STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Get out your tape measures!
The Sawtooth Botanical Garden and Idaho Native Plant Society are leading a trip to visit three of the largest trees in South Central Idaho on Saturday, Sept. 9.
Participants will take measurements, which will be submitted to the Idaho Big Tree Program run by University of Idaho.
“Maybe we’ll have a winner, or two!” said Kristin Fletcher, director of education for the Sawtooth Botanical Garden.
There are more than 700 species in the Champion Trees National Register, which was started by the American Forests Champion Trees program in 1940.
The first recognized Big Tree was the Wye Oak, of Wye Mills, Md., which was put on an earlier Hall of Fame list in 1919. The U.S. Forest Service estimates it sprouted around 1540, shading a Native American trail that ran down the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It was purchased by the state of Maryland in 1939 and has been taken care of by state arborists since.
Idaho has participated in the program since the mid-1960s, with tree lovers uniting to locate and measure the largest individual tree of each species.
Champion big trees, as they’re known, are the superstars of their species, said Fletcher. Generally speaking, they became so-called champions through a combination of things, such as growing in a spot protected by the landscape and in good soil. They’ve had the right amount of water, people who cared about and for them and they’ve survived storms, disease and pests.
Saturday’s walk is free and will be led by retired Forest Service land manager John Shelly, chapter president of the Idaho Native Plant Society. He will be assisted by botanist Lisa Horton, who serves as the Native Plant Society chapter vice president, and Kristin Fletcher.
People should wear appropriate outerwear, sturdy walking shoes suitable for getting wet and bring water, sunscreen hat and lunch. It’s requested that walkers leave dogs at home.
The trees are located in three different places. One site is 200 yards over uneven, rocky and shrubby terrain.
Walkers should meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden, four miles south of Ketchum. They will carpool from there to the sites.