I started my day off early today and headed up to DAR state forest in Goshen, MA. This was an area severely damaged in the recent ice storms and wasnt sure what to expect up there. I made a 2 hour loop of the north end of the forest, making a stop at the fire tower and admiring the view. Admittedly, the laser and clinometer never even left my backpack. None of the trees were remarkably large out here, either due to site conditions, storm damage, exposure, whichever. I simply hiked along enjoying the very cool and very calm morning. Started out cloudy, but about halfway through the sun started poking out and I was really enjoying myself. The area is heavily dominated in the under and mid story by Beech, and depending on what area you were in the upper canopy was a varying mix of Red Maples, Red Oak, Black Cherry, Yellow Birch, White Birch, Norway Spruce, White Pine. The trees in this area have certainly seen the likes of multiple storms over the years. Many of the trees had no prominent central leaders, and you could see where they had repeatedly had the tops snapped off and regrew off of that. Many of the trees had some VERY unique structure to say the least out here.
I did however spot a fairly large Striped Maple (one of my favorites, acer pennsylvanicum) that had apparently been downed from the ice and was subsequently diced into multiple pieces with a chainsaw and thrown to the side of the service road it fell across. Based on what I could see of it, it was easily 6+" in diameter and easily had 30-35' of height to it. Such a shame. I love the bark on these trees. I've seen some that were nearly neon green in appearance, but the ones out here had some very strong white showing through, very nice. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/DARstriper.jpg >From here I made my way back east, stopping in Conway to get a rough measurement on a Norway Spruce I'll certainly be returning to measure once the snows gone, as the trunk was mildly buried from the roadside snowbanks. From what I could see of the tree it was measured at just over 120', and being in a private yard, didnt stop to get too precise but I'd say the trunk is easily pushing 10'+ CBH. Stopped home for a quick lunch, and being inspired by Barry Caselli and his numerous postings and pictures of the NJ Pine Barrens, I made my way up to the Montague Plains wildlife management area in Montague, MA to wander the mini "barrens" up this way. I stopped roadside and took a few pictures before finding a place to park. I'd say overall the area is a few square miles, being mostly wall to wall Pitch Pines. This is the view looking either direction from where I stopped. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Pinebarrensroad.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Pinebarrensroad2.jpg I set off from the parking area which is set in the middle of a "field" if you will, that had clearly been cleared out in the recent past. Alot of scrubby red and pin oak varying from knee high to 15'+, scattered among the taller Pitches. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Pinebarrensfield.jpg The few that stood out to me were photographed and measured. The first of which being this very full tree right next to the driveway into the parking area. Trunk measured nearly and even 7' CBH, with a height of 63.1'. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/69Pitchpinefull.jpg And this here was the tallest I was able to spot. Most of the trees in the "field" were likely in the 45-55' range. This particular tree measured 6.2' in circumference and 77.6' in height. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/62Pitchpinefull.jpg When you come to the edge of the "field", crossing under some high voltage transmission lines, the "management" stops, and its a very dense forest of all Pitch Pines, with the understory being some small stunted oaks and birches. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Pinebarrenswall.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Pinebarrenswall2.jpg Finished trudging through the sometimes ankle, and sometimes knee deep snow in this untouched field, I drove a bit further down the road to measure the one large trunk that caught my eye earlier this week. Trunk was 7.3' CBH and measured out to only 63.1' in height. Still a nice looking tree though, aside from the sign nailed to it....... :-( http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/73Pitchpinetrunk.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/73Pitchpinefull.jpg After the "Pine Barrens" I returned back to Northfield, MA near the Connecticut River to see if I could find some cones from the "Tamaracks" I measured previously. They are indeed European Larches. The cones were probably nearly 1-1/2" long, and the short stalks along the twigs was a good tell as well after referring to my field guide. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Larchbark.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Larchcones.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Larchcones2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Larchtwig.jpg Wandered around a bit more here, measured a few trees and took some pics for a hopeful ID, for which I will save for another topic. Made my way home willy nilly, stopping to take a few pictures just for the sake of taking pictures..... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Sunsetatriver.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/GCCRedoak.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/Sunsetatfalls.jpg Had a great day, the weather was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Like I thought to myself initially when spending the money on the laser and clinometer, "if nothing else, its a good reason to get outside.........." Jeff --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
