- [Will] This is such a picture-perfect nurse log, right here.

Isn't it just like so perfect?

- [Brian] This is really awesome.

- [Narrator] For most of us, a grove of 200 foot Douglas fir is an awesome site.

But Will Koomjian and Brian French are self-described tree nerds and they have an entirely different set of standards.

- [Will] That's the one, standing strong.

- [Narrator] This is the Brummit fir, and at 327 feet, it's the tallest Douglas fir in the world.

- When I think about this tree and I see the Douglas fir on our license plates here in Oregon, I feel like this is our state tree.

This is the one, we're looking at it.

This is what we're proud of here in Oregon.

- It's not just a tall, skinny one.

It's like a real monster, just proud tree.

- Yeah and now when we think about tall trees, most people think about the redwoods.

But Douglas fir, at one time, was actually the tallest species in the world.

- [Narrator] In the late 1800s, Pacific Northwest Doug fir were often documented between 350 and 400 feet.

This famous fir near Mineral, Washington stood 393 feet tall until the 1000-year-old behemoth was toppled by a windstorm in 1930.

More than 150 years of logging have all but eliminated the giants of the species.

So here in Coos County, Oregon, the Brummit, also known as the Doerner fir, may be the last one standing.

These biggest, tallest, and oldest trees are called champion trees.

And documenting them is the mission of Will and Brian's group, Ascending the Giants.

- Ascending the Giants is just a volunteer group that tries to keep track of the champion trees in the state of Oregon, you know, the superlative trees, the largest, tallest, oldest.

- [Narrator] The Brummit fir is the champion Douglas fir, but its days are numbered.

- [Brian] When we measured it in 2008, the top of the tree actually had a little bit of foliage up there.

Now the top, you know, 50 or 60 feet of the tree is actually dead and, unfortunately, a tree with a dead top can't get any taller.

So we're looking for a runner up or a tree that's taller that has a live top because we're always trying to find that larger tree.

- [Narrator] In 2007, Will and Brian got some help from an unexpected source.

- My name is Ian Madin, I'm the chief scientist for the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, commonly called DOGAMI.

- Hey.

- [Ian] Brian, Ian Madin.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you at last.

- [Narrator] A few years ago, DOGAMI began using a laser surveying technology, known as LiDAR, to make detailed maps of the state.

- Now, we can see under the forest canopy and we can see all the secrets that are hiding in there and amazing things pop out, there we go.

When we first got this data on the south coast back in 2007, I spotted a couple of these tall trees, and I thought that was really cool, and I Googled around and found Ascending the Giants.

And I sent them a bunch of locations.

- [Narrator] Though this is the first time they've actually met, Ian's data have kept Brian and Will busy for almost a decade now.

- So, the tallest we found that still exists there is 322.

- [Ian] Well, I've got a ton then, that are potentially taller than that.

- Wow, cool.

Yeah.

I've used the automated technique to identify about 100 trees that are potential candidates.

The red points are the highest points, and so you can actually pick one of those and fly to it and take a closeup look at the tree that's actually making that.

So, this particular guy is somewhere in the 335 foot tall range.

- [Brian] Is this a potential slope here?

- That's really, you know, the $64,000 question is what does the ground look like underneath the tree?

And if it's standing on a really steep slope like this and leaning out a little bit, then it's cheating to get that height.

- [Brian] Right.

- So we have another approach to look at that, which is to actually look at the point cloud.

- [Narrator] Point clouds provide a three dimensional snapshot of a particular tree.

Still, thick forest canopies make it hard for laser points to penetrate all the way to the ground.

- This is as good as we can get in here is sort of the difference of 10 or 15 feet as to where the base is and there's really no way to determine which is right other than to go out there and take a look at it.

So that's where you guys come in.

- Cool, yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] With Ian's new GPS coordinates in hand, Will and Brian Head into a hidden pocket of old growth between the vast clear cuts in the southern Oregon coast range.

- [Brian] This is pretty gorgeous this morning.

- This forest is kind of like a bridge to the past.

It's a bridge to what this would've looked like 200 years ago, there are very few forests in the world that are capable of getting this tall.

This forest, this Douglas fir forest just west of Roseburg, it's one of the top three in the world.

Yeah, there's some really nice trees in here.

- [Narrator] Part of what's protected ancient groves like this one are the steep, rugged hill sides and deep ravines that made them difficult for early loggers to work.

- [Will] So we're real close Brian, I get like 10 more meters this way.

- [Brian] Oh, Will, that's like another leaner.

- [Narrator] Unfortunately, leaning trees like this one are common.

- It's looking pretty likely that it's this tree that's leaning out over a gulch, which is disappointing because it means that the LiDAR is probably exaggerating the height of the tree.

- [Narrator] New technologies like LiDAR and GPS are helpful for locating tall trees in large tracks of forest.

But at ground level they're less exact.

- The GPS shows it being like right around over there, the LiDAR hit.

