
have located using data supplied by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
By Laney Griffo
For more than a decade, big tree hunter Michael Taylor has been bagging big tree finds. This past October, he added the second, third and sixth tallest known sugar pines to his list of finds.
The second and third tallest Sugar Pines are located in Tahoe National Forest and measure at 267.5 ft and 267.15 ft. The 267.15 foot tree, dubbed the “Redonkulous” tree, measures at 10.5 feet in diameter at the breast height, which is 4.5 feet up from the ground.
The sixth tallest Sugar Pine, which is still unnamed as is the second tallest, was found in Stanislaus National Forest and is 263.17 ft tall.
Taylor is a LiDAR specialist, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. According to NOAA, LiDAR, “is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.” Taylor said the laser gives billions and or even trillions of returns which can be used to construct a surface map.
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