For now, he's making skis from a
bigleaf maple he felled in his yard.
This former national
bigleaf maple champion was also the third biggest broadleaf tree in the country.
Red maple, sliver maple, Pacific maple, Oregon maple,
bigleaf mapleBreedlove is attempting to find domestic woods to stand in for rosewood and mahogany; homegrown black walnut and
bigleaf maple have been the most successful substitutes so far.
We paused to watch yellow
bigleaf maple leaves drift lazily through the slight breeze.
To complement nearby stands of alder and
bigleaf maple, volunteers have made extensive plantings of smaller trees and shrubs, like Sitka willow, red willow, Arroyo willow, and creek dogwood.
Madrone and
bigleaf maple are in demand, while disease brings down enough rock elm and red elm to maintain a steady stock.
The 65-year-old Vietnam veteran, who has for months battled Junction City over the future of a massive, old
bigleaf maple tree that shades a rental home he owns on Kalmia Street, won another reprieve on Friday from the city's plans to immediately cut it down.
Bigleaf Maple (543 points): The nation's biggest maple, and our third biggest broadleaf tree.
But Elizondo is in a big battle, with Junction City's City Hall, to protect an old, massive
bigleaf maple tree that shades a rental home he owns on Kalmia Street.
Otherwise, the list of megatrees stayed the same except that the newly remeasured
bigleaf maple grew 116 points, allowing it to join the megatree club.
A 119-foot
Bigleaf Maple estimated to be as old as 400 years and growing on BLM-managed land off Highway 126 between Eugene and Florence was added to the list last year, and a 24-foot Pacific Rhododendron (above) on private property in Florence has been on the list since 2006.
