John: About 30 years ago I worked on a timber trespass on the face of Mount Massamet before the large donation had been made to Audubon for the land between the Arms Cemetery and the High Ledges. During the time when I was working on the trespass I counted the rings on a lot of the stumps. Most trees on the upper reaches of the mountain (higher than the power line) are over 150 years old with most hemlock trees 200 years or greater. None of the trees were exceptionally large but the ring count was extremely impressive. There are a few areas likely to be residual old growth on the steeper slopes of Mount Massamet north and west of the fire tower, especially on the steeper land the closer you get to the old Barnard camp that is at the high ledges....my memories of walking/climbing through some of that stuff on a breezy crystal clear day decades ago still sticks in my memory. The historic cart road that shares part of the trail between Route 2 and the fire tower (75-80% of the way to the top) can really give you some insight into how hard the locals worked the land in that part of the world before they gave up on subsistence farming. I still have a 1" diameter "tree" section that I cut in the late 1970s when I had a timber sale for a rural Shelburne property owner. The owner noticed a 1" hemlock that had been released during logging and commented on how fast the "young" trees were going to grow. It was the first time I was able to actually make the case that small does not necessarily mean young....that tree had 168 growth rings! I also think that if you are crawling across that part of the mountain you will likely run into some very old native red pine trees and a few wayward red spruce. Good luck in your search. Russ **************Need a job? Find employment help in your area. (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=employment_agencies&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000005)
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