State Champion Paper Birch is January Tree of the Month

This State Champion tree is on the Illinois Big Tree Register

A Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) located at Dahlquist Park, 3303 Oak Grove Ave. in Rockford is the new Illinois State Champion and is being recognized as the 2026 January Tree of the Month through NLI’s Legacy Tree Program. This Paper Birch is 60 feet high, has an average crown spread of 66.5 feet and a circumference of 98.6 inches (8.5 feet). The measurements were confirmed by Illinois Big Tree Register official, Justin Vozzo, in November 2025.

This Champion tree was nominated for the Legacy Tree Program by Dan Erwin, Manager and Curator of Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens, Rockford Park District. He said, “It really is impressive to see a Paper Birch tree in Rockford that was able to resist bronze birch borers, storms, and floods for decades to reach this magnificent size. It is pretty great to think of all the park visitors that have walked, played, and rested in the shade of this majestic tree over the years.”

Paper Birch is a beloved tree of the Northwoods where its exfoliating white bark etched in black and with horizontal streaks is iconic. This beautiful bark is leather-like and can be used as a sort of paper to etch on, or create other items like baskets. The bark is also water tight and was often used by Indigenous Peoples for canoes – so another name for the tree is “Canoe” Birch. The tree grows native southward into Illinois – along Lake Michigan in Northeastern Illinois and in the Driftless Area of Northwestern Illinois. It was not locally native at settlement to the Rockford area but was widely planted as an ornamental.

Birch trees have very high wildlife value so are excellent trees to grow in a Nature-friendly landscape. They have flowers that are either male or female, the male flowers are pendant, string-like catkins that expand in spring and turn golden yellow when releasing pollen at bloom time. The female flowers are far less showy but form tufts of seed clusters that hang into winter. The seeds are a feast for many songbirds, a favorite of goldfinches, siskins and the winter Redpoll that only periodically spreads this far south when seed crops “up north” fail. Birches are also host to a broad diversity of insects so thus support the web of life well.

Paper Birch is often multi-trunked and does become a canopy tree over 50-feet tall. It usually turns a nice yellow in fall. It is often bought as a clump of trees though can be more striking when groups or groves of single trunk trees are planted together – even mixing and matching other species of birch for dramatic winter landscape effect.

Paper Birch, is susceptible to a native borer insect related to the dreaded imported emerald ash borer (EAB) that has destroyed our native ash trees. It is the Bronze Birch Borer (BBB) and it attacks sick or stressed Paper Birch trees. Most Paper Birch in the region have succumbed to BBB but some Paper Birch are quite immune including this tree and its neighbor. Wild trees in the Driftless Area also seem immune, growing on hot, south facing rocky bluffs, but apparently happy. Paper Birch is now shunned for planting but there are some selections like ‘Prairie Dream’ and ‘Oasis’ that are resistant to the borer. Paper Birch is naturally not a long-lived tree, being a tree that invades a disturbed area after a storm, fire, or logging and is gradually replaced in a natural setting by longer lived trees like Sugar Maples, Northern Red Oak and Eastern White Pine.

Background Information:

Natural Land Institute launched the Legacy Tree Program in January 2024. Anyone may nominate a tree on private or public land from NLI’s 12 county region. To see monthly stories, for more information and a nomination form visit: https://www.naturalland.org/nlis-legacy-tree-program-january/ or call 815/964-6666. NLI, an accredited land trust, is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit land conservation organization based in Rockford, IL and has protected 19,000 acres of natural land in Illinois since 1958. NLI’s mission is to create an enduring legacy of natural land in northern Illinois for people, plants and animals. For more information and to donate visit: www.NaturalLand.org.