Ahh, Tionesta, I forgot about those. I can't see them in my head though... can you describe their rough location? Maybe that'll get the memory juices flowing.
Dale > Dale, > > > > Cool stuff! I like the appearance of tree-of-heaven but not the > circumstances of their presence. Remember the fire cherries at Tionesta we > saw with Jess? They were a good bit larger. > > > > Will F. Blozan > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > _____ > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Dale Luthringer > Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 11:04 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ENTS] Ft. Machault & Hoge Island-Allegheny River > > > > ENTS, > > > > On 9/5/08 I had a trip to Franklin, PA to research a canoe purchase for the > park. After I was finished, I took some time to scout the old Ft.Machault > site and Hoge Island. Ft. Machault was one of the original French forts > built on the Allegheny River drainage during the French & Indian War: > > > > http://www.brigniagara.org/Warforempire.htm > > > > "In the spring of 1753, French forces departed Montreal to establish a chain > of forts in the Ohio country. Originally ordered to go to the Chautauqua > area, they received new orders changing their destination to Presqu'ile > (modern day Erie, PA). The French force arrived at Presqu'ile on May 3, > 1753. They began work preparing the site for the fort on a bluff overlooking > the peninsula and Lake Erie, near Mill Creek. The French proceeded to build > another fort at la riviere au le Boeufs (present day Waterford, PA). From > this spot the French could transport their supplies by la riviere au Boeufs > (also known as French Creek) to Fort Machault (Venango) and the Ohio River > where they would build Fort Duquesne (present day Pittsburgh)." > > > > "1754 > -The French reinforce their forces in the Ohio via lakes Ontario and Erie > and build Fort Machault (present day Franklin, PA) and Fort Duquesne > (Pittsburgh). > -Washington Surrenders Fort Necessity." > > > > > > There is no visible structure of Ft. Machault today. If one can read the > lay of the land, and has some knowledge on how these forts were set up, one > kind find the site with its associated terrain. I believe it was located on > French Creek, just upstream from the confluence of the Allegheny River. The > entire site is now a "community park". > > > > Just up-river from the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River is > Hoge Island. I wasn't able to get on the island, but was able to observe > some of its tree species. mainly silver maple. Small stature silver maple > was located on the lower terrace, with larger silver maple dominating the > upper terrace. From a distance, it looked like the silver maple on the > upper terrace would not have significant heights. Other species visible on > the island include sycamore and black willow with Japanese knotweed on the > river edge. > > > > The old Ft. Machault site was a nice walk, but invasive species were > evident: Japanese knotweed, privet, tree of heaven. It was nice to measure > two new species for our Allegheny River drainage tally: boxelder, fire > cherry. Tree of heaven played games with me in terms of its ID. I never > saw them this big before (medium tree sized). The sumaras were quite > distinctive. I wanted to call them black walnut something fierce, but there > were no nuts, and they certainly didn't have the bark: > > > > http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=7 > > > > Thankfully, I haven't seen these yet at Cook Forest. I didn't measure any, > since they were heavily guarded by poison ivy on the ground and crawling up > their trunks, but they were decent in size, say ~14" DBH x ~60ft high. Next > time I'm in the area I'll try to be a little more persistent and see if I > can get a decent height for one of these. > > > > Also thought I'd add a fire cherry to our PA list at 0.9ft CBH x 24.3ft > high. Looks like a new state champ. first one on the list though. > > > > Here's the day's tally: > > > > Species CBH Height Comments > > > > Boxelder 4.7 20.2 > > Butternut 8.8(3ft up) 72.1+ > > Fire cherry .9 24.3 41 23.391N > x 79 49.249W > > Honey locust 10.4 73 > > Silver maple N/A 87.1+ > > Silver maple ~20(2x) 91.1 > > Sycamore N/A 90.9 > > Sycamore N/A 98.8 > > Tree of heaven ~3.1 ~60 > > > > > > Dale > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
