Life, Washougal 
The Washington State University Master Gardener Program has selected a tulip tree at Washougal’s Parker’s Landing Historical Park to join its Clark County Heritage Tree program, which recognizes “trees of significance” in unincorporated Clark County.
The 107-foot tree grows 2 to 3 feet annually near the location of the historic Van Vleet home, now the Van Vleet Plaza. Parkersville National Historic Site Advisory Committee members estimate that it was planted in the 1950s.
“The park’s tulip tree qualified for the heritage distinction (because it) is in the Parkersville national, state and county registered historic and heritage site,” according to a news release. “Today, the tree stands at a significant size and provides beauty and shade for park visitor enjoyment.”
According to the program’s website, heritage status may be granted to a single tree if it has a diameter of at least 36 inches, is located in a “special” site, has a documented age or relation to a historical event, and is an unusual species for the area; and to a grove if it is mature, contains trees that are distinctive due to size, condition, species or age, associated with a historical event, and has a relationship with a natural resource.
Often long-lived and large in size, heritage trees “may serve as living markers of times gone by or notable places, be associated with historic persons or events, or be unusual by their presence in this part of the world,” according to the program’s website.
