The Quest for the Champions

WDH · April 07, 2021, 09:34:48 PM

I am a Champion Tree Hunter. A Champion Tree is the largest one of that species in a State as most States have a Champion Tree List. There is also a National Champion List for the largest specimen of a tree species in the Nation. Fairly close to me is a large tract of land that is currently owned by the State of Georgia that was formerly owned by the company that I worked for for (Tom) many years. It is currently managed by the Department of Natural Resources as a Wildlife Management area. This tract is situated next to a major river. There is an extensive hardwood bottomland on a tributary that drains into the larger river on this Wildlife Management Area that has not been logged for a very very long time, and is like a time capsule of what natural hardwood stands could become if allowed to grow without intervention.

An Outdoor Writer friend and I went to this bottomland in January to search specifically for Champion Trees. I had already found and submitted four Champion Trees from this area in the past, but two of them died and came off the list. The largest one was blown over in a major storm. During this trip, we found two trees that would become new Champion Trees in the State of Georgia, one a Shumard Oak (a bottomland red oak) and a Carolina Shagbark Hickory. The hickory was also large enough o be a National Co-Champion Tree, where there are more than one specimen that are within 3% of each other in points as measured by the standard for measuring Champion Trees. This Carolina Shagbark Hickory measured 240 points, just 7 points shy of the National Champion which measured 247 points, but within the 3% difference. I submitted both of these trees, the Shumard Oak and the Carolina Shagbark Hickory to the State Champion Tree Co-ordinator. A Georgia Forestry Commission Forester contacted me wanting to locate these two trees and confirm the measurements. We met Tuesday for me to take him to these trees which are a long way from any road and are difficult to find.

We confirmed the Shumard Oak, and in the process of searching for the Carolina Shagbark Hickory about a mile further down the bottomland, I found another specimen that was just as large as the original one that I found, in fact, this one measured 7 points more, so it came to 247 points and will qualify as a National Champion. I am very excited about finding and nominating this beautiful forest grown tree. It is not exceptionally large as far as trees go, but it is tied for the largest one of this species found in the Nation. In fact, the Shumard Oak is much larger, but it will be the State Champion only and will not qualify as a National Champion. First things first. Here is a pic of the Champion Shumard Oak. It is 55" in diameter and 141 feet tall. This pic shows a good portion of the bole of the tree. It is a magnificent forest grown tree.

Here is the lower trunk. That is my friend John on the right.

Here is the Carolina Shagbark Hickory. it is just shy of 30" in diameter and 138 feet tall.

The Georgia State Champion Swamp Chestnut Oak is also in this bottomland. It is 74" in diameter and 125 feet tall. I found it in 2002.

This bottomland is almost 1000 acres in size and is truly a special place. Now that the State of Georgia owns most of it, it will be preserved.

WV Sawmiller · April 07, 2021, 09:52:46 PM

Makes me want to go measure my shagbark hickory along my property line! I may have a contender as I feel it is bigger than 30" dbh. It is very tall too. Nice trees there Danny. I bet you have a bunch of us checking.

scsmith42 · April 07, 2021, 10:19:24 PM

Very cool hobby Danny. Thanks for sharing.

metalspinner · April 07, 2021, 10:28:16 PM

So I just read up on how to measure for Champion Trees. Ya'll must have some cricks in ya'll necks after this!

WmFritz · April 07, 2021, 10:55:09 PM

What a great story Danny.

Roxie · April 08, 2021, 04:27:57 AM

Finding a bigger one on your way to verify the measurements of the champion contender. Wow!

SwampDonkey · April 08, 2021, 04:51:03 AM

Very nice trees, love big old trees that tower in the canopy. Our hardwood never get that tall up this way, 90 feet is about it, a very rare one might hit 100 ft on rich soil in a protected area. Most never reach 90 ft. I have found maple and yellow birch in the 40's dbh though. I have a yellow birch registered in the 'Great Trees of NB' that was updated a couple years ago. It's an honorable mention as they found some larger ones as well.

Bruno of NH · April 08, 2021, 06:33:42 AM

That is awsome.
Near me in NH on one side of mount Sunapee is an old growth forest with some champion trees in the stand.

thecfarm · April 08, 2021, 07:12:42 AM

You get all the fun jobs.

woodroe · April 08, 2021, 07:38:52 AM

Always enjoy reading about big trees.
Any estimated ages of these champion trees ?

zippski · April 08, 2021, 08:18:12 AM

At my request, a team of Ontario botanists and researchers visited our farm here in central Niagara last month to verify that we have the largest living American Chestnut tree in Canada growing on the corner of our property. It is 85cm DBH (33.5") and around 85' in height. It appears to be completely blight-free and healthy other than a couple of dead branches. It will be really cool to see it appear on official list of Canada's largest trees.

The team shook down a small branch hung up on an adjoining small Maple which had a bunch of unshelled nuts still attached. We managed to shell out 4 viable seeds, which they will now plant.

This lone tree survived in a grove of Chestnuts that all died in the '20's from blight, so here's hoping that this tree is special in that it has some natural resistance to blight.

Leigh
zippski

Magicman · April 08, 2021, 08:31:58 AM

Here is a picture taken in 2017 of Danny with my property's Champion Tree. This old Cherrybark (Red) Oak does not qualify for any records other than my own.

