| The Douglas-Fir War |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
The Big Tree War Between Oregon and Washington
James E. Brown, State Forester
From Forest Log
Nov.-Dec. 1992, Vol. 62, No, 3
Oregon is home to the nation´s largest coastal Douglas-fir. This magnificent tree, the "Brummet Fir," stands in the rugged coastal forest between Roseburg and Coquille. Although it has been there for centuries it wasn´t discovered until 1991, ending a half-century´s claim by Washington state to this subspecies in the National Register of Big Trees.
Oregon has produced a number of other national champion coastal Douglas-firs, but their reigns have been brief. The first of Oregon´s champs was the "Clatsop Fir" which stood on private forestland near Seaside. It was crowned in the summer of 1962. Later that same year a November wind storm -- following a month after the gale-force Columbus Day Storm -- toppled the Clatsop Fir.
The crash echoed all the way north to Olympia, Washington, where the state´s governor, Albert Rosellini, mailed a telegram to Oregon Governor Mark Hatfield expressing his condolences. But Rosellini added he "always suspected that the (Clatsop Fir) couldn´t stand up to a rigorous measurement of its supposed greatness."
Hatfield responded by writing, "I want to assure you that your champion´s crown must perforce rest uneasy in view of the obviously more favorable habitat for growth of large trees in Oregon.... Surely there is a tree somewhere in Oregon´s magnificent forest lands which is of equal or greater stature than the Clatsop fir. As soon as this tree is found you will be notified."
Thirteen years later, a new national champion was located in Oregon´s forests. The tree was dubbed "Finnegan´s Fir" after its finder, Lance Finnegan, and again the bragging rights returned to Oregon. Boasted an article in the Forest Log, "The tree is in a 25-acre grove of large trees ... is sound and in an area sheltered from wind."
Alas, five months after it was crowned, Finnegan´s Fir succumbed to yet another November windstorm and toppled. An autopsy revealed the tree had suffered from rot for at least 100 years. And, again, Washington reclaimed the coastal Douglas-fir crown by default.
Then in 1991, a fellow named Hank Williams (not the country singer) found a giant fir located deep in the rugged forest near Sitkum, up a drainage where Brummet Creek flowed. It was a place where huge -- but fallen -- Douglas-firs had been found. Some speculated that a champion might be found there. Someday.
May 22, 1991, turned out to be the day. Hank Williams and the Brummet Fir entered the record books, and the people of Oregon regained the coveted bragging rights to the nation´s largest coastal Douglas-fir.
|
|
|
|
