Click the title of each tree to see more details and photos of the trees.
Mixed species grove
This grove of mixed trees species was started as a memorial for Oregon members of the 10th Mountain Division who fought in Italy during WWII. They were the only US Army Division trained in mountain warfare and were trained to fight on skis. In 1996 the first tree in this memorial grove was planted. The grove is maintained by decedents and discharged members of the 10th Mountain Division.
Location: …
Populus tremuloides
The carvings on the trees in this aspen grove are called “arborglyphs.” Most of the arborglyphs here were carved by Basque sheepherders who worked the top of the Steens Mountain in the early-to-middle 20th century. These historic carvings were lightly carved into the bark to make notes about the sheep, leave drawings, or as a means of letting one another know who had passed by each place.
Learn More: Visit …
Juglans nigra
This black walnut was planted c. 1884 by the Zimmerman family who were prominent members of the Aurora Colony. Early Aurora settlers were talented and industrious. Their products gained a wide reputation for excellence during the early days of Willamette Valley settlement. As a carpenter, Christian Zimmerman helped build the village and likely planted the tree and others like it for the valuable hardwood.
Tree Facts
Height: 70 ft
Date of dedication: …
Robinia pseudoacacia
James and Elizabeth Baker were among the first Oregon Trail emigrants to settle in Eastern Oregon. They traveled from Iowa in 1862 and were one of the original five families to settle in what is now the city of La Grande. Most of La Grande was treeless prairie when they arrived. James Baker was known as a horticulturalist and planted many of the first trees in the community. Elizabeth …
Juglans nigra
Andrew J. Baker, who arrived in the Oregon Territory in 1843 as part of the Great Migration, planted the black walnut in 1870 next to his house, built in 1852. The house, which still stands at this site, was used as a stage coach stop in the last 1800s. The property was purchased by William S. Russell and is still owned by Russell’s heirs.
Tree Facts
Height: 105 ft
Date of dedication: …
Acer macrophyllum
These two bigleaf maple trees, one on each side of the replica tollgate, are believed to have been planted by Daniel Parker who was the tollgate keeper here from 1883 to 1902. The Barlow Road is a branch of the Oregon National Historic Trail and was opened as a toll road in 1846 by Sam Barlow and Phillip Foster. This was the western-most and last tollgate operated on the …
Juglans nigra
In 1863, on this site, Robert Vinton Beall, an Oregon Trail pioneer and relative to four Maryland governors, built one of the first frame buildings in Jackson County, a Gothic Revival house that is listed on the National Historic Register. Beall and his brother Thomas were eventually to become Jackson County’s most prosperous farmers. In 1864, Robert Beall planted this Illinois black walnut to commemorate his marriage to Ann …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
The Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel were established in Oregon in 1882 by a small group of Sisters from Switzerland. In 1887 construction was started on the Monastery. This giant sequoia was planted in 1893 by Sister Protasia Schindler, one of the first American women to enter the religious community. She found the seedling beside the railroad tracks and planted it very close to the Monastery not knowing what …
Pinus ponderosa
This majestic pine is the biggest of its species ever recorded. It was a giant before the Oregon Territory was established, enduring centuries of fire, insects, disease, and human impact. Recently half of its crown was lost to weather, making another Ponderosa pine taller, but “Big Tree” remains the largest in circumference.
Tree Facts
Height: 162 ft
Date of dedication: June 5, 2000
Age at dedication: ~500 years
Learn More: Visit Oregon Encyclopedia
Location: La …
Sequoia sempervirens
This Coast Redwood was planted in 1992 at the site of the only Japanese aerial bombing of the continental United States on September 9, 1942. The tree was planted by the pilot of the submarine-delivered reconnaissance plane, Flight Officer Nobuo Fujita. The bombing of the continental United States was in retaliation for the Doolittle raid on Tokyo in April 1942.
