Arbor Day takes place Friday, April 28, and it's all about the trees. Johnson County is home to 28 Champion Trees in 2023, through a program that honors the state’s biggest trees.

The 28 trees recognized are among the 140 total Champion Trees in Kansas on the 2023 list. The program, dating to the early 1960s, is managed by the Kansas Forest Service at Kansas State University.

A Kansas Champion Tree is determined by a point system that includes height, crown, spread and trunk size. Circumference is the most important factor. Each tree is measured against trees of the same species.

The Champion Trees include five species of oak, three species of pine, two species of birch along with species of ash, cherry, elm, hazelnut, hemlock, magnolia, maple, soapberry and sweetgum.

Olathe has the most local champion trees with seven. Six trees are located in both Prairie Village and Overland Park. Leawood has three trees; Mission Hills and Shawnee each have two trees; and there is one designated tree in Stilwell and Westwood.

Champion Trees come in all sizes. A pecan, towering 139 feet at Fort Leavenworth, is the tallest on the 2023 list. The tallest champ in Johnson County is a swamp white oak, with a height of 99 feet, in Prairie Village.

A 17-foot American fringe tree in Prairie Village is tied with an American hornbeam tree at Baker University in Baldwin City as the shortest Champion Trees in Kansas.

A silver maple at the Timberlake Girl Scout Camp in Stilwell has the widest circumference at 25 1/2 feet among all Champion Trees.

View the 2023 list of Champion Trees.