Sampling Trees Using an Increment Borer

Tree cores are collected from trees using a forestry tool first developed in Germany more than 100 years ago called an increment borer. The increment borer is a simple but powerful tool with a long, hollow drill bit that isolates a pencil-sized core spanning bark to middle of the tree. Because this is a manual tool, and because the coring cavity is so small, this manner of collecting tree-ring samples leaves minimal evidence of the extraction and no long-term damage to tree growth or tree health. Images credit: ReBecca Hunt-Foster, NPS Dinosaur National Monument