This article was originally written for the Loup Lines column by Alan Bartels, Lower Loup Natural Resources District Information & Education Coordinator.

LOUP LINES
Volume 47, No. 4 (April 2026)

For Nebraskans of my generation, it may seem that the mighty cottonwood tree has always been a revered symbol of our state. But some readers of this column will remember that this has not always been the case.

It has only been since 1972 that Populus deltoides, the eastern cottonwood tree, has been the official Nebraska State Tree. Before that it was the American elm tree. The Nebraska Legislature named the elm as our state tree back in 1937. Why the change?

When Dutch Elm Disease reached Nebraska beginning in the 1960s it unleashed devastation on Nebraska’s American elm trees. Along some city streets, where elms had been planted in high densities, those streets were left treeless after the fungus moved from tree to tree. That reminds me of what Lincoln and other Nebraska communities (and communities elsewhere in the United States) have experienced with the arrival of the emerald ash borer.

Lesson learned? Maybe. Monocultures of plants – whether it is trees or crops or other plants – are always at risk of disease when conditions are right. In areas where the plant community is healthy and diverse, diseases and predators that specialize on a single species have less impact.

Dutch Elm Disease is still with us. Thankfully, some of Nebraska’s American elm’s survived the plague, and the development of disease-resistant cultivars have allowed Nebraskans to again enjoy elms across the landscape.

But the mighty eastern cottonwood remains king in Nebraska. Soon, the air will fill with waves of floating cotton-like cottonwood seeds that will form airy drifts once they settle to the ground.

I remember that cotton from when I was a child. My friends and I fished Pibel Lake in Wheeler County often in the late spring and early summer. For the life of me, I don’t remember any stringers full of keepers or any giant fish that were landed. What I do recall is the frustration of picking that “cotton” off our lines as we reeled in our bare hooks that had been robbed by bluegills and turtles. And every time I missed a piece of that summer snow and it got into the reel, I had to take the time to tear the darn thing apart – ugh!

Speaking of cottonwoods and Pibel Lake, those of us here at the Lower Loup NRD were pretty happy when a hefty eastern cottonwood tree at the northeast corner of the lake was named Nebraska’s official champion for that species. And, it is the National Champion eastern cottonwood, too. Considering that the eastern cottonwood only inhabits parts of the United States and Canada, and that the trunk of the old girl at Pibel Lake is more than 12 feet bigger around than Canada’s champion cottonwood, it is safe to say that the Pibel Lake tree is the largest known eastern cottonwood tree on the planet!

That tree at the Lower Loup NRD’s Pibel Lake Recreation Area is Nebraska’s only title holder on the national tree register, and that includes more than 500 species. I guess that alone makes it worth picking a little cotton off of my fishing line come springtime.

To visit the National Champion eastern cottonwood tree at the Lower Loup NRD’s Pibel Lake Recreation Area, walk over the pedestrian bridge at the north end of the lake. Follow the mowed trail to the south/southeast. The barked behemoth stands in a cluster of surrounding trees and is marked with a sign.