Illinois's Biggest Tree Discovered in New Preserve
At 122 feet tall and almost 29 feet around, the cottonwood beat out the previous champion tree, a cypress in southern Illinois.
Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Sign up for Outside+ today.
Move over, cypress–there’s a new champion tree in town. Forest preserve officials in Byron discovered the new biggest tree in Illinois, an eastern cottonwood that measures 122 feet in height and almost 29 feet in circumference. The tree is part of a parcel of land recently acquired by the Byron Forest Preserve District, now called Bald Hill Prairie Preserve.
