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. A detailed guideline to these basic measurements is provided in The Tree Measuring Guidelines of the Eastern Native Tree Society by Will Blozan.
These are summaries of how to measure trees are also presented by various groups involved in documenting big trees around the world. These include among others: a) American Forests Tree Measuring Guidelines; b) National Register of Big Trees - Australia's Champion Trees: Tree Measurement, Champions and Verification; c) Tree Register: A unique record of Notable and Ancient Trees in Britain and Ireland - How to measure trees for inclusion in the Tree Register; and d) NZ Notable Trees Trust. Other parameters also measured include trunk and branch volume, canopy structure, canopy volume, and overall tree shape. Overviews of some of these more advanced measurements are discussed in Blozan above and in "Tsuga Search Measurement Protocols" by Will Blozan and Jess Riddle, September 2006, and tree trunk modeling by Robert Leverett and Leverett and others. The appropriate measurement protocols for multi-trunk trees and other more exotic forms are less well-defined, but some general guidelines are presented below.