The Champion Hackberry of Thatcher Woods

This is the biggest hackberry the Forest Preserves of Cook County have on their land, ranked first in their champion tree register. Measured in November 2023, it stands 36.6 metres tall on a trunk 3.51 metres round, under a crown about 22 metres wide in both directions. For scale, the only other hackberry of this species we have measured is the Leaning Hackberry of Parco Treves in Padua: 1.55 metres round and 9 metres tall. The Thatcher Woods champion has more than twice its girth and four times its height. It is not even the tallest hackberry in these woods. About 66 metres away stands the county's second-ranked hackberry, slimmer at 3.35 metres round but taller at 39 metres. The register still ranks the thicker, wider tree first. A silver maple ranked second in the county stands between the two, so three register trees share one short stretch of woodland. Another hackberry, at National Grove, matches this trunk exactly at 3.51 metres and ranks third, two and a half metres shorter. The register says nothing about age, and nobody has dated this tree. If you know how old it is, or have watched it over the years, tell us.