September 15, 2004

Biehl makes big find

10-year-old wins prize for locating aspen in statewide big tree hunt

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

----------- Hunting treasure in swamps, woods and remote fields yielded Jared Biehl, 10, the prize of largest tree submitted from Kalkaska County.
He and his father, Larry, found the 89-inch circumference Quaking Aspen on a ten-acre parcel owned by the family. They were on the search thanks to the biennial Michigan Big Tree Hunt, an annual contest that celebrates trees and rewards effective big tree sleuthing.
"We measured it around," said Jared Biehl of the process of documenting the tree's size, taken at four and a half feet above ground.
His find netted Jared, a fifth-grade student at Traverse Bay Community School, a trip to East Lansing on September 25 for a celebration with other winners of the largest trees in their county. Other winners in categories such as the largest white pine and the largest tree of any kind found by someone 15 and under will also be honored.
Larry Biehl discovered the contest thanks to his own love of trees. He found a pamphlet from Global ReLeaf of Michigan, the contest's host, during his quest to plant 4,000 trees on land he owns in Benzie County.
"I love trees and I have since I was a kid," said Biehl, a Traverse City resident. "I told my brother about the contest and he told me about a tree, on an abandoned farm in a valley, a gigantic American Chestnut, huge. He found it out back there and entered the contest and that tree may actually be a state champion tree for the whole state."
Biehl also plans to track down other champion tree stories he learned about while he and his son were searching for big trees. He heard about a "monster big" ash tree in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore that park personnel did not even know about.
"Somebody entered it in the contest and the people at the national park may not even know the location of the tree," said Biehl, who plans to find that tree. "It has been hidden all this time in the park and it is probably going to be a state champion."
Global ReLeaf of Michigan has hosted the Big Tree Hunt Contest every other year since 1993. They announced the winners this month for the contest that ended on June 1. The time lag is due to their verification efforts, which taps a network of foresters around the state to find and measure the trees.
Global ReLeaf is a non-profit organization dedicated to exciting people of all ages about trees. They work with schools, individuals and organizations around the state to promote trees and the Big Tree Hunt. The hunt draws between 300-350 entries and this year attracted submissions from 50 counties.
"The stories we get are something else about trying to find the trees and also the history of a tree, such as, 'My grandfather who came to this country planted this tree,'Ą" said Melinda Jones, volunteer executive director of the organization, which is based in Ann Arbor. "There's a lot of history in trees and the hunt is a great way to promote stewardship and interest in trees among kids."
Botanist Paul Thompson, a member of the Michigan Botanical Society, started the Big Tree Hunt. Thompson had been finding and recording champion trees around the state since the 1950s. When he could no longer continue the work, Global ReLeaf stepped in to host the contest and the Michigan Botanical Society now maintains the register of big trees.
"The whole point of the Big Tree Hunt is to get people out looking for trees and developing an interest in them," Jones said.
Passing on his love of trees motivated Biehl to hike and search with his son. He hopes that Jared will be inspired to carry on the work he has started on his Benzie property, since the pine trees he planted will mature in 90 years and the hardwoods in 150 years.
"This requires a commitment greater than myself because I'll be long gone," Biehl said. "I was really happy when Jared participated in the big tree hunt, it may actually be his son or daughter who takes over the forest in Benzie County I planted."