Bob,

It sounds like all of you had a wonderful time. I would have loved to
have been there. I loved the white pines and would have liked to have
seen them firsthand.

I hope the Congaree trip in Febuary is still on. Keep us updated. I
should be able to attend the Congaree trip.

James Parton.


On Nov 4, 12:19 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> ENTS
>
>    The following is a hastily put together rendezvous report. I will produce 
> a more polished version for Don Bragg and a future edition of the Bulletin.
>
> Bob
>
> Introduction
>
>             The time has arrived for the 2008 western Mass ENTS rendezvous to 
> be entered into the ENTS record book. Let it be noted that the rendezvous 
> officially commenced on Oct 30, 2008 and ended at the close of November 2nd. 
> We had an informal, if not subdued, gathering, but the event produced some 
> highly significant results. The report below covers the details of the 2008 
> rendezvous. However, before discussing the particulars, let me note that for 
> October 2009, we are considering switching to Cook Forest State Park for our 
> ENTS fall gathering. Details will be forthcoming.
>
> Thursday, October 30th
>
>             Monica and I picked up Will Blozan from the Hartford Airport on a 
> crisp Wednesday afternoon. Will came up from Black Mountain, North Carolina. 
> Due to challenges with his business, Will was making a special effort to 
> support the rendezvous and that effort will be noted throughout this report. 
> Dr. Lee Frelich arrived later in the evening from his long drive from 
> Minnesota. It was good to see my two old friends and they were in fro a 
> dinner treat. My special “everything in it including the kitchen sink” 
> vegetable chicken soup nourished the crew as we readied for the next day’s 
> planned event at Robinson State Park in Agawam, MA. The walk in Robinson was 
> organized to support the Friends of Robinson SP in its educational agenda. 
> That is one of the ENTS roles, i.e. education. The other is forest and tree 
> measurement and documentation. Around 28 people attended, which for a brisk 
> Thursday morning reflected a good level of interest in Robinson.
>             For those who do not know the property, Robinson SP is a diverse, 
> forested state park located in the towns of Agawam and Westfield, 
> Massachusetts. Within the 800-acre property there are around 51 or 52 species 
> of trees. This is a high level of diversity for an urban-suburban forested 
> park in Massachusetts. But for casual visitors, the diversity is not equally 
> distributed. There are spots of low diversity and other areas of high 
> diversity. You have to look, but it is not the sheer diversity that matters 
> most to ENTS. It is the exceptional community of tuliptrees that grow in 
> Robinson and the Park’s high Rucker Index. The Robinson tulips grow to large 
> size (for the latitude) and exhibit a level of regeneration that seems to 
> speak to a kind of niche that they are able to fill. For the October 30th 
> program, it was Liriodendron that was the main focus of our attention. We 
> walked and talked and at the end of the program, Will and I re-measured the 
> champion tall tuliptree in R
> obinson. Amidst the crown clutter, this time we got 139.7 feet. That was the 
> best we could do, but it is still well enough to keep that particular tree at 
> the top of the height chart for the species. The tall tulip is the state 
> height champion for the species, and as such, it contributes handsomely to 
> the Robinson SP Rucker Height Index (RHI). At 118.8, Robinson has the highest 
> RHI in the Connecticut River Valley region for a comparably sized property. 
> Mount Tom State Reservation, which we visited later, has the second highest 
> at 117.0, and that number is probably a little low. The index has not ben 
> fully updated in several years. But more than the RHI, our focus for Thursday 
> morning was Robinson’s tuliptrees, which often surpass 120 feet in height and 
> 9 to 10 feet in girth and a few trees reach girths of up to 11.5 feet. 
> Equally importantly, I saw a lot of regeneration, which I attributed to the 
> mild, exceptionally wet summer.
>             Robinson SP has a lot of red, black, and white oak growing in 
> sandy soils on the hills above the Westfield River – the dry zone. By 
> contrast, the slop zone that includes the drainages down to the Westfield 
> River is very rich and features most of the 51 or 52 species of trees. A thin 
> layer of clay helps retard quick drainage and moisture loss. Since our time 
> was limited, we concentrated on the larger, more conspicuous tuliptrees.