Tree Facts
Planted:
Date of dedication: April 7, 2001
Learn More: Visit Oregon …
Sequoia giganteum
On March 22, 1862, the day of his son Emil’s birth, Peter Britt planted this giant sequoia by his home. Britt was a pioneer photographer, skilled horticulturalist, and leader in Southern Oregon’s lucrative fruit industry. From its vantage point, this majestic tree has witnessed the unfolding of Jacksonville’s rich history — the gold rush prosperity of the mid 1800s, the decline at the turn of the century and the …
Mixed species
This grove of nine trees is a part of the original landscaping planted around the historic 1886 Queen Anne style house of Captain George Flavel. The grove consists of a giant sequoia, ginkgo, Camperdown elm, bay laurel, pear, and four cork elms. Flavel’s love of such trees was inspired from his many voyages to places all over the world. The family gardener, Louis Schultz, planted these trees at the …
Umbellularia californica
This grove of Oregon myrtle was protected by the Garden Club of Oregon through the “Save the Myrtlewood” campaign and given to the People of Oregon in 1949. The Garden Club started many conservation projects including “Don’t Be a LitterBug!” campaign and Operation Wildflower on state highways. The Oregon myrtle is a highly valued evergreen hardwood that has played a significant role in Oregon’s coastal economies.
Tree Facts
Age: 38 to …
Ulmus americana
This tree was given to Douglas County by Binger Hermann, U.S. Congressman, around the turn of the century. The occasion for the tree donation is not known positively, but research suggests that it was given at a dedication ceremony for the courthouse, which was rebuilt after a fire on December 7, 1898.
Tree Facts
Height: 71 ft
Circumference: 13′ 4″
Date of dedication: April 6, 1999
Age at dedication: 105 years
Location: Douglas County Courthouse, …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
These trees were planted by homesteader John R. Porter (1827-1886) in 1880. The 3-year-old seedlings were brought from California and planted to enhance the entrance to the 1873 courthouse.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 150ft
Age at dedication: 120 years
Date of dedication: April 11, 1997
Learn More: Visit Oregon Encyclopedia
Audio Tour:
Location: Washington County Courthouse, 1st Ave & Main Street, Hillsboro
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
When fossils of this species were first discovered in 1941 in Japan, the tree was believed to have been long extinct. Fossils were also later discovered in the Columbia Gorge. But in 1944, live trees were found in a remote valley in central China. The Hoyt Arboretum planted seeds from these trees and in 1952, this tree became the first in the Western hemisphere to produce cones in about …
Corylus avellana
The first commercial-sized planting of hazelnuts in Oregon occurred when George Dorris planted a five-acre orchard here in 1905. In addition to growing trees for nut production, Dorris started a hazelnut nursery that operated for 40 years and produced an average of 70,000 trees per year. It is estimated that more than half of the trees in Oregon’s hazelnut industry originated from Dorris Ranch nursery stock.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 30′–40′
Planted …
Malus domestica
Reverend Albert Kelly planted an orchard here on his homestead in 1850. the trees were bought from the pioneer Luelling and Meek Nursery in Milwaukie- the first grafted fruit tree nursery on the west coast. Colonel Henry E. Dosch purchased the property in 1886-87 and restored the health of the neglected orchard. In 1976, the Home Orchard Society declared this tree the oldest, living, grafted apple tree in the …
Various species
The Caples family, 1844 Oregon Trail pioneers, were the very first settlers in this area and platted the town of Columbia City on their original donation land claim. Dr. Charles Caples planted this orchard of apple and pear trees shortly after bears decimated his original 1870 plum orchard. Charles Caples was the first doctor in Columbia County, founded the first school with his sister, and operated riverboats with his …
Pinus ponderosa
This grove of old-growth Ponderosa Pines shaded the extensive lawn of the 1901 A.M. Drake home in the future site of Bend. Drake’s Pilot Butte Development Co. played a critical role in the town’s development, platting downtown Bend and its original residential area. Three of the trees remain, of an original six, which were likely lost when the home itself was demolished in the mid-1950s.
