Out Of The Ashes Comes A Tree Contest Winner

By Steve Bigham

Lifelong resident Steve Carmichael knows a thing or two about the trees of Newtown. As owner of the Connecticut Tree Doctor, he spends his days measuring them, trimming them and, from time to time, climbing them to rescue stray cats. So when the Newtown Forest Association’s call went out to identify the town’s largest living white ash, Mr Carmichael knew just where to turn.

“It’s on Poverty Hollow Road right alongside the road. I’ve been going by it for years,” he said this week. “When you climb trees, you tend to notice big trees. I always wondered if I was ever going to get the chance to climb the thing.”

Mr Carmichael figures the tree is at least 250 years old, maybe as many as 400.

For locating the massive white ash (with its 20-foot circumference), the “Tree Doctor” will receive $500 and a Lou Gehrig commemorative baseball bat. Four runners-up will also receive replica bats from baseball legends like Gehrig, Babe Ruth and PeeWee Reese. Wood from white ash trees has been used to build bats since America’s favorite pastime was invented back in the 1800s. The white ash (fraxinus americana) was chosen for this year’s contest to commemorate the 1998 baseball season’s “Year of the Home Run.” It was a year, which saw both Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa break the Major League record of 61 homers, previously held by Roger Maris. Maguire finished the year with 70. Today, most major league bats are made at the Hillerich and Bradsby Company, Inc factory in Kentucky. The manufacturer, known for the “Louisville Slugger,” donated the bats to the forest association for the contest.

“They’re the same bats — replicas of the bats — that those fellas used when they played,” noted Brian Hennessey of the NFA. “You ought to see the bat that Babe Ruth used. It’s huge.”

Forty-four ounces to be exact. Today’s players use on the average 32-ounce bats. Even Maguire only uses a 33-ounce piece of lumber. The lighter bats allow today’s hitters to generate more bat speed.

The bats will be awarded to the five winners on Sunday at 10 am at the forest association’s property at Holcombe Hill on Great Hill Road. Mr Carmichael, of 25 South Main Street, will also be presented his prize money, which he plans to give right back to the NFA.

“I feel I cheated because I know trees so well,” he said.

His wife, Shauna, can attest to her husband’s love of trees. “He drives me around to show me different trees. He’s really into them. No matter where we go, we’re looking at trees,” she said.

The white ash on Poverty Hollow Road is actually the second largest white ash in town. The largest of its kind in Newtown is growing out of a stone wall on the south side of Borough Lane, just west of Queen Street. That particular tree was used as a model for this year’s contest, and ranks as either the biggest or second biggest white ash in the state. As for the white ash on Poverty Hollow Road, that tree may rank as the state’s third largest.

White ash, the largest of all ashes, is a leading commercial hardwood tree. The tree grows singly or in small groups in association with other hardwoods; hemlock, white pine or spruce. A mature white ash can grow 100 feet tall and over six feet in diameter. Its wood is used for making bats, polo mallets, hockey sticks, oars and tool handles. Its combination of hardness, strength, weight, feel and durability, make it ideal for those uses.

The Newtown Forest Association will plant offspring of the winning tree on a spot of land on one of its 100-plus acres of land in Newtown. It will also offer other trees to Newtown residents to plant on their own land. The NFA is a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers.

Mr Carmichael is one of just a handful of tree experts who actually climb trees to rescue stray pets. He says many tree services start out rescuing animals but usually stop once someone gets bitten.