You know, that one over there also looks really tall.

- [Brian] It's also on this side of the creek.

- Yeah.

- [Brian] Climbing a tree takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, a lot of work.

So the first thing we do is we take a preliminary measurement with a laser.

- [Will] What are you getting, Brian?

- [Brian] I can't see through that hemlock foliage.

- [Will] Yeah, it is possible to get really, really good measurements with a laser, but if we really want to get the proper height then we say, "All right, well let's climb it "and drop a tape."

- [Brian] That's a gorgeous crown too.

- Yeah, let's go check it out.

If we found something that was 315, we would be really happy.

If we found something that was 320 with a live top, we would be like over the moon excited, yeah.

You'd see grown men cry.

(lightly chuckling) - Right, I'm gonna go ahead and load this thing up.

- [Narrator] A crossbow establishes a line high into the crown.

(crossbow pings) - [Will] Did you actually just get that?

- [Brian] I think I got pretty close.

- [Narrator] The climbing rope is then anchored to a neighboring tree and the line is tested.

- Okay, I'm weighting the line, Brian.

You know, we do everything we can to visually inspect it from the ground but, you know, in these huge dense Douglas firs, you can't see everything.

- [Brian] Can you bounce a couple times?

Headache.

- [Will] Headache.

- [Narrator] Snapping branches are part of the process.

- If we're gonna break that, we want to break that down here and not halfway up the tree.

Okay, go ahead, bounce, yeah.

- [Will] It feels a lot more solid now.

- [Brian] That looks solid.

- [Will] Yeah one, two, three.

It's definitely a process that requires a lot of experience and a lot of intuition.

- [Brian] Okay, yeah, that's good.

- Because you can't know for sure what's going on with that line until you get up there and see it.

And you're trusting your life to it so you want to be sure.

- [Narrator] Then it's time for something the guys call... - [Brian] That morning commute.

Yeah.

- [Will] Totally.

- It's kind of a commute.

- [Will] Yeah.

(Brian panting) - [Narrator] I don't know about you, but my commute is not like this.

(Will panting) - Being up in the crown of a tree is a really, really cool feeling.

It's totally different than other kinds of climbing because you're climbing this living thing that's all around you.

Whereas, you know, if you're hundreds of feet up a rock wall, there's that little voice always in your head saying, "Oh my goodness, you're gonna fall."

And so it makes it a little bit more stressful.

Yeah, I mean, being up in a big tree, especially a dense crown tree like a Douglas fir, I find it really relaxing, actually.

- The tree becomes your new center of gravity or your new ground and I mean you can't help to feel like you're always in the center of it.

But as moving through the crown, there's also this movement that the tree offers in the wind.

And so it's very calming, it's a place to reflect.

Oh wow, this valley is amazing, gorgeous.

- [Will] I wouldn't be surprised if there's several trees in here that are potential contenders.

- [Brian] Yeah.

- [Narrator] Once securely at the top, the business of measuring begins.

- [Brian] The top of the tree is fragile, so we use the telescopic pole to measure the upper point.

- [Will] Okay, you on?

- [Brian] Right there.

6 foot 3 inches.

- [Will] Okay.

- [Brian] But now we need to measure from that point down to the ground.

And then this will give us our height of the tree.

Make sure it's in the right spot, there we go.

- [Will] So we got the tape measure through the point we want, I'm gonna head down and I'm gonna guide the tape through the branches so we know we have it on a straight line.

- [Brian] Sounds good.

- [Will] All right.

Okay, lower a bit.

- [Brian] Tape coming.

- [Will] Yep, keep going.

It really takes some teamwork and getting that tape to go straight down the tree without being deflected by anything is the key to getting a really good measurement.

And then, of course, having somebody on the ground.

- In this case, that's me.

Okay, tape's on the ground.

(walkie beeping) - Okay, I'm gonna be tugging on that a little bit, so just keep it there.

Oh my god, that's so perfect.

- [Will] Awesome.

- [Brian] All right, 300 feet and 5 inches.

- [Will] Is that to the point where we sent the pole up?

- [Brian] Yep.

- [Narrator] The measurements from the tape and the telescopic pole are now added together to get the tree's official height.

- [Brian] All right, so our official measurement is 306 feet and 8 inches.

- [Will] Not bad for Douglas fir.

- [Brian] Not bad at all.

- [Narrator] So, it's not a champion tree, but it does have a live top so it's still growing.

And from what Brian and Will have seen of this grove, they're not discouraged.

- [Will] I wouldn't be surprised if we were able to find something in this area that was over 310, maybe who knows, over 315.

- [Narrator] So, the search continues?

- [Brian] Yeah.

- Yeah.

I would say that we'll keep doing this until we find a champion tall Douglas fir.

But the truth is, if we find a champion tall Douglas fir, we're still gonna keep doing this so... (both chuckling) - Great people just doing their thing in their own north westy way.

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