Neil, Outstanding! You don't post offen, but when you do it is dynamite.
Bob -------------- Original message -------------- From: neil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > Hi All, > > I want to share with fellow tree enthusiasts some exciting discoveries > and forest ecology research in the Inner Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. > This region is based primarily of Ordivician limestone and sits upon a > slightly higher formation called the Jessamine Dome. The soils of the > region are among the most valuable in the commonwealth. It is the > location of the first settlements in Kentucky [Fort Boonesborough, > Harrodsburgh, Danville, Logan's Fort, Bryan's Station, etc.] during the > late-1700s. Of course, horse farms still dominate the region. Thus, > there is little forest across the region. The exception to this is the > Palisades formation along the Kentucky River. > > I was asked by Beverly James, preserve manager, to look into the age > structure of Floracliff Nature Sanctuary along the Inner Bluegrass in > southern Fayette County [http://www.floracliff.org/about.html]. I was > not too hopeful in the potential for old trees because the preserve is > close to a major corridor [now I-75], has a series of fields within the > sanctuary, is close to Lexington, KY, and, from an earlier visit, is > dominated by a second-growth forest being overrun by bush honeysuckle. > Yet, on the first visit, Beverly and her assistant Althea Wiggs, brought > me to some very interesting looking chinkapin oaks, trees that seemed a > bit out of place in the second-growth forest. > > Sure enough, their ages indicate they are out of place. In fact, they > are from another time. > > With a great crew, now including Dr. Ryan McEwan of U. of Dayton, Ciara > _____ (volunteer asst. at Floracliff) and Chris Boyer (undergrad at > Eastern KY U), the six of us cored 20 living chinkapin [or chinquapin, > if you prefer]. The first tree we cored came in at 372 yrs, the oldest > documented tree in KY at the time. that record did not last too long, > however. The second tree came in at 398 yrs, now the oldest-documented > tree in KY. About half of the remaining sample shows chinkapin oaks from > a different era living in Floracliff. > > Below is the 'prelim' age structure for the chinquapin oak at > Floracliff. These are ring counts, except for the two oldest individuals > (who are cross-dated versus the other oak chronologies in eastern KY), > so many of these ages could be ±5-10 yrs. We have not ring counted just > the most interesting individuals. > > Tree Date/Rings Comments > 1 1637/372 yrs cross-dated > 2 1611/398 yrs cross-dated > 3 109 yrs ring count > 4 153 yrs ring count > 5 147 yrs ring count - shows a release from > competition in 1920s > 6 351 yrs ring count > 7 321 yrs ring count > 8 212 yrs ring count - rotten tree, ~ 1/2 of the radius > 9 219 yrs ring count > 11 315 yrs ring count > 12 349 yrs ring count > 14 287 yrs ring count - rotten tree > 16 344 yrs ring count > 17 370 yrs ring count > 19 341 yrs ring count > 20 81 yrs ring count - tree next to main trail > > At least nine trees over 300 yrs [I think there are 1-2 more that will > come close to 300 yrs]. What amazes me is that six of these trees are > ~340 yrs and 3 of those are ~ 370 yrs or older - WOW! > > I'll send Ed pictures of trees 2, 16 & 19. > > Related: under the direction of Ryan, most of this crew spent a couple > days at Griffith Woods, a representation of the oak-blue ash savanna > thought to be a settlement-era ecosystem that dominated the Inner > Bluegrass [http://www.friendsofgriffithwoods.org/index.html]. This > notion, however, is being challenged by the work of Ryan McEwan and > Julian Campbell. A small, but powerful sample of remnant oaks and ash > across the Greater Lexington area indicates that they are indeed old > trees; many date to the late-1600s and early-1700s. However, most of > these trees show an incredible increase in ring widths soon after > European settlement, suggesting the Inner Bluegrass was initially > forested prior to Euro-settlement. Initial cores from Griffith Woods > seems to suggest something similar [ref available here: > http://academic.udayton.edu/RyanMcEwan/Pub/Pub.htm]. I'll send Ed some > pix of these trees, too. > > neil > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
