George, That site sounds like a great find. The shagbark, northern red oak, and white ash are particularly impressive. I'm looking forward to hearing what else you find there when you have a little more time to explore.
Jess On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 5:59 PM, George Fieo <[email protected]> wrote: > ENTS, > > > > Yesterday was a vacation day for me so I decided to do a RI for a site I > found several years ago while shed hunting. The site is actually the most > western portion of Ridley Creek State Park in Delaware Co., Pa. The park > consists of more than 2,600 acres of gently rolling woodlands and meadows. > Google maps does not show this site as part of the park but mapquest and > yahoo do. The site is very well hidden and the only signage is " archery > deer hunting only " and is managed by the Pa. DCNR. I think the site is > seen little by the public and an equestrian trail is the only one that cuts > through this portion of the park. > > > > From the parking area the site is not very impressive at all. It's > infested with multi-flora rose and other invasive shrubs and the trees are > small. I followed the trail until it met an unnamed spring fed stream, that > eventually empties into Ridley Creek, and is where the forest really started > to open up. There was a shagbark hickory on the other side of the stream > that is the largest one that I have seen so far. It measured out at 9'5" x > 105.5. From the base of the shagbark looking to the top of the ridge were > two huge white oaks, both are 12 x 100's, and they measure as 13'5" x 105.3 > and 14'2" x 105.9. I headed downstream from there and the farther I went, > the more it opened up to a point where there were little or no invasives at > all. The forest is dominated by beech, oaks, and tulip poplar. Other > common species are mockernut and shagbark hickory, white ash, red maple, > black gum, bigtooth aspen, flowering dogwood, and a. hornbeam. There were > only two or three stands of aspen and small pockets of the dogwood. The > hornbeam is found throughout the entire site. Less common species would be > black walnut, black cherry, sassafras, and white pine. About halfway > downstream I saw a handful of scattered white pine. I saw a couple of > seedlings at the base of a beech tree but that was it for the pine. At the > bottom of the stream, near the parks border, stood the only sycamore I found > at this site. It measured out at 6'7" x 128.3. This was my turn around > point so I decided to walk the top of the ridge back to my truck. Right at > the point of the ridge I found a mockernut hickory that measured out at 6'2" > x 133.7. Just below the hickory was an even more impressive n. red oak. > The oak is a 3x and measured out at 18'1" x 144.5!!! From there I could see > a huge tree at the base of the east side of the ridge. Heading towards this > tree it became thick with the multi-flora rose and other shrubs again. > Those pickers got me only once. It was a huge white ash that measured out > at 16' x 119.3 x 101. It's greatest spread was 121'. This was the last > tree I measured since I had to head home. The east side of that ridge may > have some potential yet and I saw what I think was a tall swamp chestnut oak > that I didn't have time to measure. There were several spots where I saw > it's leaves on the ground. With some more searching I think the rucker > could go higher. There are lots of tall ones in there. Many of the oaks > were in the 8'-10' CBH range. It is one of if not the most beautiful sites > I have seen here in SE Pa. Here are some of my measurements for the day. > > > > > > > > Ridley Creek State Park Site Index > > Species CBH Height > > A Beech 9'5" 113.0 > > A Beech 5'10" 116.0 > > A Hornbeam 1'8" 44.8 > > Big Tooth Aspen 3'9" 86.0 > > Big Tooth Aspen 4'1" 87.5 > > Black Gum 6'4" 89.0 > > Black Oak 9'9" 110.5 > > Black Oak 8'7" 120.3 > > Black Walnut 6'1" 109.9 > > Chestnut Oak 4'6" 119.0 > > Chestnut Oak 6'1" 120.3* > > Flowering Dogwood 2'0" 42.3 > > Flowering Dogwood 2'2" 44.8* > > Mockernut Hickory 5'2" 110.1 > > Mockernut Hickory 6'2" 133.7* > > N Red Oak 11'11" 119.3 > > N Red Oak 8'9" 126.0 > > N Red Oak 7'11" 136.6 > > N Red Oak(3x) 18'1" 144.5* > > Red Maple 8'5" 87.8 > > Shagbark Hickory 9'5" 105.5 > > Shagbark Hickory 4'5" 111.9 > > Shagbark Hickory 3'9" 123.5 > > Sycamore 6'7" 128.2 > > Tulip Poplar 5'3" 134.6 > > Tulip Poplar 6'0" 134.7 > > Tulip Poplar 7'2" 137.7 > > Tulip Poplar 7'0" 137.8 > > Tulip Poplar 8'4" 139.6 > > Tulip Poplar 8'5" 140.7 > > Tulip Poplar 6'4" 143.1 > > White Ash 8'11" 117.3 > > White Ash 16'0" 119.3 12x100 > > White Ash 7'3" 130.2 > > White Oak 10'8" 104.0 > > White Oak 13'5" 105.3 12x100 > > White Oak 14'2" 105.9 12x100 > > White Oak 10'9" 108.6 > > White Oak 5'7" 122.2 > > White Pine 5'7" 103.6 > > White Pine 7'7" 117.o > > *notes height contender > > > > Ridley Creek State Park Rucker Index > > N Red Oak(3x) 18'1" 144.5 > > Tulip Poplar 6'4" 143.1 > > Mockernut Hickory 6'2" 133.7 > > White Ash 7'3" 130.2 > > Sycamore 6'7" 128.2 > > Shagbark Hickory 3'9" 123.5 > > White Oak 5'7" 122.2 > > Black Oak 8'7" 120.3 > > Chestnut Oak 6'1" 120.3 > > White Pine 7'7" 117.0 > > RI 128.3 > > > > Ed or Dale, please let me know if there are any new height champs. I think > there are a few from the VFNP site index also. Thanks. > > > > George > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
