Film explores history of state’s largest trees
A new documentary explores the beauty, natural wonder and majesty of the state’s largest trees and a local artist’s journey of artfully preserving them for years to come.
The original 60- minute documentary “Champion Trees,” from the Arkansas Educational Television Network, looks at how the trees influence and inspire the people around them, according to a news release.
The film premieres at 7 p. m. March 3 on AETN and highlights 19 trees in 15 Arkansas communities.
“Once you stand underneath the huge limbs of these beautiful trees, you will never again see trees as just trees,” Linda Palmer, of Hot Springs, told The SentinelRecord.
Palmer’s ultimate goal is to interpret each tree according to the season of observation, location, historic context and human connection, the news release said.
She has relished a lifetime of looking at and loving trees. Growing up on a farm in Oklahoma, her imagination grew in her playground outdoors.
“Right in front of the house, which we called the woods, I spent hours under the trees daydreaming, playing how children do, making up songs and singing to the trees. So they have always been magical to me,” she said.
Thirty years ago, as she pursued art, trees were an important part of her work.
So it was uplifting for her, more recently, to discover the Arkansas State Champion Tree list that is updated annually. Arkansas’s Champion Tree program, managed by the Arkansas Forestry Commission, recognizes those trees — planted by nature or individuals — that are the largest of each species in the state.
“When I found out about the champion tree list, I don’t even know the word to say. It was just wonderful. I knew exactly, when I looked at that list, what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to find these trees and capture as many of them as I could,” Palmer said.
She began the project in 2007 and, to date, has driven nearly 10,000 miles to photograph, document and artistically interpret the trees in colored pencil drawings. She and her friend, Lynda Kass, would make a fun day trip out of locating one.
“Tree hunts we call it,” Palmer said.
“It’s just an awesome thing when you walk up and see one. Each tree has its special properties. That is what I have tried to do with my drawings, zero in on what is really interesting and special about that tree. I think of them as tree portraits. When doing a portrait of someone, you want to capture their essence, you want to capture their personality and something that really makes them stand out, something that makes them special. That’s the way I have approached the trees.”
She has photographed 56 champion trees and has completed 20 large colored pencil drawings of the 121 giants that are presently on the champion tree list.
Jack Culpepper, of Lake Hamilton, is among the individuals featured in the documentary. A stone mason, he cuts rock plaques that mark the site of the trees, their common name and scientific name. “The Ross Foundation gave a grant to be able to buy the bronze plaques and have them cut into these stones. Foresters go out and pick the stones up and take them out to these trees and place these big rocks with the bronze plaques on them,” Palmer said.
AETN Executive Producer Carole Adornetto said the film is about “the reverence these centuries- old trees can evoke in all who see them.
“‘ Champion Trees’ is really a love story told with exquisite cinematography and heartfelt personal experiences recounted by people who have protected these magnificent trees, in some cases, planted in their own backyards,” she said.
Award- winning cinematographer Gabe Mayhan captured “the heart and majesty of these beautiful trees,” Palmer said.
“As a child, I knew trees were magical,” she said.
“But as an adult, as I am learning more about how important they are to humanity and to the earth, I’m seeing how truly magical they are. I like to give credit to the creator of the trees. God has given us such a gift and that’s the way I like to think of it.”
Major funding for “Champion Trees” was provided by the Morris Foundation, Horace C. Cabe Foundation, Windgate Charitable Foundation and Richard W. Averill Foundation. Additional funding was provided by Munro Foundation, C. Louis & Mary C. Cabe Foundation, Olds Foundation, The Jane Howard Foundation, CarCo International and M/ M Franklin Hawkins.