Buckley, MI

Four years ago, the Champion Tree Project was established by David Milarul as an effort to clone the nation's largest and oldest trees based on the theory that they have superior genes.

This spring, the first champion clones will be planted in arboretums, on college campuses, in parks and in botanical gardens. Eventually, project leaders want to establish living catalogs of these super trees for research. They hope to eventually produce enough clones to populate forests with hardy, disease-resistant specimens. However, critics argue that forests with many genetically identical trees would be extremely susceptible to a sudden attack from an insect or disease.

A national champion tree registry has been kept since 1940. The designation is based on a point system that considers height, trunk circumference and reach of outermost branches. For more information visit www.championtrees.org.