This is the final post of our three-part series exploring other Chinkapin Oaks around Michigan. As you’ve seen, the Sterling Heights Chinkapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) on Van Dyke has massive relatives and has earned its place in this family over centuries. It’s important because it requires a shift in our thinking, valuations, and decision-making regarding these critical contributors to our environment.

This post continues from Part I and Part II by exploring the remainder of Chinkapin Oaks on Michigan’s Big Tree Registry (as of this posting).

Chinkapin Oak 2039

In Shiawassee County, Oak #2039 is in Salem Lutheran School’s school play yard in a residential neighborhood of Owosso, Michigan. The location here is approximated because the coordinates in the registry don’t exactly match the address, so it is the largest tree near the address listed as an estimate. It’s been on the registry since 2016 and is likely a local icon on this playground. With a girth of 174 inches (55.4 in. DBH) back on its certification date, it likely existed long before the City of Owosso was established (1859) – and someone took care not to destroy it in this neighborhood.

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Chinkapin Oak 2612

This is our Sterling Chinkapin (Chinquapin) Oak! Since the story on this site is well-known already, let’s take a look at another important aspect of the environment where it lives. City officials have already labeled it “blighted” and “underutilized.” This particular view shows the oak and the surrounding floodplain designations, which are color-coded to designate the different areas of flood risk.

This view also has an overlay of the property boundaries (yellow + pink outlines)—the full 10.198-acre city-owned parcel. Pay close attention to the red-hashed area—this marks the High-Risk Area Floodway (aka. FEMA floodway). NOTHING can be built or dug up in this red-hashed area—Michigan State Law protects the floodway as a critical part of the Clinton River’s riverine flood zone infrastructure.

According to the site plans voted on and approved in July/August 2024, the yellow outlined area is proposed to be entirely clear-cut, including our majestic tree, 13 other landmark trees, and anything else that gets in the way. It includes the building for the proposed Chaldean Community Center Phase 2 + all the land that needs to be cleared for the cut-and-fill operations to develop in a floodplain to raise the building. Basically, dig a big hole to get the dirt to lift the building near the road. The Pink outlined area is the portion of the property within the floodway zone and cannot be developed.

So why is it important to understand this? In various statements to the public and answers to emails, the City of Sterling Heights officials and members of the Sterling Heights Planning Commission have mentioned they are “preserving 8 acres” or “the vast majority” of this site.

They absolutely are NOT.

The approved plan is to clearcut everything they can clearcut (the yellow outline) up to the red-hashed area – about 60% of the total parcel. It will turn into a bulldozed, compacted, and demolished construction site. (if permits to destroy the existing wetlands are secured – not yet!). The remaining appx. 40% — in the red-hashed / pink outline areas along the river — is already protected by the State of Michigan.

It likely extends beyond that when you consider the six regulated wetlands (see timeline) around the treeline’s borders. Even if the land was privately owned, it could not be developed in the pink-outlined area.

If you want to know what that land will look like around the Sterling Oak, you must look at the cleared view of the Phase 1 development to the south on Van Dyke as a preview.

So, if you hear this line about how much “preservation” there is – call them out. It simply isn’t true – and the published plans back it up. Maybe the public isn’t expected to look so closely?

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Chinkapin Oak 2032

Oak 2032 is located by a roadside in a heavy agricultural area—quite frankly, it is surprising it’s lasted all this time. Again, someone must have found it special enough to preserve despite all of the farmland around it. It’s in southwestern Michigan, Allegan County, near the small town of Hopkins, Michigan. It was added to the registry in April of 2024 with a girth a bit larger than our Sterling Oak at 180 inches, shorter, and a smaller crown spread.

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Chinkapin Oak 2295

Located in the western area of Grand Rapids, Chinkapin 2295 lives at the edge of a city park — Lincoln Park. It was highlighted in a Facebook post by Friends of Grand Rapids Parks in 2020 and has been in the register since November 2020. The City of Grand Rapids provides a history of the park as: “The City purchased land for Lincoln Park for $11,000 in 1873 and named the park for President Abraham Lincoln. The park was best known for its beautiful trees and accessibility for the city’s West Siders.”

Imagine that – this oak was likely there when it was named after Abraham Lincoln, and a cousin was also standing in Sterling Heights at the same time! Now, it is a Grand Rapids local icon — it could have a parallel one in Sterling Heights!

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Chinkapin Oak 2196

Nestled away in a private woodland in Ypsilanti, Oak 2196 also likes its privacy, as do its landowners. A smaller cousin of our Sterling Oak when it was added to the registry in 2019, it may be larger by now. It’s another notable tree found in Washtenaw County, known for taking pride in its big trees, such as in this nice article by Ben Connor Barrie, in Second Wave Media: How to find Washtenaw County’s State and National Champion Trees (archive).

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This concludes a brief look at all the current Chinkapin Oaks in the Michigan Big Tree Registry as of this publication date, including the relatives of our local Chinkapin mitig, amongst the biggest in the state. To the best of our knowledge, all of these trees appear relatively safe, except tree #2229 in Lenawee County, which was already noted to be in poor health and is challenging to discern from current satellite imagery. Additionally, our tree in Sterling Heights, Macomb County, faces danger due to an approved development plan and problematic statements from the city.

Reviewing these trees shows how other municipalities host them and how the media honors, celebrates, and promotes having state and national champions in their neighborhoods. They represent a changing commitment and priority to preservation and conservation, even in some highly developed areas.

It begins with a choice, the right mindset, and appropriate representation that reflects the public interest in saving these big trees.

Revised: 3/15/2025 for clarity and to add floodplain overlay graphic