The Baltimore Sun called the Wye Oak “a symbol of all that is noble in ancient and honored trees, ...a battered giant from out of the mists of history which still resides among us.” At approximately 450 years of age, the giant fell in a storm on June 6, 2002. As America’s largest white oak, the Wye Oak inspired State Forester F. W. Besley to found the Big Tree Champion Program in 1925, a program later adopted across the nation. To commemorate the Wye Oak’s legacy and celebrate 100 years of forestry in Maryland, the Maryland Forest Service planted and dedicated a clone seedling at Wye Oak State Park on June 6, 2006.