CHAMPION TREES BEAR STORMS AND SEASONS

James Hartmann likens his state champion white oak tree to a big umbrella that bends but never succumbs to the sudden impulses of Mother Nature.

"It seems like it's just impossible for a storm or a drought to tear that big umbrella up," said Hartmann, who lives just west of Gordonville behind the Zion Methodist Church.

Recent storms that have wreaked havoc with trees in the Cape Girardeau area have failed to dent the 200-year-old white oak Hartmann has watched for the past 50 years.

"The roots are so long, I doubt if the tree even knew there was a drought when we saw that happen here in the mid-1980s," Hartmann said.

The tree stands 111 feet high, has a spread of 95 feet and a circumference of 188 inches. Those dimensions earned Hartmann 323 points by way of a formula established by the American Forestry Association. The formula measures circumference in inches plus one-fourth crown spread in feet.

"There was another tree in the state that was just as big and tall, but since it was dying they chose mine as the state champion," Hartmann said.

Hartmann is glad that the May 17 storm that swept the area didn't claim his or many other prize trees in the area.

"If you live in an area where the soil is favorable and have enough room to let it grow, it can live to be a tough old tree," Hartmann said.

John Knaup, who owns a state champion flowering dogwood tree on 4585 Old Cape Road just east of Jackson, said the thick trunk serves as a stubborn anchor. "It probably has a sturdier root system than most trees," he said. The green leaves blossom into reddish scarlet in the fall.

Both Knaup and Hartmann said the soil, which includes a clay loam, is favorable for the growth and lengthy life of trees in the area.

Plenty of other trees fell victim to spring and summer storms. Some 16 hickory trees in Dennis Scivally Park in Cape Girardeau buckled and broke the next day. Those trees were from 50 to 100 years old.

High winds reaching speeds of 75 mph also toppled trees in the Brookwood, Bellridge Pike and Lexington Avenue areas. Many of those trees were 70 to 100 feet tall.

Parks and Recreation Director Dan Muser said the city cut the felled trees in Scivally Park into logs and sold them. "We made some of it available to the public for firewood and then part of it served as mulch," Muser said.

"The park won't be the same in terms of how much shade was available, but we'll plant new trees in the fall for future generations to enjoy."

The 200-year-old state champion sugarberry tree situated in Lorimier Cemetery has also managed to withstand the strongest blows from Mother Nature.

"It seems like it's situated so that other trees can bear the brunt of the wind and help protect the sugarberry," Muser said. "That's what happened to some of the trees at Scivally Park. The ones in the middle were protected but the ones on the outside gave way to the high winds."