Tree Facts
Approximate height: 80 ft
Date …
Sequoia sempervirens
Israel Fisk Eddy planted this tree in the 1880s on land that President Andrew Johnson had removed from the Oregon Coast Reservation in 1865. Israel’s grist mill, grocery store, and post office were integral in building this community, then called Little Elk. A railroad aimed to make Yaquina Bay the terminus of its transcontinental route and crossed Israel’s land. Israel said yes, but only if the depot was renamed …
Ellmaker Grove
In 1857, Enos and Elizabeth Fisher Ellmaker traded donation land claims with Levi W. and Mary Malinda Zumwalt. The Ellmakers built their house and blacksmith shop by this Oregon white oak, while nearby incense-cedar sheltered their livestock. The bigleaf maples, planted along the driveway by the Ellmakers, linked blacksmith shop customers to the ancient route sometimes known as a branch of the Applegate Trail.
Location: Zumwalt Park, near the town …
Quercus garryana
Ewing Young, a former fur trapper and trader, settled in the Chehalem Valley in 1834 and died here in 1841. His death directly led to the Champoeg Meeting and the beginning of the organization of the Provisional Government in 1843. On May 6, 1846 an acorn was planted here on his grave near his cabin by Miranda Bayley and Sidney Smith.
Tree Facts
Crown spread: 88′
Date of dedication: April 7, 1999
Age …
Syringa vulgaris
The original start of this lilac tree was brought from Maine to Oregon in 1843 by Mary Charlotte Foster, wife of Philip Foster, partner with Sam Barlow on the Barlow Road. The Fosters sailed Cape Horn and Mary Charlotte planted the lilac immediately upon her arrival in Oregon City. She moved it five times, replanting it at each of her homes. It was planted at its current location in …
Thuja plicata
The grove of western redcedar trees at North Fork Crossing was planted by Frank Lockyear and his Boy Scout troop in 1934 in an area burned by fire in 1929. This was the first of hundreds of tree planting projects organized by Lockyear as he dedicated his life to reforestation. In 1973, Lockyear founded ReTree International to plant trees worldwide and to involve and educate youth about the importance …
Various species
GeerCrest Farm was established in 1847, before Oregon became a U.S. Territory. Ralph Geer started his nursery and orchards with apple and pear seeds he brought over the Oregon Trail. He traded root stock for grafting wood with the Luelling-Meek nursery. Their successful cooperation helped to establish the fruit growing industry on the west coast.
Tree Facts
Species: Varied, including 24 pear trees, four plum trees, one apple, one Hawthorn tree, …
Picea sitchensis
Before Columbus sailed to the Americas, this Sitka spruce began its life nourished by a nurse log. As it grew, it shared Cape Creek with the Indians who lived just one-half mile west at their large seasonal campsite by the ocean. When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp at Cape Perpetua in the early 1930’s, they built the first trail to the Giant Spruce, likely reopening the …
Acer palmatum
This Greenleaf Japanese Maple was planted by Governor Tom McCall in late 1973 or early 1974 during his second term of office. McCall is remembered for many environmental achievements, such as the “Beach Bill” which granted the state government the power to zone Oregon’s beaches, thus protecting them from private development, and the “Bottle Bill” which was the nation’s first mandatory bottle-deposit law, designed to decrease litter in Oregon.
