World Champion Pin Oak Tree Succumbs To Oak Wilt Disease

One of the largest oak trees in the world has succumbed to oak wilt disease on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus.

The massive northern pin oak was 92 feet tall with an 80-foot-wide crown and a circumference of 4.4 feet, and had been growing since 1894.

The tree was considered to be the world champion of its kind, until being surpassed in recent years by a tree in Michigan, said UW-Stevens Point Professor of Urban Forestry Richard Hauer.

“It was at one time considered to be the largest northern pin oak tree in the world, based on the diameter, and the crown spread and the tree height,” Hauer said. “It’s just one of these large, important trees that actually dates back almost to the start of the institution here in the late 1800s.”

Hauer said when the tree was cut down last week, the school’s Facebook page was flooded with comments from students and alumni.

“It’s just one of those things students remember about being on campus here, walking by the big old oak tree,” he said.

The tree became infected with oak wilt last June, after it lost a limb in a thunderstorm. Hauer said the tree had to be cut down to keep the disease from spreading.

Oak wilt is a fungal disease that is spread through a tree’s root system or by insects.