As American beech trees go, the one in Jim Berman and Liz Bryant’s backyard is a whopper. At a circumference of 210.5 inches at the base, it’s officially the largest of its species in Indiana.
“It is the largest American beech in the entire state. It’s so cool,” city arborist Matt McBain said.
This tree is listed on the Indiana Department of Natural Resources registry of big trees, viewable online. Seven of the trees – yellow birch, northern catalpa, northern white cedar, white (American) elm, northern pin oak and tulip tree, along with the American beech – are in Porter County.
Only native trees can join the big tree registry, leaving the owners of large invasive species disappointed.
The Berman and Bryant tree is 102.7 feet high with an average crown span of 78.7 feet. And it’s close to the foundation of a historical home Berman and Bryant plan to spend their retirement years in.
The tree was probably a young whippersnapper when the city was founded in 1836, McBain figures.
The house on Franklin Street dates to 1870, according to the Porter County Assessor’s website. It was built by Col. Mark DeMotte, founder and first dean of the Valparaiso University School of Law, Berman said. DeMotte’s tenure at VU was interrupted by his military service in the Civil War.
DeMotte was later elected to Congress, then appointed Valparaiso’s postmaster by President Abraham Lincoln. He later retired to present-day DeMotte, named in his honor, Berman said.
The house is undergoing extensive renovations. “I can show you pictures where I was standing in the basement and could see the roofline,” Berman said as he searched for the photo on his phone.
Berman and Bryant have listed the nearby Valparaiso Inn for sale in preparation for their move to the home shaded by the giant tree.
“We decided to slow down,” Berman said. He’s been a psychotherapist for 34 years. Bryant, a retired English professor at Purdue Northwest in Hammond, “wrote more books than I can carry,” Berman said.
The stately American beech tree, meanwhile, has stood sentinel over the downtown Valparaiso home and the neighborhood.
Determining the exact age of the tree could be done in one of two ways, McBain said. One is to cut it down and count the rings. A less destructive way would be to drill into the tree and take a core sample.
“You could see droughts, you could see fires, you could see so much through the rings,” McBain said.
In the city, tree rings are narrower than those of their country cousins, indicating the shortage of water and nutrients compared to rural areas, he said.
The American beech has a Latin alias, Fagus grandifolia.
McBain learned about the tree when Berman spotted him inspecting trees in the neighborhood’s rights of way. McBain visited the home after he got off work to check it out.
“When I stood next to it with Jim, I thought, oh my gosh, this tree is so much bigger than I thought,” McBain thought. There are a lot of tall trees in the older neighborhood, so just glancing at the height wouldn’t give away the girth.
Would-be beech-goers would be disappointed because the tree is in the home’s backyard, hidden behind a fence. The city discourages trespassing on private property.
McBain offered pointers about trees like this for other homeowners with mature trees.
It’s close to the house, which would normally be a concern because of the root system, but this beech tree doesn’t seem to be showing any ill effects, he said.
American beech trees send down a taproot, but after about 25 to 30 years, more shallow roots draw the nutrients, leaving the taproot’s function to be structural rather than nutritional.
The tree has buttress roots, adding to the visible support. “The roots aren’t nearly as deep as you think they are. A lot of people think it’s a mirror image (of the visible part of the tree), but it’s absolutely not,” McBain said.
The roots and leaves are useful for Berman, Bryant and the house next door.
“This, in a five-year period, will intercept about 26,000 gallons of water,” McBain said. “They take up the water in runoff.” That helps with stormwater management.
Trees like this one also provide “hundreds of hundreds of pounds in carbon sequestration,” he said, not releasing the carbon until the tree decomposes or is burned.
The leaves provide shade, reducing the need for air conditioning, but also help reduce the volume of water hitting the ground, soaking up some of the rain.
What homeowners need to watch for, McBain said, is that the runoff from roofs doesn’t harm the tree. Draining a swimming pool or hot tub would have to be done carefully, too, to avoid chlorine and other chemicals from harming a tree.
A few lightning rods in a tree this size wouldn’t be a bad idea, either, with copper wire running down the tree to a grounding rod, protecting the tree from lightning, McBain said.
River rock, often used for landscaping, shouldn’t be placed near a tree. The rocks can get superheated during the day and retain their heat at night.
Don’t let branches decay near the base of the tree, either, because that could lead to a diseased tree. Diseased trees aren’t healed; rather, they seal off the diseased part, McBain said. The Berman and Bryant tree has a few visible scars.
“It’s really amazing that this tree has lived as long as it has since these are sensitive trees,” McBain said.
If you’re planning to build near a tree, have the tree evaluated first by a certified arborist. There are many in the area.
“Often, when you damage the roots to trees, especially the feeder roots, the trees aren’t going to tell you that until the following year or the year after,” McBain said. “Luckily, this soil has not been disturbed for many, many years.”
“Hopefully, your neighbors are onboard” and understand the importance of it, he said. If they did a major excavation, that could dramatically affect the tree that partially overhangs their property.
Proper pruning techniques are important. McBain hopes to teach the public about them.
“I just was absolutely thrilled when I learned you were the owner of the tree and appreciate the historical value of the tree,” McBain told Berman.
For their part, Berman and Bryant have a reason to be prejudiced against trees, but Berman doesn’t hold a grudge after a tree crushed one of their cars on Bryant’s birthday nine years ago.
Doug Ross is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