Tree …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
James Withycombe served as Oregon’s governor from 1914 until his death in 1919. He was one of only two foreign-born Oregon governors. Born in Tavistock, England, he came to Oregon with his parents in 1871 at 17 years of age. He purchased a farm two years later and married Isabel Carpenter on June 5, 1975. He planted this sequoia in their wedding day. Governor Withycombe was known for his …
Various species
In 1967 Oregon Attorney General Robert Y. Thornton hosted the 61st annual conference of the National Association of Attorneys General in Portland. As part of a conference event, Thornton planned for the Grove of the States as an homage to First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, and her work fostering the 1965 Highway Beautification Act. The First Lady pushed hard for freeway right-of-ways filled with green landscaping and wildflowers instead …
Pyrus communis
This pear tree is one of the oldest and largest in Oregon. It is the lone survivor of an orchard planted by the Munkre family, later known as Hager’s Grove. Benjamin Franklin Munkre brought his family to Oregon from Missouri in the middle 1800s. The orchard bordered a once popular creekside camping and playground area.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 65′
Age: Over 150 years
Circumference: 9′
Dedicated on: April 11, 1997
Location: The Hager Pear …
Salix babylonica– Weeping willow
In 1860, Martha Hanley planted this weeping willow to commemorate the birth of her son. The willow cutting was obtained from the pioneer Luelling Nursery in the Willamette Valley and delivered by Martha’s friend Kit Kearney, an express rider, who stuck it in a potato to keep it from drying out. The tree flourished and the Hanley farmstead eventually became know as “The Willows.”
Tree Facts
Height: 30 ft
Date …
Pyrus communis
This small grove of Comice pear trees are the only remaining of an original planting known as Harry & David Bear Creek Orchards Block 1A. Harry & David Corporation became internationally renowned in 1932 when they began marketing their gift boxes of pears to the rich and famous. While most pear growers were hurt by the Great Depression, Harry & David brought unexpected prosperity to the economically depressed Rogue …
Pyrus communis– Winter Nelis
This Winter Nelis pear tree, planted in 1879, is associated with the boyhood years of President Herbert Hoover. When the 11 year-old Hoover arrived here from Iowa in 1885 to live with his uncle John Minthorn and family, he joined his aunt and cousins in the task of making pear butter. Hoover later wrote that after the ill effects of an almost exclusive pear diet for two …
Juniperous occidentalis – Western Juniper
Along this mile-long extant section of the Huntington Wagon Road, four juniper trees bear the ‘blazes’ of early travelers in the late 19th century. Three trees were blazed to mark the direction of the road. Soldiers camped along the road during the 1870s also blazed one juniper with a target for shooting practice. Large caliber bullet holes are still visible in the “Target Tree” today.
Tree Facts
Age: …
Pinus ponderosa- Ponderosa Pine
Located adjacent to the route of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail, the Indian Village Grove provides lasting evidence of the spring camp used in this vicinity by the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) people. Large oval scars on the tree trunks were created in the late 1800’s when the Nimiipuu peeled the outer bark of the tree and then skimmed the inner bark with a scraper. The cambium …
Ulmus americana– American elm
In 1912, Belle and Ralph Jenkins purchased what is now the Jenkins Estate, Belle, the daughter of a prominent Portland businessman, Capt. J.C. Ainsworth, planted the Elm grove between the original farmhouse and the main house in the style of an old English Estate. American elms were a popular street tree in the early part of the 20th century, but have since been widely devastated due to …
Carya ovata- Hickory
Mary Louisa Black planted this shagbark hickory near her home in 1866 from nuts she carried from Missouri on the Oregon Trail in 1865. Of the nuts she planted, two grew into trees. This tree is the lone survivor of the snow, summer heat and Rogue River flooding and the only shagbark hickory in the area.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 18′
