The Wye was a mighty oak before a June storm snapped its trunk.
Now, the leaves of the 460-year-old Eastern Shore icon are making mighty fine jewelry and keepsakes.
In the four months since the massive white oak toppled, state officials have worked with artisans to come up with elegant oak leaf pins and copper-plated decorative leaves.
"We wanted to have something available to the people of Maryland in time for the holidays," says Carolyn Watson, the assistant secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.
Well, everything in that first batch is gone, snapped up faster than crabs at Jimmy Cantler's. But that sets the table for another round of Wye memorabilia.
"People thought we were crazy to take on this project, but this proves the potential of these things," Watson says.
It should be noted that without quick response from state employees in June, there wouldn't be any rest of the tree to discuss. They swooped in and rescued almost every scrap of oak before highway crews with chain saws and shredders reduced it to pulp.
"This was not a clean-up effort, it was a preservation effort. No piece of the tree was considered trash," says Watson. "The highway guys thought we were nuts, absolutely nuts."
The inventory includes 49 large trash bags of leaves, 140 chunks of wood, 82 rough-cut boards and 80 cubic yards of schmutz - boughs, chips and other wood crud. That doesn't sound like a lot for a tree that big, but unfortunately, the Wye Oak's age translated into a lot of twisted and rotten wood.
Still, every last piece has been cataloged and photographed to ensure that consumers get authentic Wye Oak products.
"What is critical to the success of the project is the integrity of it. We have chain of custody. We have a federally protected Wye Oak logo," Watson says.
While the initial batch of keepsakes is gone, ideas from citizens on what to do with the rest of the 96-foot-tall tree are plentiful. More than 500 people sent in their thoughts.
The suggestions on using the wood have been whittled down to 43, with 13 of them labeled "best qualified." They range from establishing traveling educational displays to building a State House podium with the Maryland seal.
One of the niftiest ideas is from the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury, which has suggested turning over two pieces of wood to a world-renowned bird carver. One finished piece would be displayed in the museum and the other would go back to the state for display or auction.
An idea not on the list, but terrific just the same, was e-mailed to me by fellow outdoors writer Alan Clemons of the Huntsville Times of Alabama. He suggested turning some of the wood into duck and turkey calls to be auctioned off.
Within the next several days, the state will seek bids from individuals and groups that would like to be the trustee of the Wye Oak materials.
"We have never been faced with a project like this. There's no mechanism in the state to handle the process. It's been a beast," says Watson. "What we're looking for is one vendor, probably a non-profit, to handle the disposition of the [wood]."
The other big question is what happens to the main trunk, which is being stored in a Kent Island warehouse.
The "bole" is 60 feet long, 21 feet around and weighs 30 tons. The report on its condition notes: "It is uncertain how much of the trunk contains good wood. Much of the base of the tree shows extensive rot from fungus."
The folks in Wye Mills would like to have it back, and there are lots of folks who would like a cross section of it.
The advisory committee is expected to make a decision at its meeting Friday.
Political punch
It's nice to be wanted. Just ask Maryland sportsmen.
For the first time in forever, both gubernatorial candidates have reached out to the folks who buy the fishing and hunting licenses.
In the past 10 days, first Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and then Robert Ehrlich sent open letters to sportsmen, pledging their undying love and support. The only thing missing was a mint on the pillow.
"Regardless of who people vote for, it's awesome that both candidates are reaching out and counting sportsmen once again as citizens of Maryland," says Steve Huettner, president of the 15,000-member Maryland Sportsmen's Association.
To read the letters and the candidate survey, go to www.marylandsportsmen.org. A cynic might note that the wooing came days before the election, with Townsend and Ehrlich locked in a tight contest.
Someone taking the high road (that's me, for a change) would counter that other politicians involved in squeakers in recent years ignored the huge block of votes sportsmen represent. Last year, the state issued 121,800 resident hunting licenses, 172,671 bay sportfishing licenses and 160,459 non-tidal licenses. Even with some folks buying multiple licenses, the total is still in six figures.
But growth has been accompanied by growing pains, as became evident last week after a political rally in Cecil County for Townsend that attracted some of the state's leading sportsmen.
I wrote an article that talked about how Democratic politicians are wooing sportsmen and made mention of some of the men who stood behind Townsend to personally show their support. I mentioned their organizational ties as a way to explain to non-outdoors readers who the men are.
Rich Novotny and Bruno Vasta, the executive director and president of the Maryland Saltwater Sportsfishermen's Association, put their names on a "Sportsmen for Kathleen Kennedy Townsend" letter. Both men spoke highly of her. But neither one said the MSSA was endorsing her.
Tim Lambert, immediate past president of the Maryland Sportsmen's Association, didn't sign the letter, but did make a speech praising Townsend.
Some sportsmen who read that article cruised right over the part that said individuals, not the groups, endorsed her. Blame me, I buried it in the first sentence of the story.
These unhappy readers bombarded me, Novotny, Huettner and others, threatening to quit the organizations, get someone fired or put us on the PETA mailing list.
The Recreational Fishing Alliance, organizer of the rally, acknowledges it could have been more explicit. The rally-goers admit they were a little naive.
Chalk it up to a rookie mistake. But for sportsmen long overlooked in the game of politics, this election marks their entry into the big leagues.