• Find Us
  • Contact Us
  • Become a Customer
  • Pay Your Bill
logologologologo
(800) 366-0200
  • Fuels
    • Quality Fuel Products
      • Detergent Gasoline
      • BOSS Diesel
      • Renewable Fuels
    • Fuel Contracting
    • Wholesale Fuels
    • Fuel & Oil Analysis
    • Petro-Card 24
    • Credit Cards
    • Become a Customer
  • Propane
    • For Your Home
      • Furnaces & Boilers
      • Water Heating
      • Residential Generators
      • Appliances
      • Fireplaces
      • Outdoor Living
    • For Your Farm
      • Grain Drying
      • Irrigation
      • Poultry House Heating & Sanitation
      • Livestock Barn Heating
      • Agriculture Generators
    • For Your Business
      • Construction
      • Forklifts & Material Handling
      • Landscaping
      • Greenhouses & Nurseries
      • Commercial Heating & Cooking
    • Propane Programs
    • Tank Options
    • Tank Leasing & Maintenance
    • Propane Safety
    • Become a Customer
  • Oils & Lubricants
    • Motor & Engine Oils
    • Tractor, Transmission & Torque Fluids
    • Greases
    • Industrial Oils
    • Other Products
    • Limited Warranty Program
    • Fuel & Oil Analysis
    • Lube Advisor
  • Solar
  • Retail
    • Big O Tires
    • Break Time
    • Gift Cards
    • Credit Cards
    • Become a Customer
  • About Us
    • Co-op Membership
    • Community Involvement
    • Core Values
    • Sustainability Values
    • Board of Directors
    • Executive Team
    • News
  • Careers
    • Current Openings
    • Hiring Process
    • Corporate Offices
    • MFA Oil Field Locations
    • Break Time
    • Big O Tires
  • Become a Customer
    • Request More Information
    • Customer Agreement
  • Fuels
    • Quality Fuel Products
      • Detergent Gasoline
      • BOSS Diesel
      • Renewable Fuels
    • Fuel Contracting
    • Wholesale Fuels
    • Fuel & Oil Analysis
    • Petro-Card 24
    • Credit Cards
    • Become a Customer
  • Propane
    • For Your Home
      • Furnaces & Boilers
      • Water Heating
      • Residential Generators
      • Appliances
      • Fireplaces
      • Outdoor Living
    • For Your Farm
      • Grain Drying
      • Irrigation
      • Poultry House Heating & Sanitation
      • Livestock Barn Heating
      • Agriculture Generators
    • For Your Business
      • Construction
      • Forklifts & Material Handling
      • Landscaping
      • Greenhouses & Nurseries
      • Commercial Heating & Cooking
    • Propane Programs
    • Tank Options
    • Tank Leasing & Maintenance
    • Propane Safety
    • Become a Customer
  • Oils & Lubricants
    • Motor & Engine Oils
    • Tractor, Transmission & Torque Fluids
    • Greases
    • Industrial Oils
    • Other Products
    • Limited Warranty Program
    • Fuel & Oil Analysis
    • Lube Advisor
  • Solar
  • Retail
    • Big O Tires
    • Break Time
    • Gift Cards
    • Credit Cards
    • Become a Customer
  • About Us
    • Co-op Membership
    • Community Involvement
    • Core Values
    • Sustainability Values
    • Board of Directors
    • Executive Team
    • News
  • Careers
    • Current Openings
    • Hiring Process
    • Corporate Offices
    • MFA Oil Field Locations
    • Break Time
    • Big O Tires
  • Become a Customer
    • Request More Information
    • Customer Agreement

All News >> Momentum

View the Winter 2021 Momentum Issue

The Big Tree Lives

March 19, 2021

Written By Neal Fandek

FacebookTweetLinkedInPrintEmail

The tree dominates the Boone County river bottom, almost 100 feet tall with a canopy even wider and a nearly 24-foot-wide trunk. 

This is the U.S. co-champion bur oak, aka the Big Tree. It has survived earthquakes, lightning strikes, floods and droughts in its nearly four centuries. It seems impossible that something so massive and seemingly eternal could be fragile.

Yet it is. The oak was struck by lightning and set afire in October, sending firefighters racing to douse the fire with water then biodegradable foam.

Chuck Doss, battalion chief of the Boone County Fire Protection District, was on fire watch when the call came in. He rushed down to find a limb blown off and smoke pouring out of the trunk.

“I saw a pretty good crack that ran from the branch that used to be three-quarters of the way down, blown off into the field and fire deep inside the hollow center of the tree,” he says. “I was a little worried!” Luckily, the firefighters had the fire under control in two hours.

John Sam Williamson, the property owner and an MFA Oil member, is grateful. The land and oak have been in his family since 1835.

“We just got lucky,” he says. “The crown is intact, only a limb blown off. It could have been split. And the cambium (the living part of the tree, where nutrients travel from the roots) is alive.”

He admits the oak is in decline, accelerated by natural disasters like the Flood of 1993, lightning strikes, vandalism and soil compaction. He has partnered with Dr. Christopher Starbuck, MU associate professor emeritus of plant sciences, and the Boone Electric Cooperative as well as other groups to create a plan to protect the tree with, possibly, lights, cameras, berms, barriers or posts.

But Williamson still wants people to enjoy it.

“Every night, people come here for sunsets,” he says. “A lot of people came down for the total solar eclipse and the great conjunction. People who went to college bring their kids down. To fence it off would be wrong.”

How has it lived so long?

The tree is genetically superior, a disease-resistant white oak, which often live for centuries — “And it’s just plain lucky,” Williamson adds. Location is another factor: The alluvial soil is deep so the tree has constant access to water, but the soil is also well-drained.

Starbuck is optimistic about the tree’s survival because the strike follows the path of a previous strike. “The damage seems to be confined to a small percentage of the massive circumference of the trunk,” he says. “I do not believe the strike will cause it to die any time soon. I am pretty certain it will outlive me.”

Williamson and Starbuck say spring will tell them more about the tree’s health.

View More Posts on Similar Topics:

  • Bur Oak
  • The Big Picture
    Our Focus in 2021
    MU Research Looks at Technology to Kill Weeds

    Related Posts

    Soybeans Set to Challenge Corn as U.S. Crop King
    A New Look for Break Time
    How Will the Biden Administration Affect the Energy Market?

    FIND YOUR LOCATION

    MFA Oil Fueled
    MFA Oil’s Digital Newsletter
    Fueled Subscribe

    Receive Updates

    NEWS

    • Digital Newsletters
    • Press Releases
    • Momentum Magazine
    • Market Commentary

    CUSTOMER SERVICE

    • Become a Customer
    • Pay Your Bill
    • Customer Agreement
    • Gift Cards
    • Safety Data Sheets

    GIVING BACK

    • MFA Oil Foundation
    • MFA Foundation
    • Golf Tournament
    • Community Giving

    JOIN MFA OIL

    • Career Opportunities
      • UHC Transparency In Coverage
    • Selling Your Business

    Contact Us

    Copyright © 2022 MFA Oil Company. All rights reserved. Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our Privacy Policy.

    Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

    Email sent!