Champion Trees

https://www.google.com/search?q=stu...AUIEigC&biw=360&bih=517#imgrc=yG3r_N9lKXTUgM: this is a picture of the Kingston plains. 100 years after being clear cut. the slash was left to burn. the fires burned so hot and sterilized the soil to such a degree that not a tree has returned. Its been 120 years! not an isolated occurrence. there was no save the white pines league. Redwoods like elephants have won a place in our collective hearts and this has helped them. kind of like panda bears or koalas.
 
Sub Contract work was my thimg at the time....so you head for the places with the most companies. I wanted to be as far west as possible, so it seemed like the right destination. No mistaking it's a beautiful place to live, but theres also a superficial, pretentious arrogance to it also....like 'the rest of Canada wants to be us' type mentality. Yes they are fortunate to live there, buts its far from the 'only' place people want to live in Canada.

The California of Canada. Funny.
 
Great vid, Reg. thanks. I can see in the future you doing a a lot great things with that new 'drone' of yours. Actually I prefer "aerial camera platform" Drone has a bad connotation to it. But that's just me.
Thanks Jerry
Have another trip planned for this week.....a truly magnificent forest of giant spruce, cedar and hemlock. Weaving it over and through tree canopies is somewhat unnerving....but worth it when you get the end result.
 
Looking forward, Reg.

Now, I know just enough about flying them Aerial Camera Platforms thingies to get'em hung up in the trees. Unnerving indeed. I found out it's a good thing to have your climbing gear with you, on them shoots. Camera rescue!
 
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  • #256
Largest Pin Oak in Kansas

Located on the University of Kansas campus here in Lawrence, KS. Trunk is every bit of my 16' tape measure. I did do a bit of lower deadwooding on it with a pull rope.
Circumference (feet) 16
Circumference Height (feet) 4.5
Height (feet) 112
Crown (feet) 90
Total Points 304
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  • #257
Osage Orange

Pretty awesome Osage, easy to climb, also on the University campus. Little Forest Keepers took off some suckers. You know a tree is pretty impressive when it eclipses your 16' tape measure -- had to add a 2nd tape measure to confirm the 19' circumference!
Latin Name Maclura pomifera
Year Measured 2014
Circumference (feet) 19.0
Circumference Height (feet) 4.0
Height (feet) 67
Crown (feet) 67
Total Points 312
Co-Champion Yes
Champion State Champion
County Douglas
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Beautiful kids forestkeeper, and those are 2 amazing trees!
 
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  • #260
American Basswood / Linden

Common Name Basswood, American
Latin Name Tilla americana
Year Measured 2017
Circumference (feet) 19.8
Circumference Height (feet) 1.0
Height (feet) 92
Crown (feet) 57
Total Points 344
Champion State Champion
County Douglas

We haven't had any opportunities to work on a true American Basswood / Linden before here in KS (I have pruned a Littleleaf Linden and done a removal on another Littleleaf recently). I like Lindens a lot; they might be my favorite deciduous tree. This one is also on the University campus, right by the art museum.
 

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  • #261
Callery Pear

Common Name Pear, callery
Latin Name Pyrus calleryana
Year Measured 2017
Circumference (feet) 8.8
Circumference Height (feet) 4.5
Height (feet) 50
Crown (feet) 53
Total Points 168
Champion State Champion
County Douglas
Not sure if this is a Bradford cultivar or a true Callery, but it is impressive to see one this big that hasn't failed. I expect that is due to its location, sheltered by the KU student union and the natural history museum. But I'm sure all the current site work will not help its future chances of survival!
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We found a Port Orford cedar yesterday that's not a champion, but may be the 2nd tallest. I found articles noting one 248 feet and an old 1968 nomination at American Forests much fatter and 242 feet. But conifers.org is usually up to speed, and lists 238 feet as 2nd tallest known. The tallest is the 266 footer we found in Jedediah Smith park, 2009

Had I realized the tree we saw yesterday may be 2nd tallest, I would have taken more photos and measured an extra 20 minutes to pin-point the numbers. But our few laser increments and guesstimate to the lower reach are 240 ft. It's 7' to 8' diameter dbh. The lower trunk does not lean and and 80% or so of the trunk leans noticeably. The last several decades worth of stem growth straightened a "course correction". We didn't pick a name, but I was going to see what Chris thought of "Silver Medal" for a nickname.

The natural range of this species is smaller than I remembered. Almost makes coast redwood's range seem huge by comparison.
 

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It's lasted this long without your pruning. And it will probably outlive your family's next generation or two, if not more.
 
That's always very scary stressful stuff...hate when kids are hurt.

Glad he's taken care of. My 12 yr old and 8 yr old grandsons are starting to get excited about parkour. Their dad took them to a parkour gym 2 days ago. Working hard to make them believe they don't want to do the dumb things they see on the internet.
 
I tore a piece of my lip out (ran into barbed wire) about the size of an English pea when I was in probably 4th or 5th grade...it was hanging by a sliver of skin...that was probably 1963 or so. I handled it real well until I saw myself in the mirror with a big piece of meat hanging down. Docs sewed it up.

I had a bit of a scar for a few years but after that would be hard pressed to see the scar. My tear was where the upper lip meets the philtrum groove...just below center of nose, actually in the lip.

I bet he will do just fine...younguns heal nicely.

I just zipped upstairs with a flashlight to look in mirror. The scar is there but you have to look real hard. And I'm not gonna let any of y'all get that close.:D
 
I didn't say me - I said you. But now that you mention it, that dead top does bring out its inner beauty!

Several of the champion size Port Orford cedars have dead tops. It's not disease related. It gives character, just like how Elk antlers. Dead bone tissue that develops, and falls repeatedly.
 
Little fall guy

Beautiful kids forestkeeper, and those are 2 amazing trees!
Thanks, Eric. The youngest (2 1/2) fell off his high chair last Friday morning, busting open his lip and getting a nice goose egg on his temple. I spent the better part of the day consoling him, getting the bleeding to stop, then taking him to the emergency medical place for stitches (upper lip up to nearly the nose). Thankfully they worked with us financially, so it wasn't outrageous. Whew! Life with children is a roller coaster ride, but still a blessing!

He is a super trooper! They said he was the best child they've ever seen -- no screaming, writhing, fidgeting, flipping out. He held onto mamma, closed his eyes and just winced a little. Of course, the local & then injected anesthetic did their part. Shouldn't be any complications or significant scarring. If he wears a mustache/beard when grown, no one will ever know. He went right to sleep when we got home, doing great now. We'll have to do everything we can to keep him from climbing & falling in the next 4 days while the stitches take. Hmmm... maybe he's our next gen. climber?

Yes, Scar Eraser is good stuff, as is some St. John's wort salve I've used. But if someone like me can get married, surely with his dashing smile he'll land a good lass!
 

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