Big Tree Update

After the annual publication of the Big Tree list in the September 19 issue of The News, we received four requests to identify and measure contenders for champion tree status. Of the four, however, only one measured up: Kim and Alex Shifrin’s box elder on Ferry Road, coming in at 121 inches. 

Michaela Grubbs’ bur oak, however, located on appropriately named Big Oak Lane in Charlotte, is worthy of an honorable mention. It measured 182 inches in girth, just one inch short of the current champ. The tree, however, is a magnificent example of the species and, we thought, well worth a picture in the paper. 

If you have a candidate for champion status, including one for a species not yet on the roster, contact Tree Tribe members Vince Crockenberg or Sue Smith (who is also deputy tree warden) to set up a visit to confirm the tree’s identity and circumference.

The News maintains a complete list of Charlotte’s champion trees on our website. The list will be updated whenever a new champion is certified.  

Since the Oct. 3 issue of the paper hit the stands, the Tree Tribe has crowned two new champions, both on Guinea Road. Myra Handy and Steve Dickens hold title to the new champion red oak, a robust 157 inches in girth, and John, Kelly and Whitney Butnor now claim the town’s largest black birch at 76 inches.

You can check out Charlotte’s champion trees on our website; click on the Tree Warden tab and then on Charlotte Big Tree Roster. And if you have a contender for a new champion tree, send me an email, and Deputy Tree Warden Sue Smith and I will arrange with you to come out to ID and measure your tree. If it’s a new champ we’ll publish its picture in The News.