Age: 131 years
Circumference: 4′
Dedicated on: April 6, 1998
Location: One mile …
Magnolia grandiflora– Southern magnolia
This Southern magnolia was planted in front of the home of Captain John M. and Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” McCall in memory of their daughter, Elsie, who died in 1890. John McCall was a statesman and entrepreneur who opened many businesses including the first bank and local newspaper, The Ashland Daily Tidings. Theresa Applegate McCall, John’s first wife and Elsie’s mother, was a member of the pioneer family …
Pinus ponderosa- Ponderosa pine
When a Japanese balloon bomb exploded at this site, Elsie Mitchell and her Sunday school class of five children, out on an early spring fishing outing, were killed. They were the only World War II casualties to occur on the North American continent as a result of enemy action. Standing as a silent witness to the tragedy, this Ponderosa pine still shows signs of shrapnel damage from …
Cupressus macrocarpa
Harrison G. Blake planted this tree, now the largest Monterey Cypress found in Oregon, when he built his house here in the 1850s. Blake was the first member of the Oregon House of Representatives from Southern Curry County in 1874 and served as postmaster of the Chetco Post Office. The Blake house is the oldest in Chetco Valley and was once a stagecoach station and site of the post …
Pseudotsuga menziesii– Douglas-fir
This Douglas Fir was raised from seed carried to the moon by astronaut Stuart Roosa of the Apollo 14 moon mission in 1971. It was the first “Moon Tree” to be planted in Oregon and was planted here by Governor Bob Straub on Arbor Day, April 30, 1976 for America’s bicentennial.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 63′
Age: 31 years
Circumference: 19″
Dedicated on: April 11, 2003
Audio Tour:
Location: The Moon Tree is located in …
Tillia americana; Wisteria floribunda
This wisteria vine and its companion linden tree, whose “partnership” is a local landmark, were planted in approximately 1881 by Brownsville entrepreneurs John and Elizabeth Moyer. With its distinctive braided trunk, the wisteria relies on the linden tree for support and to vividly display its profuse spring blossoms. It is the success of this long-standing partnership that makes them a unique addition to the Oregon Heritage Tree …
Abies grandis: Grand fir
The giant grand fir along this trail is the centerpiece of several trees already large in 1939 when Northrup Creek Forest Grassland was dedicated by Governor Charles Sprague. Sprague also initiated the Forest Acquisition Act encouraging counties to deed foreclosed lands to the State Board of Forestry to build a sustained revenue stream for the counties. Through efforts by Judge Guy Boyington, Clatsop County became the first …
Picea sitchensis: Sitka spruce
This tree is a remnant of an ancient coastal forest cared for by indigenous peoples for millennia. Oregon industries logged most of these giants at the turn of 20th century, reserving this tree to seed a new forest and witness the development of Lincoln City. The community named the tree Nuu-k’wii-daa-naa~-ye’-“Our Ancestor” in the local Siletz Dee-ni language-to honor its importance to communities past and present.
Tree Facts
Date …
Picea sitchensis– Sitka spruce
The forces that shaped this unique Sitka Spruce have been debated for many years. Whether natural events of possibly Native Americans were the cause remains a mystery. The tree measures more than 14 feet across at its base and has no central trunk. Instead, limbs extend horizontally as much as 30 feet before turning upward. Its is 105 feet tall and is estimated to be around 250 …
Ulmus americana – American Elm
The American elms lining the streets of this community were planted by the Oregon Nursery Company (ORENCO) in 1912. The company was one of the largest nurseries in the US and was employee-owned. The nearby light-rail line follows the old Oregon Electric Railroad line that shipped nursery stock throughout the nation. Company towns such as Orenco, built to house workers, were common in Oregon and were …
Prunus avium – Black Tartarian or Republican
It is believed this tree was planted in the mid 1800s by Eugene Skinner, founder of the City of Eugene in 1853. The tree is within the boundaries of Skinner’s 1846 land claim. By 1850 the site of the tree was owned by George Owen, a former Eugene City Councilor, lumberman, and philanthropist. Mr. Owen donated the site to the city for use as …
