By
FRANK CARINI/ecoRI News staff
This European beech, on Old Post Road in
Charlestown, is one of Rhode Island’s grandest trees. (R.I. Tree Council)
By his own count, Rhode Island has about 700 “champions.” John
Campanini Jr. should know; he’s spent the past 25 years traveling the state’s
back roads, main roads, dirt roads and hiking trials searching for them.
Development, disease and natural disasters have wiped out many of
Rhode Island’s grandest trees. Trees with significant trunks — measured 4.5
feet above the ground — majestically tall and with impressive crown spreads
account for only a small percentage of the state’s canopy cover, according to the
longtime director of the Rhode Island Tree Council.
“The 1938 hurricane is the new starting point because the storm
was so destructive,” Campanini said. “Only about 5 percent of the trees that
survived that hurricane were of the spectacular variety. There’s not many of
them left.”
In the 1930s, likely due in part to the decline of the American
elm, searching for spectacular trees became a hobby, as tree enthusiasts began
recording the biggest trees in their city, town and state. The earliest tree
measurement Rhode Island has on record was made March 16, 1931 by Hope resident
John B. Hudson, for a black oak.
According to the Rhode Island Tree Council, the Ocean State has a lengthy history of “champion tree hunting.”
From the 1940s through the ’60s,
Providence resident Elizabeth G. Weeks kept a file of big-tree measurements in
a wooden box labeled simply “E’s Tree Measurements.” These measurements were
often collected on Appalachian Mountain Club hikes and outings.
During the 1970s, Richard L. Champlin of Jamestown became known as
“The Tree Man.” Records of big trees and inquiries were directed his way.
As a
librarian at the Redwood Library & Athenaeum in Newport, he developed an
inventory of the specimen trees of Newport. In 1976, he wrote a book titled “Trees of Newport on the estates of the
Preservation Society of Newport County.”
Over time, Champlin became one of the foremost natural-history
experts in the state, documenting Rhode Island’s broad diversity of natural and
cultural features.
After his death in 2003, Paul Dolan, as principal forester
at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, saw the need to
continue Champlin’s work, which eventually lead to the creation of the Rhode
Island Tree Council’s Big Tree Program.
“We need to increase our protection of trees,” said Campanini,
noting Rhode Island should follow the examples set by Providence, Cranston and
Newport. “Trees are a capital asset. We need a rational approach to protection
that respects our trees.”
Campanini suggested adopting measures that are similar to what the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources enacted in the early 1990s. The main
goal of Maryland’s Forest Conservation Act is to minimize the loss of forest resources during
development by making the identification and protection of forests and other
sensitive areas an integral part of the planning process.
He said the Maryland law didn’t stop development. A “tree bank”
was created that required builders to plant trees. “Maryland has conserved more
acres than originally projected, as builders learned that reducing a footprint
cost less than paying for tree plantings,” Campanini said. “Developers became
Maryland’s greatest conservationists. Developers are smart people. They
understand.”
The law, and its focus on protecting forestland, Campanini said,
has allowed Maryland to better protect Chesapeake Bay and manage stormwater
runoff.
“Unfortunately, measures like that are a hard sell across Rhode
Island,” he said. “Not enough people truly appreciate and understand the
benefits provided by trees.”
Those benefits include improving air and water quality, wildlife
habitat and ecosystem stability.