Champion Trees

[gf beranek]

A beauty for sure

 

[mdvaden]

SNIP ... What champions are in your area that you have seen or encountered?

Here's one that we do not plan to nominate to American Forests to avoid inadvertent leaks from paperwork, whispering, mistakes in articles, etc.. This is a coast redwood. For comparison, Gen. Sherman giant sequoia, the other species, is 1321 points. The largest on on American Forests registry for coast redwood is a tree in Jedediah Smith redwood park, with 1290 points. I don't think the latter has been fully remeasured within the 10 year time period AF used to require. But for the coast redwood shown below, here are numbers for it:

Points = 1359 (Girth 1032 - Height 309.2 - 1/4 Crown 18 .. DBH Diameter 27.38 ft. - Est. age 2700 to 3600 years

A slightly smaller diameter appeared elsewhere for a while, because one of the redwood explorer group cut an imaginary line through part of the trunk. The reason for that was unknown. So the numbers shown above are basically "cut and dried" matter of fact. There is more than one coast redwood, recently found, with over 1350 points. In the photo below, the human subject for scale is standing forward of the trunk's mid-point, so the visual is an accurate representation. This was discovered 2014 in Redwood National and State Parks.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I wonder if that little tree feels intimidated?

 

[Tree09]

I really need to go and see them, it's mind boggling to think a tree is that big lol

 

[Burnham]

That's a magnificent specimen, Mario. Thank you.

 

[rico]

Here's the "Champion" of my parcel. A beautiful Red at the back of my property. Im gonna build my lovely bride an all redwood, old school loggers shack near it. This tree will be the first thing we will see when wake we up everyday!

 

[Burnham]

That's a good looking gal you landed there, Eric. Nice tree, too .

 

[MasterBlaster]

That's outstanding that it's on your land!!!

 

[rico]

That's a good looking gal you landed there, Eric. Nice tree, too .

Thanks Burnham. The best person I have ever meet. She literally saved me from an early grave, or a lifetime of free rent on a 4x8 cell.

 

[treebilly]

 

[forestkeepers]

National Champion Rock Elm

Had the opportunity to chase down two champions today, between stump grinding jobs. The first one is a national champion, but more likely also the world champion, seeing as how the Rock Elm is a Midwestern-native species. While not huge at only 39 ft. height and a 4' circumference, it does have beautiful leaves and bark texture (far and away prettier than the dominant invasive replacement "Mongolian" Elms).

Common Name Elm, rock
Latin Name Ulmus thomasii
Year Measured 2013
Circumference (feet) 4.3
Circumference Height (feet) 4.5
Height (feet) 39
Crown (feet) 34
Total Points 99
Co-Champion No
Champion National Champion
County Douglas

 

[forestkeepers]

KS State Champion: Shagbark Hickory

Common Name Hickory, shagbark
Latin Name Carya ovata
Year Measured 2012
Circumference (feet) 8.8
Circumference Height (feet) 4.5
Height (feet) 90
Crown (feet) 66
Total Points 212
Co-Champion No
Champion State Champion
County Douglas

 

[MasterBlaster]

Do you get to work on them?

 

[forestkeepers]

Maybe a sucker or two... I didn't want to take too many liberties, esp. as the Rock Elm is on the University of Kansas campus and the hickory is in a Catholic cemetery -- want to be respectful of the setting! We may have an opportunity to work on the Ginkgo I posted, as the house is for sale and it may need a touch up before changing owners, depending on how the inspection goes.

 

[forestkeepers]

KS Champion Linden

Yes, we deadwooded this one today (it's in a city park) -- me & my little crew of climbers

Common Name Linden, littleleaf
Latin Name Tilia cordata
Year Measured 2015
Circumference (feet) 11.6
Circumference Height (feet) 4.5
Height (feet) 49
Crown (feet) 49
Total Points 200
Champion State Champion
County Douglas

 

[pantheraba]

You could put 2-3 climbers in that at a time...nice tree.

 

[forestkeepers]

Especially when the climbers are the size they are
We are recommending to all our customers who have Bradford Pear issues and any Ash removals to consider Lindens as a great, hardy replacement. They do well here, have a pleasing shape, and stay a manageable size.

 

[Burnham]

Nice trees, all.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Beautiful big tree!

 

[stig]

Do like Mario does and put a gal in the picture to better show the scale of the tree.

Or if you just don't happen to have a fine looking girl in a red dress handy, a scruffy climber.

 

[Tree09]

 

[SeanKroll]

Especially when the climbers are the size they are
We are recommending to all our customers who have Bradford Pear issues and any Ash removals to consider Lindens as a great, hardy replacement. They do well here, have a pleasing shape, and stay a manageable size.

any mess issue? Some were just removed in downtown Olympia, in tree wells. Coulda been stress... I think that they had aphid issues and sticky something. Removed due to sidewalk damage, mostly.

 

[forestkeepers]

Comparable seed size to a Bradford, but I think less mess and staining to sidewalks. Where we are recommending, there are for sure no issues (back yard shade, will not grow toward structures). And yes, for sure less mess than a Bradford:



Edit: Today we did have to take down a Linden. It had blown over in the recent storms. However, it really wasn't blown all the way over, just knocked against a fence, probably at a 15 or 20 degree angle. It could've easily been straightened and some stakes put in to support it, fertilized and watered to nourish it. It hadn't broken at all in the storm, just slightly uprooted. But the owner is selling the house and couldn't be bothered with it, so it was an easy drop-n-chip for us. I attribute the failure to the poor soil of the housing development, plus drought conditions over the past year or so. This makes it the 3rd of 3 trees for this property losing in just over a year, so something is definitely not right there.

 

[treelooker]

Many lindens have root issues from the nursery.

Bartlett sprayed some for aphids in an OR shopping center, killed a pile of bees, and accelerated the anti-neonic movement.

But a fine urban species if managed right!

 

[Tempe21]

Wow. You guys are incredible. This is seriously interesting stuff. My mom is in Leavenworth and has access to the fort. Sounds like I need to make a visit!