Pseudotsuga menziesii – Douglas-fir
This tree was a meeting place for the early townspeople and Grange members of Oswego. A peg was driven into the tree for hanging a lantern to light these meetings. In 1852, before a proper building could be erected, Sunday school classes were held under the tree. The Peg Tree is the lone survivor of what was once a great row of Douglas-firs that lined the road …
Acer macrophyllum– Bigleaf maple
This bigleaf maple is believed to have been a meeting place for Clackamas Indian people and by tradition is called the Pow-Wow Tree. It marked the site of the first Clackamas County Fair in 1860 and the first Oregon State Fair in 1861. It was later honored at the 1937 Gladstone Pow-Wow celebration and recognized again in 1979 as an American Bicentennial tree. The tree has become …
Populus trichocarpa – Black cottonwood
This black cottonwood is prominent in photographs taken in 1900 and 1901 to document where the vote for a Provisional Government in Oregon took place. Francis X. Matthieu, the last living participant of the 1843 vote, is shown setting the location of this site in 1900 and unveiling the monument here in the ceremony of 1901. The area around the monument is believed to be the …
Fagus sylvatica – Copper beech
This European copper beech tree has witnessed more than 100 years of urban development. In the 1890s, Joseph and Mary Watson planted this beech tree in front of their home in what was a quiet neighborhood on the edge of Portland. The Watson family had deep ties to Oregon’s iron and banking industries and Portland city politics. In the 1960s, Portland State University purchased the site …
Pseudotsuga menziesii – Douglas fir
When most other Douglas fir was logged to create farmland, this fir remained as a landmark on the 640-acre Donation Land Claim of Robert Valentine Short. A land surveyor, R.V. Short surveyed claims throughout the northern Willamette Valley, and in 1850 created the first plat of Portland. He was a member of the first Oregon Constitutional Convention, the first Yamhill County surveyor, and a state legislator.
Tree …
Populus trichocarpa – Black cottonwood
In 1854, fifteen-year-old Florinda Geer stuck her black cottonwood riding switch in the ground after returning from a horse ride. The stripling took root and grew to become this monumental tree. Florinda married Timothy Davenport and in 1868 gave birth to Homer Davenport, the nationally famous political cartoonist, who spent many of his early years at this homestead. The Daughters of the American Revolution first memorialized …
Carya ovata – Hickory
This tree sits on property settled in 1868 by W.S. Frazier, the founder of Milton, Oregon. The Frazier family carried the hickory nuts along the Oregon Trail from their home in Texas. The nuts were planted shortly after their arrival.
Approx. height: 60′
Planted in: late 1860’s
Circumference: 6′ 6″
Dedicated on: April 4, 1998
Location: Frazier Farmstead Museum, 1403 Chestnut St., Milton-Freewater
Mixed Grove
Established by Adam R. Shipley in 1862, the grove surrounding the farmhouse across the meadow, exemplifies early settlers planting trees from their home states. Shipley, a leader in the pioneer community of Hazelia, served as State Grange Master and Regent for Oregon Agricultural College. The Cook Family has served as stewards of this impressive grove since James P. Cook purchased the farm from the Shipleys in 1900.
Tree Facts
Planted: 1860’s …
Pinus radiata – Monterey Pine
This Monterey pine was planted between 1906 and 1921 by the Simpson family as part of their extensive estate. Louis J. Simpson was a lumberman, shipbuilder, and founder of the city of North Bend. In 1942, Simpson sold his estate to Oregon, designating it as a park. This tree was recognized in 2002 as the largest of its species in the United States by the National …
Quercus garrayana
The Signature Oak is a symbol of the lasting importance of the Oregon white oak to the ecology and culture of the Willamette Valley. It is the oldest and largest tree in a grove of Oregon white oaks that predates settlement of the Willamette Valley by European immigrants and their descendants. The latest native inhabitants of the region were the Santiam group of the Kalapuyan tribe.
