Our Ten BiggestTrees

Big Sister at Sugarcreek MetroPark

The organization called American Forests just released their latest list of Champion trees, you can see it HERE.  A champion tree is determined by measuring it's diameter at breast height (dbh), crown spread, and height. These are combined to produce a numeric score for the tree.

Measuring a big tree is a lot of fun, and finding them is even more fun.  I've been measuring the biggest ones I know of in MetroParks facilities for a few years, and here is my list of the top 10 biggest trees:

Nickname	Common Name	Scientific Name	Facility	Total Points	LATLONG
Big Sister	White oak	Quercus alba	Sugarcreek MetroPark	378	84°5'9.567"W  39°37'0.234"N
Bea's Tree	Cottonwood	Populus deltoides	Englewood MetroPark	374	84°16'16.695"W  39°52'11.674"N
Elmer	American Elm	Ulmus americana	Shoup Mill Con. Area	365	84°12'56.555"W  39°48'53.825"N
Champion Oak	Shumard Oak	Quercus shumardii	Taylorsville MetroPark	357	84°9'39.952"W  39°52'16.526"N
Ralph's Oak	Shumard Oak	Quercus shumardii	Dull Woods Con. Area	350	84°27'9.957"W  39°51'30.955"N
Big Macrocarpa	Burr Oak	Quercus macrocarpa	Wegerzyn MetroPark	341	84°16'42.218"W  39°52'8.02"N
Soaring Sycamore	Sycamore	Platanus occidentalis	Sugarcreek MetroPark	324	84°5'48.108"W  39°37'23.107"N
Pedistel Oak	Burr Oak	Quercus macrocarpa	Wegerzyn MetroPark	319	84°12'21.479"W  39°47'58.234"N
Cloudbuster	White Ash	Fraxinus americana	Englewood MetroPark	317	84°17'46.377"W  39°52'41.482"N
Charlie Creek	Sycamore	Platanus occidentalis	Shiloh Woods Con. Area	316	84°15'9.981"W  39°50'52.641"N

      Sycamore

The biggest measured tree known in the MetroParks system is Big Sister at Sugarcreek MetroPark.  This leviathan scores 378 points.  By far the biggest of the "Three Sisters", 3 big white oaks at this site.  The middle sister died and fell over a few years ago.

Location of Tulip Tower

Tulip Tower

The tallest measured tree is a yellow poplar, or tuliptree dubbed "Tulip Tower" at Germantown MetroPark.  Located in the deep, fertile soils of Shimps Hollow, and protected from winds by the steep valley it is in, this tree has been measured several times to be 162 feet high!  It does not seem like a particularly impressive tree unless you walk up to it and look up.

If anyone knows of a tree that might be bigger than one of these let me know and we can go measure it.