R. Michael Semple / Howland Community News David Pack of Howland holds walnuts while standing next to a giant black walnut tree.

HOWLAND — It’s avoided the chopping block and survived three lightning strikes over the past 150 years. It’s so rare, there’s even a group dedicated to helping it grow. And it’s hard to miss the more than nine story high, five foot wide black walnut tree growing in a development off of North Road. “A tree that big ... to see that in a black walnut, there’s just nothing close to this,” said David Pack, self-pronounced environmentalist and founder of the Ohio Champion Black Walnut Group. Saturday, that group, along with the Whispering Meadows Condominium Association, hopes to raise money to make sure the tree follows its past roots. After a collection there last weekend, proceeds from aluminum cans taken to the Howland-Trumbull Recycling Center will go toward that goal. According to Pack, the tree was nominated with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in 2004. The state then confirmed it was the state champion as far as size.