Tree measurement

Trees have a wide variety of sizes and shapes and growth habits. Specimens may grow as individual trunks, multitrunk masses, coppices, clonal colonies, or even more exotic tree complexes. Most champion tree programs focus finding and measuring the largest single-trunk example of each species. There are three basic parameters commonly measured to characterize the size of a single trunk tree: tree height measurement, tree girth measurement, and tree crown measurement. Foresters also perform tree volume measurements.

Various groups involved in documenting big trees around the world use different methods. Other parameters also measured include trunk and branch volume, canopy structure, canopy volume, and overall tree shape. The appropriate measurement protocols for multi-trunk trees and other more exotic forms are less well-defined.