>             While at Robinson, we talked about the distinction between forest 
> health as seen through the eyes of the timber specialist versus the forest 
> ecologist. Lee provided the group with a succinct definition of forest health 
> that stressed balance and diversity. I will ask him to repeat his definition 
> for the benefit of all Ents. Lee puts the subject of forest health into 
> perspective, something the timber community cannot objectively do.
>             On our return from Robinson SP, we swung by Mount Tom State 
> Reservation to take a look at the new state champion black birch. I had 
> measured it to 8.5 feet in girth and 96.0 feet in height, but after a search, 
> Will nudged the height to 99.8 feet. We just couldn’t reach 100, but that did 
> not matter. There are a few black birches in Mt Tom that reach 100 feet with 
> the common maximum height between 85 and 95 feet. Yellow birch maximums are 
> typically 10 feet lower.
>             Thursday evening saw an impromptu concert for violin and piano by 
> Lee and Monica. Lee had brought his violin, and Will and I were the audience. 
> Both had to sight read the music, but all went well. Next year, we hope to 
> expand the size of the audience a bit.
>
> Friday, October 31st
>
>             We had a trip to the Notchview Reservation scheduled with 
> ecologist Julie Richburg and forester Jim Caffrey, both of the Trustees of 
> Reservations. The Trustees claim to be the oldest multiple-property 
> conservation organization in the United States and they are certainly the 
> oldest in Massachusetts. The Trustees manage around 25,000 acres spread 
> across 99 properties. Some are historical properties and some preserve 
> natural areas. I have visited only a handful of the 99 sites, most of which 
> are east of the Connecticut River. However, for exceptional tree hunting, I 
> have absolutely no doubt that western Massachusetts provides the best 
> locations for the Trustees properties. That is a truism for Massachusetts 
> forests, with perhaps a few notable exceptions.
>             Notchview is a 3,000-acre Trustee property of upland Berkshire 
> forests. Notchview reaches a high point of 2,297 feet. The property features 
> a Nordic Ski Center and is consequently a popular destination in the winter. 
> At the cited altitude and resultant low temperatures, 60 to 80 inches of snow 
> per year can go far, but as Jim Caffrey pointed out, global warming is 
> changing the conditions. Winter rain was once a maybe single annual event. 
> Not any more and rain plays havoc with snow packs for skiing. Still, the 
> average January temperature is around 20 degrees, with probably a dozen to a 
> dozen and a half sub-zero nights.
>             The forest mix at Notchview is interesting. Red spruce and balsam 
> fir intermingle with hardwoods, that include a lot of American beech, maple, 
> and birch. There is a little tamarack. Hemlock is also a prominent 
> constituent and there are patches of white pines where old fields once 
> existed. While the upland forest is ecologically interesting, it holds little 
> for the big tree enthusiast. The big stuff is supposed to be lower on the 
> ridges and  Notchview’s lowest elevations border the Westfield River, and it 
> is in the rich, moist areas where the big trees are supposed to be found. Out 
> task was to get to them.
>             The group of intrepid tree hunters included three employees from 
> the Trustees, Will, Lee, my old friend timber framer, architect, and surveyor 
> Jack Sobon, and lastly, myself. We began with an uphill ascent through 
> Windsor State Forest. Our plan was to climb up into Trustees land, cross over 
> a small plateau-like area, and down into the big tree zone adjacent to the 
> Westfield River. We started our walk among some fairly decent-sized trees. 
> One partially open-grown white pine along the trail measures a whopping 13.4 
> feet in girth and 136.0 feet in height. It is the Sobon Pine, named for Jack 
> Sobon who took me to it and has monitored it for at least a decade. The 
> tree’s multiple trunks detract from its overall appearance, but it is a huge 
> tree and worthy of our respect. It is a legitimate 13-footer and that puts in 
> high-stepping company.
>             As we left the vicinity of Steep Brook and climbed onto the ridge 
> side, we increasingly got a taste of the upland forests of the Berkshires. 
