The winners of the Putney Big Tree Quest were announced at the Putney Big Tree Quest Wrap-up Event and Awards Ceremony at the Putney Public Library on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Forty community members and participants gathered outside to drink hot cider, eat cider donuts and celebrate the big trees of Putney and those who discovered them.
The Putney Big Tree Quest finished up with a total of 106 entries: 35 different species, 49 “questers” who joined in, including 3 school groups, and over 1000 feet of tree circumference measured!
The winners of the largest trees of their species are:
Lucas & Andrew Wilcox, 265” red oak
Bonnie Mennell, 239” sugar maple
Connie Woodbury and Nathan Hirth, 234” butternut
Carolyn Mayo-Brown, 216” white ash
Simha and Yael Ravven-Morris and Ann Kerrey, 210” silver maple
Brooks Carter, 200” black locust
Special thanks to Andrew Morrison and Dawn Zweig and her Putney School students for their verification of the winning entries.
Awards in the Tree Art category were given to Colin McKaig, Bill Ramage, and Nancy Shepherd; in the Tree Face category to Lena and Eliza Quintal; and in the Tree Pose category to Greenwood School and Brooks and Walden Carter. Certificates were awarded for the top entries of the largest 20 tree species.
Students at the Greenwood School shared some reflections of their Big Tree Quest experience:
The quest helped me to appreciate the forest more and helped me to learn how to measure trees and use a dichotomous key to identify trees.
I learned that different tree types have different average sizes- what is considered a big striped maple is much smaller than big sugar maple.
I was surprised by where we found most of the biggest trees – in fields or near homes rather than in the forests.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed being in the forest.
I enjoyed taking what we were studying in class and using it in real life
Some questions that arose from Greenwood School students:
Why do some trees split in the middle?
How many different tree types are there in Putney?
Is it ok to sneak onto private property to measure trees?
How much further are we going to walk?
We hope the Putney Big Tree Quest will return in future years! Thank you to all who made it a success!