BUTLER TWP — To find the seven champions at Preston Park, 415 S. Eberhart Road, don't look for big ribbons such as the ones at the Big Butler Fair and the Butler Farm Show.

Instead, look for discrete markers identifying a Ponderosa pine, Pacific silver fir, European silver fir, Leana oak, Serbian spruce, Lawson false cypress and noble fir as Big Trees of Pennsylvania. Each is a champion as the largest of their tree species in the state.

“If it wasn't for Fred Lochner declaring the fact, no one would have known,” said Butler Township Commissioner Dave Zarnick. Butler Township owns the park.

“Lochner was a naturalist,” said Preston Park volunteer Dave Heltzell.

According to Heltzell, Lochner told Butler Township leaders about the champion designations in 2012. Lochner had nominated the trees years earlier.

Heltzell said Preston Park's champion trees are among the 461 species in the Pennsylvania Forestry Association's Big Trees of Pennsylvania Registry.

The association considers three measurements before designating a champion tree: circumference of the trunk, height of the tree and maximum crown spread of the tree. The association specifies the measurement methods and who can verify the measures.

“There are points assigned for each measurement,” Heltzell said.

The champions at the park were measured in 2004. If there was a claim that one of the Preston Park trees was no longer the biggest of its species, Heltzell said someone would have to visit the park to measure the trees again.

“We would be able to challenge it to still keep our status,” Zarnick said.

According to Zarnick, the 98-acre Preston Park property was a gift to Butler Township from Dr. Frank W. Preston and his wife, Jane Hupman Preston. With the gift came specific instructions for managing the property and using it for municipal recreational purposes.

Zarnick said the park was the site of Preston Laboratories, a glass research facility, and the Prestons' home.

Frank Preston traveled worldwide using his expertise to solve problems in the glass industry.

“They would send him back with saplings and seeds,” Zarnick said.

A two-acre mowed field near the park entrance is surrounded by trees and called the arboretum. Heltzell said most of the trees were planted between 1936 and 1942.

“Dr. Preston planted approximately 40 different kinds of evergreens many years ago to create the arboretum,” Heltzell said.

Heltzell had a straightforward answer for why the champions got so big.

“They were just allowed to grow uninterrupted without people encroaching,” Heltzell said.

Zarnick's favorite trees at the park are the Pacific Silver fir and the Metasequoia.

“If other people had these in their yard they'd probably cut them down. They'd say they were too big,” Zarnick said.

The Pacific silver fir was 65 feet tall in 2004, but Heltzell and Zarnick said it is still growing.

The Metasequoia (dawn redwood tree) is not a champion tree, but it is very large and unusual. Heltzell said it was thought to be extinct until one reemerged in China in 1944. Its estimated growth is two to four feet per year.

Thanks to Ethan Turner of Renfrew, visitors don't need any measuring equipment to find the biggest trees. As an Eagle Scout project in 2013, he led an effort to research, develop and install Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources markers for each of the champion trees.

“People are just starting to realize what's in Preston Park,” Zarnick said.

Every day from sunrise to sunset visitors can stroll or run, walk their dogs and ride their bikes on four and a half miles of marked gravel and bark trails. Visitors can rest on the park's benches, find tables for picnics or catch and release fish at the park's ponds.

Jaye Young took a group of youngsters to Preston Park earlier this summer and they visited the champion trees. Young works with children younger than 11 in her Penn State Extension role as 4-H after-school coordinator for Butler County.

“They were surprised how many were out there and that some were quite large,” Young said.

The trip to Preston Park offered an opportunity to talk about habitats for birds and insects.

“I think [Preston Park] has a lot of possibilities,” Young said. “We want to get them out there to see what's in our environment.”

“So often with people working so much to try to get by, they sort of forget that these are things that kids need to do — to get out and explore,” she said.

Zarnick said Preston Park has many caretakers. A few township employees provide maintenance and township police patrol the park. However, Zarnick gives a lot of credit to other people in the community.

Volunteers make up the Monday Morning Maintenance Crew and Zarnick said community service workers from the Butler County Prison also help take care of the park.

Although most of the park's vegetation grows unrestrained, the park's trails and open areas are maintained.

“The champion trees are just one example of the diversity of plant life on the property,” Heltzell said.

Zarnick said, “Every day there's something new to see out here.”

The Pennsylvania Forestry Association is a citizen's organization for leadership and education in forest management. For information about the Champion Tree Program in Pennsylvania, visit www.pabigtrees.com.

To learn more about Preston Park, visit www.butlertwp.org/preston-park. The site has information about performances in the park including William Shakespeare's “As You Like It” that begins this weekend.