Across Indiana
Big Tree Hugger
Clip | 5m 50sVideo has Closed Captions
Journey down to Evansville, Indiana where Tom Westfall has found some of Indiana’s biggest trees.
Tom Westfall was a renowned, self-taught arborist from Evansville, Indiana. He was recognized by the Indiana Big Tree Register for nominating multiple trees that became state champion trees. He would measure trees by their circumference, height and crown spread before nominating them for recognition. At the time, Vanderburgh County was home to 20 state champion trees.
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Across Indiana is a local public television program presented by WFYI
Across Indiana
Big Tree Hugger
Clip | 5m 50sVideo has Closed Captions
Tom Westfall was a renowned, self-taught arborist from Evansville, Indiana. He was recognized by the Indiana Big Tree Register for nominating multiple trees that became state champion trees. He would measure trees by their circumference, height and crown spread before nominating them for recognition. At the time, Vanderburgh County was home to 20 state champion trees.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThe tree is a beautiful living organism.
It's over 12 feet.
Of course, I also like them because of their, the charm and the grace of the branches and the leaves.
Would you consider yourself a tree hugger?
Oh, yes.
Yeah.
Tom Westfall is not just a tree He's a big tree hugger.
The bigger the tree, the better.
About 140.
140 feet.
Tom holds the distinction of finding some of the biggest trees in all of Indiana.
Well of course it's the sweet gum tree.
And it's the largest sweetgum tree in the state.
Were you excited when we first measured this tree?
Oh, yes.
Yeah.
I was excited.
Tom can't see the forest for the big trees.
In fact, we're not even sure he can see himself for the trees.
Yes, I'm a tree.
Tom's lifelong fascination with began when he was a child.
And like the trees in his native Evansville.
Tom's fascination only grew bigger.
After leafing...ha ha get it?
“leafing” through guidebooks and teaching himself botany, Tom began to roam the woods, parks, and neighborhoods around Evansville in search of the big trees.
This is the largest mockernut hi According to the Indiana Big Tree Register, published by the Indian Department of Natural Resources, the people who keep track of big trees.
There are a number of Indiana counties with big trees.
LaPorte, for example, has four of the state's biggest trees as identified by species.
Posey County has the second highest number of big trees with six.
But Vanderburg County, the county in which To resides, blows all of them away.
20 of Indiana's biggest trees grow here.
And guess who found every single one of them?
Tom Westfall.
Yeah, there.
I can line it up.
It makes me proud to know that I had a part in finding some of the largest trees in the state, and the sugar hackberry over on Virginia Street.
Where that day care center is 80ft tall.
And the mockernut hickory here i It's about 110ft tall.
Cherry Bark Oak which is over at the the, state hospital grounds.
And it's the largest tree I know of in Evansville.
Those are just some of the trees Toms put into the record books.
Evansville trees are on the map before anyone else's.
Solely because Tom took the time to measure them.
And to send in the requisite Indiana Big Tree nomination form.
Just keep it straight.
Tom uses a standard tape measur to gauge a tree circumference.
That's about 20ft.
He then uses a marked ruler as a sighting instrument to measure the tree's height and spread of the crown.
He's then able to compute the tree's point index, which he sends on to the Indiana Big Tree Coordinator for consideration as a big tree 95ft tall.
Some tree.
“Big” is a relative term.
Take this giant, for instance.
This is a wild goose plum, and it is the smallest state champion in the state.
It's 12ft tall.
Do you sometimes just wander around looking for big trees?
Oh, yes, a lot of times.
Okay, Tom, if you see a big tree, you just holler, Okay.
Tom, if you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
Right now, I don't see any Maple!
I like maple.
Oh, yeah.
That.
That is a big oak.
Looked like a shingle oak.
That was a big one.
Would you like to go back and measure that one?
Yeah, if you want to.
What does it take to be a big tree hunter?
Oh, it really doesn't take a whole lot.
Well, that is a big tree.
What do you think of that?
That's good.
That's a big one.
12ft, two inches.
When you first spot a big tree, do you get excited that this can be the tallest tree?
Oh, yes.
Every now and then.
Theres always that possibility.
It being a record.
For more Across Indiana stories, go to wfyi.org/acrossindiana
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