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THE HEIGHT RECORD HAS BEEN BROKEN - THE TALLEST MEASURED TREE IN POLAND GROWS IN THE SUDETY MOUNTAINS !!!

Until now the tallest tree in Poland was the Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) growing in the Ujsoły Forest District in the Beskid Żywiecki Mountains. According to the measurements of September 2020 it reached the height of 58.20 m. While working on the data from the Regional Tree Crown Map (now available at mytreemap.com), Agnieszka Ptak from the MGGP Aero team discovered trees in the Sudety Mountains which were already over 56 metres high in 2011. So there was a suspicion that these trees may now be taller than the record-breaking Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) from Beskid Żywiecki.

This discovery was preceded by weeks of analysis of airborne laser scanning data made available for the whole country by the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography. As a result of these analyses, the region of the Bardzkie Mountains was selected as the area where the potentially tallest tree in the country can be found. The final verification of our suspicions, however, required height measurements directly in the field.

Team of professional arborists climbing a tree

The first height measurement was done by Marcin Kilańczyk. Marcin put the tape measure on the top of the tree and Agnieszka Ptak and Dominik Kopeć read the height by putting the tape measure on the trunk. First reading - 59.50 m and euphoria in the team.

Marcin repeated the measurement - the result was 59.20 m. Next height measurements were made by Bartlomiej Król, and readings at the base of the trunk showed 59.50 m and 59.40 m respectively. It was assumed that the height of the tree is the average from four readings.
The official result is 59.40 m. We have a new height record!!! The discovery of the currently tallest tree in Poland was possible thanks to the development of the Regional Tree Crown Map. This map was created using artificial intelligence and ALS data (LiDAR) and is available for free at mytreemap.com

Text author: Dominik Kopeć