This season, community members are invited to explore the great outdoors by learning more about the trees that beautify St. Charles.
First conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage outdoor discovery, the Big Tree Passport program from the St. Charles Park District acts as a showcase for the amazing trees that populate the city and provide benefits, such as clean air and water and shade to its residents.
It features 12 different trees that can be found at a total of seven sites, including Norris Woods, Ferson Creek Fen and Riverbend Community Park, among others.
It’s also a way for people to learn more about St. Charles parks, said David Svitak, arbor supervisor for the park district. Svitak and others in the department care for trees in park district settings, conducting assessments and performing services, such as pruning, that allow these trees to thrive.
“The large oaks are the most impressive because of their estimated age and size,” Svitak said. The list brings attention to red, white and burr oaks.
Those who take part in the program will learn more about each tree, whether it’s the Davis Park hackberry, which attracts several species of butterflies and provides wildlife with a bounty of late summer fruit, or the shagbark hickory, which sports distinctive, peeling strips of bark. The shagbark hickory at Delnor Woods Park is an astounding 240 years old.
Also believed to be 240 years old is the massive burr oak at Hickory Knolls Natural Area. This tree is known for its fire-resistant bark and enormous spread, defined as the distance from branch tip to branch tip. In the case of this tree, the spread is 90 feet. That’s the length of the world’s largest animal – the blue whale.
Passport-holders will also learn interesting facts about the time periods surrounding the beginnings of each individual tree. For instance, the white oak at Hickory Knolls was around when the first shots of the American Revolutionary War were fired in 1775.
“We call them witness trees because they were standing before any kind of settlement was established,” Svitak said of the mature specimens.
“I hope residents will learn about some new tree species and think about the variables it takes for that tree to reach its mature state in a certain landscape,” he added.
A number of factors, including access to water, sunlight and ample room for roots to grow, help determine the vitality and longevity of a tree.
Find your passport and start checking trees off by first visiting stcparks.org/events/.