Standing tall, broad and proud

As is usually the case in such matters, the fate of a sturdy Western white pine in the Manzanita neighborhood depended on who purchased the land from which it sprang.

For a while, it looked like the parcel would go to an architect who wanted to build a home with solar panels on the roof – good for energy efficiency, but probably bad for the tree, standing as it did twixt building site and sun.

This was some years ago, when out-of-the-way Silven Avenue was even more so. And as it happened, the property went instead to Erling Olsen, who still recalls the entreaties of the folks next door:

“The first thing the neighbors said was, ‘You’re not going to take down the tree are you?’”

He didn’t. And the pine – now 141 feet tall, and nearly 15 feet in circumference – still stands as the centerpiece of the grounds and a sweeping green lawn.

For its magnificence, Olsen’s pine is one of 13 Champion Trees of Bainbridge Island, winners in a first-ever contest sponsored by the city’s Community Forestry Commission.

“Part of the goal is to educate and inform and involve people in the protection and awareness of the landscape around us,” said Sally Adams, a commission member. “The contest is something where everybody can get involved, and honor these life forms and realize how fortunate we are.”

The contest was announced last spring to promote the activities of the Forestry Commission, which is charged with developing an island-wide tree management plan. Their work will address “native forest communities, as well as single trees of all kinds in urban growth areas.”

Contest participants were challenged to scout the island for the largest specimens of eight species of conifers and nine broadleaves native to the Pacific Northwest.

Nominations were reviewed by commission members, who then set out with tape measures for inspections in the field.

Tree diameter and circumference were measured at breast height, 4 feet, 6 inches from the ground.

Height was calculated somewhat by “guesstimate,” commission member John van den Meerendonk said, adding that in most cases there was enough difference between first- and second-place entries that absolute precision was not required to determine the winners.

The tallest tree identified is a Douglas fir on Woodbank Drive, 175 in height with a formidable 24-foot girth. Notable among the broadleaves is a bitter cherry on Old Mill Road, said to be 110 feet in height.

Most of the trees stand on private property, although the top cedar is a well-known specimen on the west side of the Fairy Dell Park trail.

One tree, a Rhamnus purshiana Casacara on Old Mill Road which died over the summer, was included in the contest results as the only one of its species that was nominated.

Some of the winners, including the Western white pine and a Pacific dogwood on Blakely Avenue, stand among the tallest of their species in the state, van den Meerendonk said.

Winning nominators will be recognized at 10 a.m. Oct. 18 at the farmers’ market in Winslow.

Appropriately, each person will receive a copy of “Champion Trees of Washington State” by Robert Van Pelt.

Several species, including Sitka spruce, did not generate any nominations (see box). And there may well be larger specimens out there waiting to be recognized; the commission will probably reopen the contest next year, to see if today’s champion trees can be, so to speak, topped.

The contest, van den Meerendonk said, was not just to raise awareness of trees and current preservation efforts, but also to acknowledge the work of the past 15 years.

“The amount of (island) land that’s been set aside has been quite remarkable,” he said.

———

Bainbridge Island’s Champion Trees include:

Douglas fir – Beierle property, Woodbank Drive, 24-feet, 1-inch circumference, 175 feet tall

Western red cedar – Ferry Dell Trail, 23-7 circ., 90 feet tall

Western hemlock – Blevins property, Pine Way, 12-0 circ., 138 feet tall

Grand fir – Walsh property, Broomgerrie Road, 12-2 circ., 150 feet tall

Pacific yew – Johnson property, Blakely Avenue, 4-6 circ., 27 feet tall

Western white pine – Olsen property, Silven Avenue, 14-10 circ., 141 feet tall

Big leaf maple – Markum property, Cedar Street, 12-6 circ., 100 feet tall

Pacific madrona – Longworth property, Valley Road, 18-11 circ., 62 feet tall

Red alder – Chamberlin/Bonoff property, Old Mill Road, 9-0 circ., 100 feet tall