Native people in the …
Picea sitchensis – Sitka spruce
This is the first tree to be designated an official Oregon Heritage Tree and was once the biggest tree in Oregon and the National Co-Champion Sitka Spruce. It germinated from a seed onthe forest floor around the time of the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and grew to its mature height about the time Christopher Columbus sailed to the new world. A legacy of …
Juglans nigra – Black Walnut
This black walnut is a remnant of a larger grove, planted around 1865, that marks the farthest navigable point on the Coos River. Before S. Coos River Lane was built in the 1920s, people and goods unloaded atthis community landmark and popular meeting place. The Smith Farm Walnut is an example of how treeswere often used as important landmarks for navigation before the advent of electricity …
Pinus jeffreyi
In Oregon, Jeffrey pines are found only in the state’s southwest corner. They are especially adapted to local dry, infertile, serpentine soils as seen in the surrounding flat lands and distant mountains. These trees resist fire kill through a variety of adaptations like thick, insulating bark and open crowns. During construction of the Siskiyou Smokejumper base, this Jeffrey pines was likely spared for use as a telephone pole and …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
This grove of giant Sequoias was planted by students of the Class of 1942 in honor of Willamette University’s 100th anniversary. Founded by Jason Lee in 1842, Willamette University is recognized as the oldest university in the west. In 1997, the campus started an annual holiday tradition by lighting the Star Trees from mid-December to January. They are now considered to be the tallest Christmas trees on a college …
Quercus garryana
This grove of Oregon white oaks is believed to have been the site of a seasonal camp used by Kalapuya Indians who gathered acorns and camas here. When the State Fair was established in 1862, visitors came in wagons and camped in the oak grove continuing the tradition of historic use. Camping at the Fair became an annual event and evolved into a system with streets and designated campsites. …
Jurglans regia – English walnut
This remnant English walnut orchard is an example of the thousands of acres of walnuts planted in western Oregon in the early 20th century when walnuts were heavily promoted as the perfect crop for high returns. However, wet fall weather and late harvests meant California was more competitive for holiday markets. After the 1962 Columbus Day Storm toppled many of the trees, walnuts never recovered, and …
Pseudotsuga menziesii – Douglas fir
Between 1949 and 1973, an army of volunteers helped plant an estimated 72 million trees to reforest the Tillamook Burn-one of the largest forest replanting efforts in history. Here, in the area of Cedar Creek Flat, the new forest was planted entirely by school children from Tillamook, Forest Grove and Portland. Students arrived by the busload and were met by foresters who provided Douglas-fir seedlings, tools, …
Picea breweriana
The Brewer spruce was first scientifically identified in 1884 by Thomas Jefferson Howell, an important early Oregon pioneer botanist. T.J. Howell created the first book on regional flora of the Pacific Northwest. The Babyfoot Lake Botanical Area was created in 1966 to protect one of the largest remaining stands of Brewer spruce, which as a small native range. The 2002 Biscuit Fire consumed most of the protected trees; only …
Populus x canescens
This grey poplar, Trysting Tree II, is a clone of the original. The tree was named for its popularity as a romantic meeting spot in the early 1900s. It has become a symbol of Oregon State University (OSU), memorialized in the alma mater, “.I love to wander on the pathway, Down to the Trysting Tree.” OSU is one of only two Land, Sea, Space and Sun grant colleges …
Pinus lambertina
When settlers crossed on the Applegate Trail, sugar pine trees dominated this landscape. Native Americans had seasonal camps and have purposefully managed the sugar pine, including using a hook-ladder to move up the tiered branches to reach the pinecones. Settlement pressures, needs and practice may have contributed to its decline here. The largest sugar pine in the area is located in the wash across the road from the tubs.
