The National Champion Tree Program to Take Nominations for Next Register Through August
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The National Champion Tree Program (NCTP) will take nominations for new Champion Trees on its website starting February 28. The list of eligible tree species for the 2025-2026 register includes more than 1,200 species of trees native and naturalized to the U.S., a steep increase from the 900 species eligible for the 2024 register. It is available online in the Register of Champion Trees. Nominations for potential Champions will stay open through August 2025.
“Each year, people find ‘new’ Champions all over the country,” Jaq Payne, NCTP director, said. “It could be the tree in your backyard, the tree in front of your church, or the tree in one of your local parks or state forests.” For the first time in the program’s 84-year history, an additional list of “culturally important non-native” eligible species will be included to represent common, widely recognized urban species previously not found on the register.
Champion Trees are identified based on a point system including the trunk circumference, height and average crown spread. After members of the public nominate trees, the NCTP will work with state coordinators to verify the submissions and their measurements. Verified trees will be added to the program’s data management system. National Champion Trees are crowned once every two years and must be re-verified every 10 years.
The program put out its first register since 2021 on January 18, and people can access it on the program’s website. There you can find Champion Trees for different species, see the trees’ measurements and read the cultural importance of the trees, if known. The program is still collecting the trees’ histories and would appreciate any help from community members.
The register started as a short list of 77 big trees in the April 1941 edition of American Forests magazine. By 2021, it had grown to 562 Champion Trees across the country. The NCTP moved from American Forests to the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources in 2023. American Forests is providing $200,000 through April 2025 to support the program’s move to UT.
The National Champion Tree Program’s mission is to protect, preserve and keep record of the largest trees in the United States through public education and engagement.
The UT School of Natural Resources focuses on a mastery learning approach, emphasizing practical, hands-on experiences. The school’s faculty, staff and students advance the science and sustainable management of our natural resources through various programs of the UT Institute of Agriculture (UTIA).
UTIA is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.