Even with an average crown spread of 106 feet, it is unlikely that a state champion cottonwood tree — it ranks No. 2 — casts its shade a quarter of a mile, the rough distance from it to a $1 million boathouse that Drake University wants to build for its rowing team. Des Moines Parks and Recreation Director Ben Page provided the estimate. According to state records, the tree is 100 yards northeast of the southeast parking lot at Prospect Park. The boathouse will be about the distance of three football fields away from that. Another super-sized cottonwood in the park is just a little smaller than the prize-winning poplar. Page suggested that the smaller tree might have grown from seeds shed by the champ. Whatever the case, architects and contractors have been asked to make certain the championship tree, standing 124 feet tall and with a circumference of slightly more than 25 feet, doesn’t get damaged during construction of the boathouse. Read more