> They are often not much to look. In fact, to express it in my southern 
> vernacular, “the suck”. There was no reason to tarry, so, it was across a 
> snow covered ridge we went as fast conditions would permit. We then descended 
> into the narrow valley of the Westfield River Corridor where larger trees did 
> greet us. Unfortunately, while average tree size did increase, it did not do 
> so sufficiently for my tastes. The area had seen far too much past logging to 
> present us much to cheer about. There was a bright spot, though. Lee enjoyed 
> the walk, viewing the area from an ecological perspective, as he pondered the 
> mix of boreal conifers and mixed hardwoods. Perhaps, he will share his 
> thoughts as they take shape in his thinking.
>             So far as significant trees, we discovered only one that was 
> special, a slender black cherry that I measured to 116.0 feet in height. It 
> was about 5.6 feet in girth as I recall – a beanpole, but it did have a 
> presence. It showed us what the site is capable of eventually producing. 
> Beyond isolated cherries and basswoods, there are lots of sugar maple and 
> white ash on the site. Unfortunately, the ash trees are still too young to 
> show us much. Heights to between 100 and 115 feet at most were all we could 
> confirm. They need 25 to 30 more years.
>             With this complaining out of the way, I’m happy to take what I 
> c\an get. The black cherry was sufficient to kick the RHI for Trustees 
> properties to an impressive 121.2. The following table tells the RHI story as 
> it exists today, and we’ve barely got started.
>
> Rucker Height Index Report
> Trustees of Reservation Properties  
> SpeciesLocationHeightGirthENTS PointsDOM-Last
> WPBryant Woods156.510.11596.510/21/2008
> HMPetticoat Hill129.58.1849.610/21/2008
> CWBartholomew's Cobble12918.84559.41/16/2005
> WAPetticoat Hill119.210.21240.25/27/2007
> TTBartholomew's Cobble116.110.21207.95/26/2001
> BCNotchview1165.8390.210/31/2008
> SMBryant Woods114.26.5482.59/14/2002
> RMPetticoat Hill111.37.2577.05/9/2007
> SBHPetticoat Hill110.47.2572.35/9/2007
> NROPetticoat Hill109.87.7651.05/9/2007
> RHI 121.29.18  
>
>             On our way back from the Trustees property we returned to DCR’s 
> Windsor State Forest and entered a grove of large white pines. One tree is 
> officially named the Crows Nest Pine. I seldom see trees named in 
> Massachusetts, but here was an interesting one. Four large limbs created a 
> nest of sorts. Will quickly and ably climbed up into the crotch. He seemed to 
> like the large pine, although its shape was far removed from the 
> straight-trunked giants he regularly climbs. The Crows Nest Pine’s 
> measurements are: girth = 12.8 feet, height = 123.0 feet.
>             Before we left the area, we visited a swath of old growth 
> hemlock, red spruce, and yellow birch at a place called Windsor Jambs, named 
> for a narrow gorge where logs could get be trapped in a jamb. Lee did a rough 
> count of a hemlock stump to 280 years. There was no shortage of trees in the 
> 200-300-year age range. Windsor Jambs is one of the old-growth spots I 
> inventoried for DCR in the mid-1990s as part of a state-wide old growth 
> inventory on state lands. The swath of old growth covers 10 to 12 acres.  
>             Once back at the house, we refueled our ourselves and after 
> dinner were treated to another impromptu concert. This time great friend and 
> fellow Ent John Knuerr joined us. He had prepared a delicious vegetable 
> chili, which was the main course. John is German by birth and a darned good 
> cook. After the concert, John returned home and we all retired in preparation 
> for the big day, November 1st . Will’s 3rd climb of the Jake Swamp Pine was 
> the primary scheduled event.
>
> Saturday, November 1st
>
>             Will, Lee, and I arose early and headed to Mohawk Trail State 
> Forest (MTSF). Monica planned to join us later. She needs to follow a more 
> leisurely morning schedule. We ate at the famous Charlemont Inn. Mike Dunn, 
> an arborist from Philadelphia, joined us. Mike had requested permission to 
> join the group some days earlier. We were happy to accommodate him. He is 
> going to be an important addition to the ENTS\team of Pennsylvania. Also, 
> Pennsylvania Ent and important member of the PA A-team Carl Harting joined 
> us. Carl had stayed at the Inn the night before. With Carl there, it began to 
> seem like a real ENTS gathering.
