Nominating a tree form the National Register has just gotten easier with an online nomination form on the National Registry for Big Trees website. The online form will let you nominate a tree with just a few clicks. Fill out the form with the information for your tree and the trees; score will be calculated. An automatic reply will be sent to you indicting the status of your tree.

A Message from the Director.
Ron Mahoney, Director, Idaho Big Tree Program

The Idaho Big Tree Program is part of a national program to locate, measure, and recognize the largest individual tree of each species in Idaho. The nominator(s) and owner(s) are recognized with a certificate, and the owners are encouraged to help protect the tree. Most states, including Idaho, keep records of state champion trees and forward contenders to the national program. Some cities, such as Boise and Lewiston, Idaho, also keep local records, and occasionally counties or other organizational units do the same. Lewiston, Coeur d’ Alene, Boise, and other communities also recognize and promote historically significant trees.

Champion trees are based on a point system. One point is recorded for each foot of height and for each inch of circumference. Circumference is measured at breast height, defined as 4 ½ feet above the average ground level.  The final component of the point system is the average crown width, with ¼ point for each foot of crown.

A tree is defined as vegetation with a woody stem at least 3 inches diameter at breast height, or 9.4 inches in circumference, and at least 13 feet tall. With these specifications, Idaho’s smallest champion tree is a western dogwood measured about 16 years ago along the Selway River. At 30 total points, this tree, if still alive, would probably still be the smallest current champion if it were re-measured today. Many of our state and champion trees need to be re-measured and also determined to be still living. However, some long-term champions are in remote locations, such as the record whitebark pine 14 miles into the Sawtooth Wilderness.

The National Register of Big Trees lists all the U.S. champions for the nation-wide program with coordinators in each of the 50 states. Begun in 1940, the nearly 60 year-old program relies on volunteers to hunt down, measure, and nominate state and national champion trees. For most of that time, the authority for acceptance of a tree species has been based on its inclusion in the Checklist of Native and Naturalized Trees by Dr. E. L. Little, JR., last updated in 1979.