It's last circumference measurement.

WDH · April 08, 2021, 08:37:16 AM

No idea of the age of these trees, maybe 100 years?

Howard, your tree is most likely the more common shagbark hickory, Carya ovata. It is not the same species as Carolina shagbark hickory, Carya carolinae septentrionalos, which is not as commom. The Georgia champion shagbark hickory champion is 50" in diameter.

Howard, I looked up the West Virginia Big Tree List. Carolina shagbark hickory is not found in West Virginia. There are three co-champion shagbark hickories, Carya ovata. The diameters are 41", 39", and 34". The total points are 252, 249, 235. Even if my Carolina shagbark hickory was in West Virginia, it would still be a champion because of its tremendous height. I looked up the National Champion shagbark hickory and it scored 320 points with a diameter of 61".

WDH · April 08, 2021, 08:43:28 AM

Lynn, your magnificent cherrybark oak is 77" in diameter. It was a pleasure getting to meet it.

WV Sawmiller · April 08, 2021, 09:19:59 AM

Danny,

Dang! You burst my shagbark bubble. It may not be a champion but I still love it. :D

zippski · April 08, 2021, 09:58:40 AM

Here is a photo of the Canadian Champion American Chestnut with a couple of the researchers:

It's not a huge tree in the grand scale of things, but it sure is a huge Chestnut!

Leigh
zippski

mike_belben · April 08, 2021, 10:13:29 AM

Quote...has not been logged for a very very long time, and is like a time capsule of what natural hardwood stands could become if allowed to grow without intervention.

Those places are always a treasure.

Awesome pics

Texas Ranger · April 08, 2021, 10:35:09 AM

Back in the day I was big tree hunter, had 6 on the Texas list for a few years. All were in a creek bottom of the local reservation. Some intrapreneur convinced the tribal council that they could convert the bottom into a "swamp" tour by flooding the area. They did, and I lost all 6, one was a water hickory, a species that I had not seen before and it was tied with the national specimen. Since then much of the rich bottom lands in east Texas have been converted to some other use than trees, and I am no longer a hunter of trees. But those days we had some spectacular woods.

SwampDonkey · April 09, 2021, 03:56:41 AM

Quote from: zippski on April 08, 2021, 09:58:40 AM

It's not a huge tree in the grand scale of things, but it sure is a huge Chestnut!

Well that area of Canada would certainly be prime habitat for any champion hardwood in Canada. We have such a small area in the country with the right soil and climate for it, compared to all that vastness to the north. :D

HemlockKing · April 09, 2021, 05:13:35 AM

Oaks seems to grow decent in my immediate area SD,but on my property a lot of them have been raided by porcupines, and them suckers kill the whole tree in just a few days too, you gotta move in quick on them. Just down the road it isn’t uncommon to see a 2 ft +dia oak. I’ve walked most of my land but there is a lot to see(150 acres) and very up and down hilly, hopefully I find some more survived oaks in the areas I’ve yet to manage(I just started to “manage” it in 2019, before it sat untouched since 1990). The biggest one I have now is only 16-18 “. My grandfather cut 3-4 massive ones down in the 80s to make some gun cabinets so they have been here. I seldom see burr oak if I do it is mostly planted near pastures or in town, man those suckers are beautiful and I love the bark to them, if only more of them were around, I think I can only recall of 4-5 I know of off the top of my head in the area. I will snap a picture sometime this week when I go into town and post a photo of one

WDH · April 09, 2021, 06:54:09 AM

TR,

Water hickory, carya aquatica, is one of my Georgia champions. I currently have 7 champions on the list. Found a persimmon and loblolly pine that were just a little bit short of the score needed to make the list. Going back to Oaky Woods where these last two champions were found next week.

Texas Ranger · April 09, 2021, 09:06:49 AM

WDH, have the hardwood stands taken the hit that they have in Texas? Not many private or industrial lands left with mature hardwoods. A shame, there were some beautiful tracts when I first showed up, slightly after the Jurassic.

Magicman · April 09, 2021, 09:33:39 AM

At the time I do not have the interest to identify each Champion on my property but I do know the major ones which are; Cherrybark, Shumard, and White Oaks, Sycamore, Walnut, Tulip Poplar, and Pecan. Most of those trees were probably 30"+ when I was born.

Wudman · April 09, 2021, 11:39:49 AM

I found a lobl olly pine on a little hill in a swamp one time. It was massive and I was sure I had found the new Virginia Champion Tree. I measured circumference. I measured height. I measured crown spread. I hurried back to the office to look up the Champion. What a let down....my tree was 19 inches smaller in circumference and about 20 feet shorter with a similar crown spread. That was probably 25 years ago. I believe I will go back and see if I can find it again. Thanks Danny.

Wudman

Edvantage · April 09, 2021, 08:39:57 PM

I was reading up on the history of our area last week. The white pines cut 120 years ago were 5-6 feet in diameter. I have stumps that size near my house. Made me start wondering what it looked like around here back then. Never knowing where my day might lead yesterday I ended up hiking around in a area that has numerous 4' + white pines. This post got my attention so I looked up Michigan's champion white pine. Turns out I was about ten miles from that trees location. A 5'4" dia tree. The tract I was on is 1000 acres of remote private land. Now my curiosity is getting to me. Going to have to look around some more.