Anyone driving into Yaquina Bay State Park, in Newport, Oregon, will see a majestic Sitka spruce standing in the middle of the road, overlooking the ocean.

It’s known as the Yaquina Muscle Tree, because its beefy branches stick out like a flexing bodybuilder. For generations, people have gotten married next to it, taken graduation pictures underneath it, and otherwise just appreciated the beloved, 150-year-old evergreen.

But recently it’s had some issues, and officials are trying to figure out what to do with it. It started when the tree sprouted a big, flat, red and yellow mushroom.

“A park ranger saw these fruiting bodies and notified me,” said Oregon State Parks arborist Kathryn Charlton.

Then during a storm last winter, a large, diseased branch broke off. If anyone had been underneath it, they could have been seriously injured or killed.

Charlton recognized the red and yellow fungus as dyer’s polypore or “velvet top” fungus.

“It’s also commonly called a cow pie fungus because when it dies back, it turns dark brown and looks like a cow patty,” Charlton said.

Scientifically it’s known as phaeolus schweinitzii. The spores get into the roots of the tree, allowing the fungus to spread upward and rot the wood until the tree can no longer stand.

Charlton drilled some core samples, to see how much healthy wood remained, and she found it was just about 12%. So something needed to be done.

But because the Muscle Tree is so beloved, the parks department didn’t just want to cut it down. Instead, they posted an online survey to ask the community what to do.

“One suggestion was to create a cool wood sculpture from the base of the tree,” Charlton said. Depending on how much decay is in there, that might not actually work.”

“Another option is to chop it down completely. And then another option that we’re working through is to donate the logs to a local watershed association … to provide habitat for fish.”

Yet another suggestion is to cut and display a big slice of the tree, with markers indicating what was happening while each of the approximately 150 annual tree rings were growing.

Landscape designer Eileen Stark said the best option is to chop off the branches and create a “snag.” That is a dead, or dying, tree that remains standing.

“Small mammals, reptiles, amphibians like tree frogs, and even some butterflies will roost under a snag’s loose bark, as well as bats,” Stark said.

She likens a snag to a downed log in the forest, which can support all kinds of fungi and critters. Soft, decaying wood in a snag can do the same.

Also, a woodpecker or an amphibian can easily dig out that soft wood to make a home. And unlike on a log, a snag habitat is high off the ground where it’s safer and drier.

Stark said few people understand the value of a snag. They tend to either want to see a full, healthy tree, or to cut a diseased tree down to make way for a new one.

“I think it’s mostly an aesthetic thing,” Stark said.

“People think dead and dying trees don’t look nice. They want to have a nice vibrant one in place. But they are just absolutely vital to wildlife. There’s a real huge shortage of snags.”

Snags can happen naturally by disease, lightning, drought and old age. But historically humans haven’t appreciated them, which is why Stark thinks turning the Muscle Tree into a snag would help underline their importance.

Burke Martin, the manager at Yaquina Bay State Park, will help decide the future of the Muscle Tree, and said it’s a hard decision.

“The intention was not to just make a bigger paved area,” Martin said. “We’re trying to figure out a way to make an area where people can remember the tree.”

At about 150 years old, the Muscle Tree has watched over the city since about the time it was turned into a seaside resort and named Newport.

“It’s such an iconic part of the park,” said Ashley Barger, who manages the Wind Rift art gallery in Newport “To drive around it is so special.”

A decision on the future of the muscle tree is expected this June.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/10/oregon-deciding-fate-of-150-year-old-yaquina-muscle-tree-in-newport/