Estimating Tree Height

Use the simple stick method to quickly determine the falling distance of a tree.

There are many tools that can be used to estimate the height of a tree including an Abney hand level, a hypsometer, a transit, a clinometer, a relascope, or a laser. However, if you need a quick estimate, there is always the simple stick method.

1. Hold the stick at its base vertically, making certain that the length of the stick above your hand equals the distance from your hand to your eye.

2. Staying on the same contour as the base of the tree (in other words, don't go up or down hill) move away from the tree while sighting the trunk base above your hand.

3. Stop when the top of the stick is level with the top of the tree. You should be looking over your hand at the base of the tree and, moving only your eyes, looking over the top of your stick at the top of your tree. You are standing at the point where, if the tree were cut, the top of the tree would land.

Measure how far you are from the tree and that measurement - in feet - is the tree's height.