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Show Dixie Forest lispen Holds World's Record Few poople realize it, but a quaking aspen on the Dixie Na- j tional Forest ' holds the world record for size. j The champion which was dis- j covered by Carl Swanson and Gordon Stevens, foresters for the Dixie National Forest, measures nine feet 10 inches around the trunk at a point four feet above the ground level. No question about the size this rough-barked, well-initialed monarch has been declared grand champion of the United States for its species by the American Forestry Association. Listed in the Association's Social Kccister of Big Trees, the monster mon-ster challenges all comers, and at the moment is not quaking in the least. The new champion stands about 12 miles southeast of Cedar Ce-dar City on the Kolob Plateau road. Its discovery came about "accidentally on purpose." About one year ago, James D. Curtis, silviculturist with the In-termountain In-termountain Experiment Station in Boise requested that personnel person-nel of the Dixie re-measure an aspen he had discovered there in 1947. Curtis said the tree had reigned supreme in the Register since that time, and had now been challenged by a contestant from Wisconsin. In February Foresters Swanson Swan-son and Stevens went to the area as requested but looked In vain for the aspen in question. Assuming As-suming the tree had been removed, remov-ed, the employees scouted out another with an even larger circumference cir-cumference and sent the measurements mea-surements to Curtis. Curtis submitted sub-mitted the same to the Ameriran Forestry Association and has drawn another winner. Plans are now being made by the Dixie Forest Service to identify iden-tify the tree for all to see and tests this summer are expected to be run to determine the age. Proxi.r.Uy to the road makes it another special feature of the Dixie National Forest. |