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The Champion Tree Project International — www.championtrees.org — updated: 11/1/2001
Budding Out
In August David took buds from five of Michigan's National Champions and sent them to Oregon to grow as clones. This spring they will provide the first Champion saplings to plant the first Living Libraries.
"In August '97 we'll take buds from at least 15 other State and National so we have 20 minimum. It depends on financing. It costs at least $2000 per tree to do this. If we get a grant for $250,000, we could do 50 species or more next year. There's 67 National Champions just in Michigan, but every state must do the same with Champions."
"How many buds can be harvested off one tree?" I asked.
"Well, 1000 easily—maybe 5,000. Even 10,000 from some trees. What we harvest for grafting is only new growth from April to August. Each new branch on these huge trees averages two feet and 15 buds, so every new branch is at least 15 new trees."
"With tissue culture, one branch can yield 100,000 trees, and Oregon does tissue culture. It's an unlimited genetic stockpile once the trees are preserved."
"If a tree grows eight feet its first year to a buggy whip, in two years more you have a two inch diameter trunk with a head eight feet high and six wide, with hundreds of branches with thousands of buds and millions of tissues. So the reproductive potential is enormous."
"Why not take advantage of natural reproduction with seeds?" I wondered.
"Seeds are cross pollinated with another tree. The only way to get true, unadulterated genetics of a tree is by budding, grating or tissue culture."
Marketing Magic
"How will Champion Tree clones be distributed? Planting trees is labor. intensive. I planted trees one spring in an Arizona National Forest. Hard, slow work, and it's a big country."
"National Arbor Day Foundation is knocking on my door. Jim Fazio, chief writer for their magazine, which goes to 800,000, is doing an article right now by command of the Foundation President. What if these seedlings are available through Arbor Day Foundation?"
"Or imagine a city or town lined with Champions. One street with Champion sugar maples, another with a Champion oak, another with Champion ash. What a draw for a city to be first in America with streets lined by Champion clones."
"But it seems necessary to involve industry and deal with commercialization in large scale reforestation," I observed.
"You're talking about nursery industry, also pulp/paper and landscape industry."
"Most large stores— Kmart, Walmart—have a nursery or garden center. Besides big chains there's garden centers all over. Imagine walking in looking for a tree for your house—an ash, or maple, whatever. You can to buy one of the 50 varieties every nursery and chain store uses."
Seed Money
"Or, imagine the same tree, now with a big color tag with a picture of the National Champion and children standing around it holding hands looking at this giant, saying: 'This oak is a genetic clone of our National Champion. $1 of the purchase of this tree will go to reforest American forests.'"
"Now, if they're the same price, which will you buy? How many Kmarts, Walmarts, garden centers, nurseries would use Champion trees versus trees of unknown pedigree?
I chuckled, "Gee, maybe Wheaties will put National Champions on their cereal boxes! Not 'Breakfast,' but 'Forests of Champions.' I want a tree on the U.S. flag: red, white and blue—and green."
David laughed. "Oaks, maples, walnuts, ashes—all the 50 trees currently available for nurseries—we'll take them to Oregon to be cloned. See the enormous financial and physical potential?"
"It's marketing to beat all gimmicks. And what grows in our culture is what makes money. That's lots of 'seed money' for reforestation." I was stunned.
David wasn't through. "How many corporations will like to be a proud sponsor—at $15,000 a throw—to have their name associated with protecting a State or National Champion?" He was excited. "With name recognition?"
"Hey, Mobil Oil might sign on!" I joked.
But David was serious. "We're also approaching auto companies. People in Detroit who belong to Michigan Nursery and Landscape Assoc. love the Project. They're saying to auto executives, 'Will you put your name on a National Champion?' What corporation won't want their name associated with preserving one of our National Champions?"
"Or how about sales promotion: 'Buy a Ford Explorer, and $100 goes to preserve our National Champion trees.' It's being done now." But his best was yet to come.
Patented Gene-ius
"Does your law reserve for the public patents on these trees' genes?" I asked.
"Champion Trees' gene patents will be held by Michigan Champion Tree Project. When these trees become available, there's an average of 70 cent royalty for 17 years on each tree species—a plant patent. All profits will go to educate Michigan youth of the value of trees, and environmental projects the board votes."
"The financial potential is through the roof. We're talking Apple Computer here. So money will take care of itself. It has so far. We were just awarded a $7000 grant last week by Rotary here in town, and other grant applications are going in."
"I was invited by the Governor for a presentation six weeks ago. They had big guns from Governor's Office, DNR, politicians, head of Forestry for Michigan State University. Learned people said, 'Do you realize in 20 years we're looking at over $300 million just in patent royalties—not profits—on the trees? How do we know you won't cash in on this?'"
"I said, 'Because every time we take buds off one of these trees, the tree's owners—the landowners—sign a contract giving all reproduction rights to the Michigan Champion Tree Project, a non-profit corporation.'"
"I looked 'em right in the eye and said, 'No greedy businessman, nurseryman or individual, no greedy politician or government agency can get their hands on five cents of this money. We're non-profit—for education, reforestation and environmental issues.'" David's voice was laced with indignation.