>             At Mohawk Trail state forest John Knuerr, Doug Bidlock, Jack 
> Sobon , and others joined us. Once at the site of the Jake Swamp Tree, Will 
> and Mike rigged the tall pine. John Knuerr went up hill and did an 
> independent ground-based measurement of the tree and got 168.1 feet. At this 
> point, a brief digression is in order.
>             The Chief Jake Swamp Pine is probably the most frequently 
> measured forest tree on the planet, except maybe for trees used by schools 
> where large numbers of students practice their techniques. I frequently 
> measure the Jake tree to feed my database of measurements that reveal the 
> various patterns resulting from measuring a tree with different equipment and 
> in differing conditions of visibility. On my most recent ground-based 
> measurements of Jake, I had gotten 169.1 and 168.6 feet respectively. 
> Measurements prior to that went as high as 169.4 feet and as low as 167.5 
> over the course of the last two seasons. I knew the most likely height for 
> Jake would be in the mid-168s, unless I chose a lower base point, which I 
> talked myself into doing on one occasion. But knowing Will was going to climb 
> Jake, I got dead serious, and guess what? Jake’s official tape drop height is 
> 168.5 feet. That is 0.1 feet off my last measurement. Are we good or are we 
> good? Although I would have like
> d Jake to be taller, it is safe to conclude that our level of ground-based 
> accuracy is extremely high and those who would run simpler less accurate 
> measuring techniques in as competitors do so at their own peril.
>             While he was up in the tree, Will also modeled Jake for volume. 
> Incidentally, I had the pine at 570 cubes. Will calculated it to 573. That is 
> amazingly close, but before any of you think that I’ve got a case of the big 
> head, I acknowledge that I was lucky as will soon be seen. Even with the 
> Macroscope, volume modeling form the ground can be tricky because foliage 
> often obscures the trunk aloft as is the case for another tree that we 
> modeled on Sunday.
>             While on site, we took the opportunity to re-measure the Joe 
> Norton tree, companion to Jake. Jake and Joe are also known as the Twin 
> Sentinels. Joe Norton is the Grand Chief of the Kahnawake Mohawks near 
> Montreal. Joe has visited his tree as has Jake Swamp.
>             Our new ground-based measurement of Joe is 165.5 feet. So, MTSF 
> now has 3 trees that join the 50 meter club, a very exclusive club in 
> Massachusetts. Fifty meters equals 164.04 feet. Although, an entirely 
> arbitrary choice of height, 50 meters seems to me like a significant 
> threshold for an eastern tree to achieve and it is an easy number for people 
> to remember. In a couple of years, MTSF will likely have a 4th tree join the 
> club, the Tecumseh Tree. In 10 years there could be as many as 8 Mohawk pines 
> in the club.
>             Just after the climb, Andrew Joslin and companion joined us. We 
> wondered where they were. It turns out that they had spent the night 115 feet 
> or so up in the air in the Bear Tree located in the Algonquin Grove, north of 
> Stafford Meadow. They had not gotten to bed until 2:00AM and could not wake 
> up in time for the Jake climb. Nonetheless, having them join us was great. In 
> Andrew and his companion, we have two great Ents. Andrew and his companion 
> intended to sleep again that night in the Bear Tree. I should note that the 
> Bear Tree is a large white pine measuring 11.1 feet in circumference and 
> 151.1 feet in height. The Bear Tree is the largest pine in the Algonquin 
> Grove.
>             After the climb, our hike for the day was into Trout Brook Cove 
> on the south side of Route #2 to re-measure the champion tall ash tree, which 
> we originally named Sweet Thing. John Eichholz had measured the tree to 151.5 
> feet a couple of seasons before and we were hoping it had put on height 
> since. John Knuerr and I had tried to re-measure the ash a couple of weeks 
> earlier, but could not get a good fix on the crown due to intervening foliage 
> on nearby trees, but November 1st would be different. The leaves had all 
> fallen.
>             On the way to the ash grove, we took an off trail detour and 
> skirted an area with a scattering of large white pines. I had not measured 
> the pines for several seasons. One had grown into a 12-footer and surprised 
> me. The large, attractive tree now measures 12.1 feet in circumference and is 
> 140.9 feet in height. I am presently calling it the Lonesome Pine since it 
> stands pretty much by itself. Carl Haring measured another pine just down the 
> slope to slightly over 144 feet in height. All are relatively young pines, 
> growing like weeds.
>             As a brief digression into size, there are at least 5 
> single-stemmed white pines in the Trout Brook watershed now that have girths 
> of 12 feet – a magic threshold for white pines. There are two additional 
> pines in Trout Brook that are most likely doubles. Both exceed 12 feet in 
> girth. Big Bertha , which has sadly died, was the largest pine in Mohawk. 
> Bertha’s dimensions at the time of her death were: girth = 14.6 inches, 
> height = 148.4 feet. However, on a positive theme, there are more pines in 
> Mohawk poised to surpass 12 feet in girth. Next year the Tecumseh Tree in the 
> Elders Grove will most likely join the club of 12-footers.
>             Going down the size scale, there are at least 22 pines in Mohawk 
> that exceed 11 feet in girth, and no less than 70 that exceed 10 feet. The 
> number of 9-footers is not less than 160. This girth distribution for the 
> Mohawk Pines is almost as significant as the extraordinary height 
> distribution. I say almost, because pines above 140 feet, common in Mohawk, 
> are extremely thinly distributed elsewhere across the New England landscape, 
> The number of pines over say 11 feet in girth are more numerous, but it is 
> time to end the digression and return to our trek up Trout Brook.
>             We dropped Monica off along the banks of Trout Brook so she could 
> commune with the water spirits and allow herself to be enraptured by the 
> rhythmic sounds of the flowing water. Monica is first and foremost a water 
> person and the sounds of water splashing over rocks are magical to her. She 
> is never happier than when sitting beside a brook, watching, listening, and 
> communing.
>             With Monica comfortably positioned to enjoy her water symphony, 
> we continued up the brook. Once on the ridge side where the tall ash grew, 
> the group began scanning the canopy. The trees soared. Lee calls the slopes a 
> super site, rich in minerals, moisture, and located for protection. On John’s 
> and my prior visit, I had put an orange tape around the ash tree so I could 
> quickly locate it on the day of the walk. Time was of the essence.
>             As soon as the tree was located, measurers began to take their 
> positions. The tree’s crown was sufficiently exposed to enable us to see it 
> perfectly. Carl and I served as the principal measurers and to make a long 
> story short, we measured the ash to 150.3 feet. That falls short of John 
> Eichholz’s maximum of 151.5, but it is sufficient to keep the tree in the 
> number one spot for its species in the Northeast.
>             After we returned home, Will let it be known that he really 
> wanted to do another climb. So we settled on the Tecumseh Tree in the Elders 
> Grove for Sunday’s impromptu event. Lee would accompany us to the site of the 
> hallowed tree and stay as long as he could before having to leaving for his 
> long drive back to the frigid land that is called Minnesota. So, with Will’s 
> choice of tree, we had a plan and retired for the night.
>
> Sunday, November 2nd
>
>             We arose a little later and then headed straightaway for the 
> Charlemont Inn. Monica took her car. She would be leaving early. Will and I 
> road in my car and Lee rode in his car, since he would be leaving from the 
> site around noon. At the Charlemont Inn, we met Ent mathematician and tree 
> measurer extraordinaire John Eichholz. It was great to see John again. Over 
> the past couple of years, his grueling schedule has kept him out of the 
> tree-measuring picture for all but a few outings. Hopefully, he will now be 
> able to reenter the measuring world. John is as good as tree measurers get. 
> He is indespinsible.
>             As we reached the parking area, we were joined by my great friend 
> Professor Gary Beluzo. Gary had not made it to the previous day’s climb and 
> it just did not seem right without him. With Gary joining us, it had finally 
> become a full-fledged ENTS gathering. The group moved down the trail 
> following the Deerfield River toward the magnificent Elders Grove, arguably 
> Mohawk’s . Once at the Tecumseh Tree, Will expertly rigged it as he had the 
> Jake Swamp Pine the day before. Monica positioned herself to be comfortable 
> among the great pines and near to the pine she named – the Sitting Bull Pine. 
> Monica is becoming a forest spirit as well as a water spirit.
>             I was especially anxious to know the tape drop height of 
> Tecumseh. I had previously measured the huge pine at 163.9 feet and later at 
> 163.1 feet. I settled on the latter as the better measurement. Now it was 
> John’s turn to measure Tecumseh from the ground. He measured it as Will began 
> his climb. John got 163.0 feet exactly and reported it to me. When Will 
> reached the point to put the pole against the highest leader, John 
> photographed the pole against the leader from up the ridge. Will set the 
> tape, and I read Tecumseh’s height at exactly 163.0 feet. This was yet 
> another confirmation of the level of measuring accuracy that we have been 
> able to attain in ENTS.
>             As he descended, Will took girth measurements to allow us to 
> model Tecumseh and provide us with our most accurate modeling of the tree to 
> date. On two previous attempts, I had lots of problems getting sound reticle 
> measurements because of limb interference. I eventually calculated the big 
> pine’s volume at 671 cubic feet. That was several years ago. However, a 
> calculation that uses the conical volume taken as the average using the root 
> collar and DBH height as the bases for the cones yielded 774 cubes. This 
> value checked closely the volume derived by taking diameters at 2.5, 4.5, 50, 
> 100, and the top and modeling by frustum. This latter method yielded 773 
> cubes, a remarkable match. Bear in mind that these calculations were made 
> when Tecumseh had a girth of 11.7 feet and a height of 161.7 feet.
>             Will’s determination turned out to be 779 cubes with Tecumseh 
> drop tape measured to 163 feet and girth measured to 11.9 feet. So, those are 
> the final measurements. I don’t know what happened on the 671 cube modeling I 
> previously did, but it obviously was off by a lot. However, the other methods 
> of calculating volume were very significant. Evidently, Tecumseh’s shape fits 
> with assumptions implicit in those modelings.
>             After Will packed his gear, John Eichholz, Gary Beluzo, Will, and 
> I headed up Clark Ridge to check on two highly significant trees on Clark 
> Ridge - the champion American Beech and the Ash Queen. The latter is the 
> first ash that we confirmed to over 140 feet in MTSF and it spawned an 
> extensive search for other 140-footers. That first measurement was 144.8 feet 
> and it was taken with Drs. Tom Wessels and Rick Van de Poll, then with 
> Antioch College in Keene, NH.
>             As we moved up the steep ridge, we first located a tall appearing 
> beech, which we measured to a girth of 7.9 feet and height of 125.4 feet. The 
> beech is a significant tree, but not our champion. We were beginning to 
> wonder if the champ had fallen, at least I held those fears. We continued 
> climbing up the ridge, crossing a boulder field and entering into the domain 
> of the Ash Queen – a magical place, the abode of hobbits and tree spirits. I 
> looked up the slopes, and there she stood. She still survived and continued 
> to rule her domain as she had for years. Once again, I felt inspired. I knew 
> why I was on that ridge, measuring and recording for posterity the tree 
> treasures of Clark Ridge.
>             Careful measurements by John Eichholz and I now place the Ash 
> Queen at 146.1 feet. Reestablishing the base of the tree according to Will’s 
> method gives the Queen a substantial girth of 10.4 feet. This is one time I 
> had been conservative on mid-slope.
>             On the way down, John spotted the champion beech. He got a good 
> fix on its location. It is in good shape, but in the short period we had, 
> John could confirm only a little over 126 feet of tree height. Its girth is 
> 8.5 feet and it is disease free. I will soon revisit the beech and spend more 
> time with it. Hopefully, John will join me. I can use all the help I can get. 
> American beeches are among the most difficult trees to measure accurately.
>             As a final tree measurement, I re-measured an ash tree that I had 
> measured years ago with a transit when the tree was around 132 feet in 
> height. I am proud to report that the ash is now 140.5 feet in height and 8.6 
> feet in girth. It joins the 140 Club for ash trees and reinforces the height 
> dominance of the white ash among Mohawk’s hardwoods. The ash rules the 
> hardwoods in Massachusetts. Not even the mighty tuliptree challenges the ash 
> in the bay state.
>               Returning home, I felt a little sad. Lee had left mid-day and 
> Will would be returning to North Carolina the following day. Carl had 
> returned to Pennsylvania, Gary would be returning to his grueling teaching 
> schedule at Holyoke Community College, and John to his job with the Co-op. 
> The gathering of the Ents was at end. But as I thought about the day, I had 
> fresh memories of the Queen and would return to my den where a 
> stitched-together picture of her sets, courtesy of Dianne Gray, an 
> exceptional photographer who had taken a composite picture of the Ash Queen 
> for me some years previously. For me, the Ash Queen holds the magic of the 
> forest, of secret forest places. She is the source of the power that drives 
> me to measure and record the treasures of Mohawk Trail State Forest. It was a 
> good rendezvous. No, it was a great rendezvous and I give my heartfelt thanks 
> to all who were able to participate.  
>             As a final topic, I would like to pay special tribute to Will 
> Blozan, the esteemed ENTS president. Since 1994, Will has been coming to 
> Massachusetts and participating in old growth conferences and special ENTS 
> events. Most noteworthy are Will’s keen measuring eye and his stellar tree 
> climbs. Will has established the standard by which informationally useful 
> tree climbs can be judged. I have compiled a table of Will’s Massachusetts 
> climbs, but before presenting the table, I want to point out that Will’s 
> contribution to our scientific and historical understanding of the white pine 
> in New England and Massachusetts in particular is sorely under-appreciated 
> both by environmental groups and the state’s forests and parks. The 
> Commonwealth’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is extremely 
> fortunate to have the free services of ENTS and the contribution of Will 
> Blozan, in particular. There is no question that ENTS fills a void in DCR’s 
> publicly promoted perspective o
> f the Massachusetts forested landscape. I do believe the leaders of DCR know 
> this and are appreciative, but I regret to say that without Will’s 
> contribution and that of other ENTS, the DCR perspective would be almost 
> wholly based on timber values. Historic, aesthetic, cultural, and ecological 
> perspectives contributed by mature and old growth forests and large, 
> charismatic trees would be shortchanged, if not ignored entirely. Although, I 
> am disinclined to want to generalize too much, I am struck by the limited 
> interest I receive from timber people (as opposed to non-timber people) when 
> presenting specialized ENTS tree and forest data in briefings and on 
> interpretive walks. A few are genuinely interested, but most are not, 
> wondering why I have chosen to spend so much time on a pursuit of almost no 
> practical value from their perspective. So, it is left to ENTS to continue 
> collecting data that present species data in a historically meaningful 
> comparative light. To this end, we are fore
> ver indebted to Will’s contribution. I could also speak volumes to the 
> contributions of others such as Lee Frelich, Gary Beluzo, John Knuerr, and 
> others, and will do so in time, but what stands out very clearly in my mind 
> at this time is the tremendous effort that Will has made to help 
> Massachusetts appreciate its treasure in significant trees. Without further 
> comment, the following table summarizes Will’s Massachusetts climbs.
>
> Will Blozan's Massachusetts Tree Climbs  
> Nov 1998 - Nov 2008    
> TreeDatePropertyStandHeight Today's Height
> Jake SwampNov-98MTSFTrees of Peace158.6168.5
> SahedaNov-98MTSFElders158.3164.1
> Jake SwampOct-01MTSFTrees of Peace160.9168.5
> Joe NortonOct-01MTSFTrees of Peace159.6165.5
> TecumsehOct-03MTSFElders160.1163.0
> ThoreauOct-04MSFDunbar Brook160.3160.3
> MetacometOct-05MTSFPocumtuck Pines146.6147.5
> Ice GlenOct-06Laurel Hill Assoc.Ice Glen154.4154.4
> GrandfatherOct-07MSFDunbar Brook143.3143.3
> Dunbar HemlockOct-07MSFDunbar Brook115.5115.5
> TunkashalaOct-07Sandisfield SF 93.093.0
> SahedaOct-07MTSFElders163.3164.1
> Jake SwampNov-08MTSFTrees of Peace168.5168.5
> TecumsehNov-08MTSFElders163.0163.0
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Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org

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