Tree …
Pseudotsuga menziesii
The Valley of the Giants is a 51-acre parcel of land containing a stand of old-growth Douglas-fir and hemlock trees. Because of the increasing rarity of such large trees in the Coast Range, a wave of public support for their protection was begun in the early 1970’s by Maynard Drawson of Salem, Oregon. In 1976, the trees were officially recognized as “Oregon’s Bicentennial Grove” and the Bureau of Land …
Acer platanoides
In 1923, volunteers planted 250 Norway maple trees along Spruce Street and “S” Avenue to commemorate the end of the First World War. Called Victory Way, this tree-lined parkway stretched from downtown to Riverside Park. In 1998, volunteers planted a variety of new trees along Victory Way to enhance the parkway’s historic value and restore its tree-lined appearance.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 60′
Age: 83 years
Circumference: 7′
Dedicated on: April 10, 2003
Location: Greenwood …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Judge William Waldo, the son of an 1842 pioneer, planted this sequoia in 1872. Waldo made efforts during his lifetime to preserve the tree and over time others have saved it from the encroaching street system. In 1936 the Salem City Council declared the site, a twelve by twenty-foot plot of land, a city park.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 85′
Planted in: 1872
Circumference: 22′
Dedicated on: April 8, 1998
Audio Tour:
Location: 605 Summer Street …
Tsuga mertensiana
Judge John B. Waldo, Oregon’s foremost 19th century conservationist, and his companions carved their names on this mountain hemlock on September 13, 1888. Waldo was gathering information to use in advocating for designation of the Cascade Forest Reserve. The journey proved significant in the forest conservation history of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.
Tree Facts
Age: 200 years
Circumference: 8′ 4″
Dedicated on: April 7, 1999
Location: Sky Lakes Wilderness, Rogue River Natl forest, …
Picea sitchensis
This Sitka spruce, spared by early loggers, stood over Water Street in the township of West Yaquina, now a ghost town. The community was platted in the 1800s after the Oregon Pacific Railroad terminated across the bay in Yaquina City. With a railroad and seaport, Yaquina Bay competed with Portland for San Francisco’s shipping commerce. This tree witnessed the boom and bust of Oregon’s early shipping industry.
Tree Facts
Height: 158′
Circumference: …
Ulmus americana
This tree has long been identified with Henry H. Wheeler for whom Wheeler County is named. From 1864 through 1868, Wheeler drove the first stage coach service past this site on The Dalles – Canyon City Wagon Road. In 1866, Wheeler was ambushed here and severely wounded. A monument dedicated to Wheeler stood by this tree for over sixty years until it was moved with the realignment of Highway …
Populus trichocarpa
This giant black cottonwood stands near the site of the Willamette Mission established by Reverend Jason Lee in 1834. At the time the mission and tree were located on the banks of the Willamette River. The great flood in 1861 changed the river course to its present channel leaving what is now Mission Lake. The Willamette Mission Cottonwood is the largest of its kind in Oregon and the nation.
Tree …
Pseudotsuga menziesii & Populus trichocarpa
For more than a century, loggers used rivers, especially the Willamette, to move millions of board feet in logs. Until ground transport became more economical in the 1970s, men walked the logs, assembling huge rafts with long pike poles that tug boats pulled down the river. Cables wrapped around the trees along the bank tethered the rafts to shore while they waited for access to mills, …
Pinus ponderosa
Indigenous peoples have cared for and cultivated the ancient pine forests in this area since time immemorial. In 1855, the Williamson-Abbot Expedition camped here while surveying the Deschutes Basin for possible railway routes, utilizing existing Native American trails. While encamped here during that expedition, Lt. Phillip Sheridan carved his name and the date into this old growth ponderosa pine. The tree has since healed over the carving.
Tree Facts
Height: 111 …
Quercus garryanna
This Oregon White Oak reflects the early practice of using landmarks as survey markers for property boundaries. With time, these original markers have disappeared. The Witness Tree served as a survey marker for the southeast corner of the Claiborne C. Walker donation Land Claim. The original markings scribed into the tree’s trunk on July 8, 1854, were carved away for an unknown reason, leaving a large cavity in the …
Arbutus menziesii
This Pacific madrone was planted by Hoya Yang to complement the house his wife, Edith Yang, designed. In 1954 Edith became the first female minority architect licensed in Oregon. She designed many buildings in the area and started the Corvallis street tree program. Hoya was a prominent food scientist who was influential in the beginnings of the Oregon wine industry and the development of the maraschino cherry.
Tree Facts
Circumference: 23feet
Height: …
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