April Remeasurement Indicates Centurion is over 100m.

[M.W.Taylor]

I spoke to Brett Mifsud recently and he has measured Centurion with a laser rangefinder at 101 meters by shooting straight up through the foliage. Apparently the Dec 11, 2018 100.5m measurement by Steven Pearce from The Tree Projects and Yoav Daniel Bar-Ness of Giant Tree Expeditions appears to be accurate. Both Brett and I were skeptical of their 100.5m measurement but Brett visited the tree yesterday and shooting at 90 degrees from the base at approximately 60 cm above the high side he got 100m over and over. After accounting for high and low side of ground level his estimate is 101m. Brett's method of shooting straight through the foliage to the top at 90 degrees is nearly always conservative and at most 30 cm too high on rare occasions after comparing to direct tape drop. There have been some changes at Centurion recently that may account for the greater height.

1) The ground is around the tree is now lower due to being more compressed from visitation. And it has also the duff around it has been burned up by the recent fires.

2) The top lost a major portion of its side branches and appears to be more straight now (it was sagging before due to the extra weight).

3) The top, being more thrifty, has probably grown a bit since the 99.8m Sillett re-measurement.

This tree is in fragile condition and very exposed. Hopefully by the time it is re-climbed and measured by tape drop it will still have an intact top. At this point I believe Centurion to be yet another 100m class tree; one of 3 different speicies. The 99.7m Brummitt Fir (AKA Doerner Fir) is close but in rapid decline. I hope to report on a new 100m class douglas fir in the near future as finding one is a high priority for me.

[mdvaden]

Both of you should have been skeptical before !! And I think the earlier dialogue enabled more people to understand the difference between taking time vs. piece-meal. But it's nice to hear that the height broadcast is really over 100m.

On another note, my brother stopped by the other day and mentioned the two of you had a chance to explore some forest together. I wonder if he'd like to join me to go look at Phalanx again.

[ElijahW]

Michael,

That’s great to hear. Hopefully Centurion will recover and live many more years. Good luck on the Douglas-Fir search, as well. I’m sure you’ll find the 100M tree you’re looking for, or maybe a 100M Sitka Spruce will turn up. Happy searching,

Elijah