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Americans have always had a desire to name something "The Biggest This" or "The Biggest That." So it had to come down to the biggest tree of each kind. In 1940 American Forests, the nation's oldest nonprofit citizens' conservation organization (founded in 1875) decided to administer a documented list of the largest tree of each species, referring to it as the "National Champion." As of 2005, this register of National Champion trees (available online at www.americanforests.org/resources/bigtrees) has 889 entries and is recognized as the authoritative list of big trees.
Criteria for determining a Champion Tree
The equation used for determining a champion is as follows:
Trunk Circumference [in inches at 4 1/2 feet above the ground] + Height [in feet] + ¼ Average Crown Spread [in feet] = Total Points
The largest tree in the list is the General Sherman Giant Sequoia in Sequoia National Park, California. Its circumference is 1020 inches (85 feet, or 27 feet in diameter!); its height is 274 feet; and its average crown spread is 107 feet; its total points are 1321.
This is not the tallest tree on the National Champions register, however. That honor goes to a Coast Redwood in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California, which is 321 feet tall. However, this tree is "only" 950 inches in circumference and "only" 75 feet in average crown spread, with a total of 1290 points.
Possibly the philosophy in weighting the equation in favor of circumference and against average crown spread is that the biggest tree should have the most wood volume; and the limbs and branches do not contribute volume to the degree of the trunk.
How does a tree get big enough to be a Champion?
The biggest tree is not necessarily the oldest. Although age plays a part, perhaps more important is the perfect site.
The perfect site is one where the tree is 1) protected against the elements -- wind, lightning; 2) in a "favored" site -- for example, where there is sufficient light and water, meaning little competition for these with other trees in the area. For this reason, not all of the Champions are in the forest; they are more likely to be in park settings or along streets. All of the Reno champions except one are in parks like Idlewild, in a university setting where they get constant attention, or in the yards of residents who have treated them well.
Champion Trees all across the United States
Of course, once there were national champions, many states decided to get on the bandwagon with their own lists of State Champions. At the present time, 36 states (including Nevada and all the states adjacent to it) administer lists. Florida has the most National Champions on its list, with 163 trees; California is second with 102 trees.
Nevada Champion Trees
Nevada's list (available at www.forestry.nv.gov/docs/big_tree03.pdf) was started in 1992, and the current list (current as of 2003) has 185 State Champions. Of these, 121 are located in northwestern Nevada; the following five tables give statistics on these trees:
Updating the Nevada Champion List
Currently, The Nevada Department of Forestry is in the process of updating the Nevada List, and (of course) Wide-eyed is helping. The updates will take three forms: the Current Champion trees are of course growing, so they have been remeasured in 2007 (Current Champ remeasurement); some of the Current Champion Trees have died or other trees are challenging them in size (Challengers and Challenged); and new kinds of trees are being added to the list (Prospective Champs).
Nominating a prospective Champion Tree
Anyone can nominate a prospective Champion Tree. In fact, both American Forests and the Nevada Big Tree Register website encourage ordinary citizens to search out prospective Champions. A possible reason for this is that ordinary citizens see the trees in their area with regularity, and more people looking for these trees means a better chance of success.
If you want to get involved, check out the page on Nominate a Champion Tree!Size comparison with National Champions:
How do the Nevada Champions residing in northwestern Nevada stack up against the National Champions? This link is a table of those trees which have at least 75 % of the points of corresponding National Champions.
Interestingly enough, there are 24 trees on the Nevada Register which are not on the National Register. This is because, though there are 887 National Champions, not every species or variety has been placed on this list. The list of exceptions includes the Nevada Champion Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii).