National Champion Tuliptree   Darian Copiz
  Jan 24, 2006 13:52 PST 
ENTS,

This past weekend I visited the national champion tuliptree in Bedford,
Virginia. The tree is in a little park in a neighborhood at the edge of
town. A "no trespassing" sign adorns the chain link fence around the
tree. The tree has a massive bole which is partially dead and about 8'
high. Multiple unimpressive stems rise from it. Overall the tree is not
particularly inspiring. Although the trunk is big, it is short and
fails to awe - this may also be the case since you are not allowed to
get close to it. The height is listed as 111 feet. I measured 111.2
feet. I took pictures, but they were slides since my digital camera is
broken. I would not be unhappy to see another tree take its position.

Darian
RE: National Champion Tuliptree ENTS   Will Blozan
  Jan 25, 2006 04:47 PST 

Darian,

That height is one adjusted by AF after Bob Leverett and I measured it with
a laser. They dropped it from 146'.

I am not inspired by the tree either and given its multiple stemmed form
should be dropped from the list. There are far better representatives of
tuliptree to choose from.

Will

RE: National Champion Tuliptree ENTS   Robert Leverett
  Jan 25, 2006 05:13 PST 

Darian,

   The Bedford tuliptree has a long story. After we tried to get the
state coordinator to recognize the error in the height measurement, Will
got a letter from an irate widow. I guess her husband was the one who
got the tree saved. Standing one's ground on measurement accuracy can be
a dangerous business.

   I would third the judgment on the Bedford tree. Compared to a giant
like the Sag Branch tuliptree or the Mill Creek Monster, the Bedford
Poplar is a severe let down and it illustrates the problem of trying to
choose an overall species champion using the American Forest formula.

Bob