Wake+Audubon+Champion+Trees

The speaker at the Wake Audubon meeting was Gary M. Williamson, whose passion is to search for giant trees. He and his partner searched for these "champion trees" all over the country. Champion trees are measured by circumference, wingspan and height. If a tree meets certain measurements, it is considered a champion tree. Mr. Williamson found many in North Carolina, such as a Tupelo, a species found in swamps and called an "arch tree" because of its shape. He also found several bald cypress champions. The biggest and oldest one he discovered was in Virginia, which he called Big Mama. Although it fell over in October of 2016, it remains a home for many living creatures due to its hollow inside. This hollow also makes it impossible to tell the tree's exact age. Another champion Mr. Williamson found was a loblolly pine in South Carolina, which was a national champion at a height of 167 feet. Mr. Williamson told us that champions can be found anywhere, from open fields, where they grow outwards and blossom like a flower, or in forests, where they grow to extreme heights.

This Wake Audubon meeting was related to APES because we learned about how several old-growth trees are champions, such as many several hundred year old oaks with circumferences 25-26 inches. We also learned about organisms making the dead trees, or snags their habitats.