The Texas Tree Trails organization is a cooperative effort of the Texas A&M Forest Service, the Texas Historic Tree Coalition, the Trinity Blacklands Urban Forestry Council and the Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council, among others.
Nomination/Lists
Texas
Tree Trails Nomination Process
Nominate a Tree
Your tree could be the biggest of its kind in the region, state
or even the nation!. If it
is, you will have the honor of being listed in the
Texas Tree
Trails Hall of Fame or maybe even the
State or National Registries as the owner of a Champion Tree!
Does your
tree have historical significance to your community or region? If
your tree meets the requirements, you will be among the elite few who
share this honor and be listed in one or more of the
DFW Regional, State or
National Historic Tree Registries!
Please contact us so one of our
foresters or tree experts may:
Verify your tree measurements to
deteermine if your tree can
beat the reigning champion.
Determine and confirm the historical significance of your
heritage tree.
TREE NOMINATION PROCESS
You may nominate a tree by completing the
Nomination Form and submitting it
by email to the Texas Tree
Trails office. Details are on the form. It is important you fill out as
much of the information as you can. If you need assistance,
please contact us.
Our
helpful, professional staff
will review your submitted form and contact you if they have
additional questions regarding your submission. (Click below for the
nomination form.) We will then contact you to make an
appointment to officially measure and photograph your tree if your
tree meets the required criteria.
Click to nominate a Champion
tree
Note: you must have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your PC to open and use the
Interactive PDF Nomination Form. Acrobat Reader can be
downloaded free from the
Adobe site.
If your tree is selected for one of our registries, a Texas Tree Trails representative
will make an appointment with you to officially measure and photograph your tree
and then present you with a letter of our appreciation. A
formal letter and certificate will be presented upon
confirmation of affirmative tree status by the Regional State Forester.
We need YOU, the tree owners and the nature loving public, to participate in the Texas Tree Trails
program
by informing us of your trees, your neighbors trees - or the tree
down the street.
Please feel free to contact our representatives at any time.
Texas Tree Trails Tree Types and Qualifications
For all user forms and documents see the Documentation page.
Tree
Trails Tree Hierarchy List by Category
Historic or
Heritage These categories are related to History. A Historic tree is at least 50 years old and shares a significant
event or events in a specific place in time. A Heritage tree has deep
and specific significance to a community or locality. Criteria for acceptance to the Historic Tree Registry
and details are managed by
TXHTC (Texas
Historic Tree Coalition).. Use the forms supplied by them on
their website for full Historic status.
A sample historic tree record is displayed with the
Plano
Quincentennial Bur Oak. Note that this is a sample of an older
prototype format. Page navigation is found on the bottom-right
of each page.
INDIAN MARKER TREE (IMT)
This category is related to History. These specific tree types are
included with the Historic/Heritage trees as they have similar
requirements and historical significance. A new IMT is nominated and registered
by contacting the
Texas Historic Tree Coalition (TXHTC)...
Champion Tree
This category is related to Tree Size for a given species. You can nominate a tree that you think is the largest of
its kind for its species in the state
or regional area, called a Champion Tree. This is an official
designation confirmed through your Regional Urban Forester with the Texas A&M Forest Service. When
two trees of a species are within 5 index points of each other they are termed
co-champions. Examples of Champion trees can be found by using
our Search page. Many examples of
these are in our current Champion database.
There is a Regional Champion tree competition for the DFW
Metroplex area. The list can be found on this page under the Champion Tree List,
Regional heading below.
Big Tree
This category is related to Tree Size. A tree that is within 85% of the size of a Champion Tree.
A Big Tree is a "Champion in Waiting". If something
happens to a champion Tree to displace it from its standing, whether
it be loss due to age, damage from a severe storm, disease or blight;
the "crown princess" Big Tree is waiting to take her place.
This category is automatically considered when a tree is nominated in
the Champion category.
Examples of Big trees can be found by using our
Search page. Many examples of these
are in our current Champion database as a subcategory of Champion.
This category is also included in the DFW Metroplex Champion Big
Tree Registry list below.
SIGNIFICANT TREE
This category is related to Tree Size. This noncompetitive category was added at a later date to
accommodate those trees that are large in their own right but not quite large enough on
paper to fit the Big and Champion categories. Often when a new
Champion or Big tree wins out point-wise over other trees in its
species, other specimens can be close in points just outside the
point range to be included in that category. These are still
spectacular trees for there species so we decided to list them as
significant for our region. This also would include outstanding
trees with unique properties or with unique positions in history. A
historical tree with no documentation, such as many Indian marker
trees. They have unique shape and position in history.
This category is also included in the DFW Metroplex Champion Big
Tree Registry list below.
Species Significant
This category is related to the Tree Species. It defines a thriving tree that is an unusual, unique species uncommon to the area.
For instance, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Sugar Maple Acer
saccharum is typically not found. The southern range for this tree
is northern to mid-Missouri. A thriving Sugar Maple in our area of
substantial age and good health would be a Species Significant tree.
(There is, however, a large Sugar Maple in Tulsa, OK which is quite
unusual.) An example page has not been developed for this category yet
since no tree of this category has been nominated - yet..
This is a Microsoft Excel file with the full up-to-date
listing of trees and database information for the DFW Regional
Champion trees updated weekly (or more frequently as time
allows).
The file can either be opened directly from the link or saved
to your hard drive by right clicking on the link, clicking the
popup menu selection "Save Target As ..." and then saving it to
a location on your hard drive.
Note: Location data
are removed from the data records for trees that have been
designated Private by the tree owners. These data still
remain for all trees designated as Public.
Hierarchical and
Categorical Lists
