Jess, I am glad to hear the trip from your angle. Sharing the woods with you was a delight that I hope to share again.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and find more time to get out and go to the woods. James P. On Dec 28, 3:30 pm, "Jess Riddle" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ents, > > While Will and Jason were starting the climb, I had a little time to > look around the surrounding forest. Basswood, silverbell, buckeye, > and beech with smaller numbers of white ash, tuliptree, sugar maple, > and black birch make up the overstory on the surrounding slopes. The > forest's age, likely 100 years or slightly less, makes the presence of > mature individuals of shade tolerant and generally slower growing > species like buckeye, sugar maple, and beech surprising. The > dominance of those three species plus scattered spicebush and > silverbell in the cove's understory is more typical of second-growth > rich cove sites. Most of the herbaceous layer had died back, but > Christmas fern and intermediate wood fern were abundant evergreen > herbs. A few toothworts and chickweeds were also scattered around the > forest floor, and various remnants hinted that the growing season > herbaceous layer includes goldie's fern, sweet cicely, maidenhair > fern, goldenrod (probably Solidago curtisii), and foamflower. Rich > cove forests commonly feature all of those species with the exception > of goldie's fern, which is restricted to slightly richer sites and is > scarce in the Smokies. > > I also had a chance to measure a couple other trees farther up the > cove. A beech came out at 121.7', and a buckeye with a slender crown > growing next to one of the 170'+ tuliptrees is 143'+. Tall buckeyes, > like tall individuals of most late successional species, are usually > found in old-growth forests, so this buckeye may be one of the fastest > growing ones. > > Still working on a name for the tuliptree. > > Jess > > On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 10:24 AM, Will Blozan <[email protected]> > wrote: > > ENTS, > > > While many of you northerners were hunkered down in a snowy mess, Jess > > Riddle, James Parton, Jason Childs and I went into the Bradley Fork > > watershed yesterday to climb and tape-drop the super tuliptree Jess found in > > 2006. I lasered the tree this past September, and as it was a contender for > > the tallest known specimen a climb was more than justified. > > >http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/gsmnp/bradleyfork/bradley... > > > The heavy rains of the past week had Bradley Fork swollen to a formidable > > torrent. Our usual crossing spot was underwater so we had to cross by other > > means. Jess and I chose a slippery hemlock log, Jason rock-hopped and walked > > across some toppled rhododendron, and James simply walked through. On the > > way out we choose to walk upstream to a bridge… > > > Jess crossing the log… > > > And James just crossing! > > > We hauled the gear up the cove to the tree. The first limb was 85 feet up > > and the ground sloped so the initial line set was difficult without a > > slingshot (which we should have brought…). Four LONG pitches later I made it > > to 160 feet which was as high as I was comfortable going in the young tree. > > Jason brought up a 17 foot pole with which I was able to reach the top for > > the height determination. Jess scouted the other tops so we had the correct > > one and we set the tape straight up and down. > > > Looking down from 160 feet. Jason is barely visible in white helmet. > > > Jason working his way up. > > > The final tape reading was 181.35 feet, just 7 inches less than my 181.9' > > laser shot in the summer. I am still amazed at the accuracy of the low-cost > > ENTS sine method. As a bonus, we discovered this tree has multiple tops over > > 180' and the highest recorded liana in the eastern US; Virginia creeper was > > found to reach 166.5 feet! > > > View up into the highest top. > > > This climb confirms or solidifies several important current facts: > > > This tree is the tallest known tuliptree, and sole representative member of > > the "180 Club" > > > Tuliptree is the tallest eastern hardwood > > > Tuliptree is the only hardwood in the east to break 180 feet tall > > > Tuliptree is currently the tallest native hardwood in North America > > > The motley crew: Will, Jason, James and Jess at the base of the tree > > > A tree of such significance needs an appropriate name. I'll leave that up to > > Jess! > > > Will F. Blozan > > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
