From the 1960s through the 1980s, sixth-graders in the Highline School District came home from their week at Camp Waskowitz with a fir seedling to plant in their yards as a reminder of lessons about forestry and conservation. Many of those trees still dot our landscape and have become a significant part of our local urban forest.

Now the Highline Historical Society and the Waskowitz Foundation are teaming up to co-sponsor a contest to identify the biggest Waskowitz tree still growing in our area. If you know of a Waskowitz tree and would like to enter the contest, you’ll find an entry form at www.highlinehistory.org. The form includes space for you to tell the story of this tree and how it has grown. Contest entry fee is $5. Submission deadline is September 1, 2014.

The business sponsor of this contest is Emerald Tree Service, and students in the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forestry Sciences will do the final judging. The owner of the winning tree and the student or family who planted the tree each will receive a plaque to commemorate this achievement, along with the bragging rights this honor brings.