We're comparing national records."
More than 12 stories tall and with a girth of 23 feet, the huge tree stands near a corn field on George Svec's pig farm in Buckley, 20 miles south of Traverse City. Svec, 56, says he's been aware of the tree for more than 40 years, but never realized it might be of extreme value to botanists studying elm disease.
|
|---|
"It's always been a big tree. Nobody around here really thought any more than that," Svec said. "We're kind of surprised at all the attention."
Two months ago, scientists from Dow Gardens in Midland took cuttings from the tree and coaxed roots from them. They hope to grow saplings and determine if the trees resist Dutch elm fungus.
"We aren't aware of any tree that is completely immune from Dutch elm disease," said Douglas Chapman, director of Dow Gardens, a 110-acre park and research center open to the public.
"This tree may have been isolated from the disease or it may have something special. That's something we want to find out."
Dutch elm disease is a fungus carried by beetles that burrow into elm bark. It was reported in Belgium at the turn of the century, but received its name from the Dutch scientists who initially studied it.
The fungus attacks trees' internal transport systems for food and moisture and rapidly kills them. Although scientists have been working on defenses against the blight since the 1930s, victories have been few.
|
|---|
Tony Reznicek, supervisory curator at the University of Michigan's Herbarium, said some experiments have involved injecting trees with fungicide. Another solution has been to spray trees in an attempt to destroy the beetles.
"Neither defense will finally and completely stop the disease," he said.
The result has been an almost despairing movement to cross-breed American elms with elms from Asia, which largely resist the disease.
"Even that's not really a solution," Reznicek said. "Asian elms are for the most part short and scruffy trees—they don't have the elegance and beauty of American trees."
To date, no large-scale effort has succeeded in "cloning" new forests of trees from elms believed to be disease-resistant. If the Buckley elm turns out to have natural defenses that repel fungus, it could be a turning point in the battle against Dutch elm disease.
For Jared Milarch, a high school student who helped scientists collect cuttings from the champion elm, the prospect of failure was never in question. Milarch's father, a Copemish nursery owner, first told scientists about the tree.
|
|---|
It was the 18-year-old's job to climb the monster elm and snip new growth from the tree's crown for the botanists waiting below.
"It was like taking a ladder to a 12-story building and the building was moving," Milarch said.
"But the view at the top of the tree was incredible. I was standing on a natural skyscraper in the middle of nowhere."
The Champions
Champion trees get their titles from a combination of measurements. Once a large tree is nominated, researchers calculate its height, girth and drip line—the extreme spread of its branches. Since trees take so many different shapes, the three measurements serve to give a rough idea of a tree's mass.
Around Metro Detroit, the champion Eastern cottonwood, 18 feet around, can be found in the city. The state's biggest downy hawthorn and honey locust are on Grosse Ile. The new champion American elm is in Buckley in Wexford County.
For more information
To learn more about Michigan's largest trees (or if you think you have a champion tree in your own back yard), contact Elwood Ehrle of the Michigan Botanical Club at (616) 387-5614.
© 1997, The Detroit News
