Will, Attached is a photo of a 15' cbh cherry Jess and I found on upper Big Bald Branch. It's not nearly as tall as the Clontz Branch tree, but still plenty fat. Wish I could have made it out on Saturday.
Josh ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Will Blozan" <[email protected]> Date: Apr 19, 2:16 pm Subject: Clontz Branch, Cataloochee, NC GRSM 4-18-2009 To: ENTSTrees ENTS, Yesterday I made an epic 10.5 mile hiking/bushwhacking tour of Clontz Branch, one of the last remaining unexplored coves on the south side of Caldwell Fork. The drainage lies in the realm of the "Eastern Hemlock Superlative Zone"- an area in Cataloochee Valley that contains the vast majority of super-tall eastern hemlock as determined by Jess Riddle and me during the course of the Tsuga Search Project. Aerial photos and remote-sensed data indicated a few small but dense groves of hemlock-dominated forest lying in the topographic and elevation ranges conducive to tall specimens. A survey of this last cove has been nagging at me for quite some time. Clontz Branch in center of map The day started at a cool 36 degrees but quickly warmed up into a classic clear, spring day. I made quick time up the Caldwell Fork Trail and paused briefly to get waypoints for some trees and inspect the four hemlock conservation areas I was involved with treating in 2005-2006. They were mostly dead with scant sign of hemlock life. Treatments commenced too late and the hemlocks are now reduced to huge, standing lichen gardens. Although dead, the hemlocks with thick draperies of lichens were quite beautiful in the crystal air and blue sky. Lichen Garden hemlock snags I choose to cut off trail between McKee and Clontz Branch to see the lower flats of the ridge between them. Spunky old field pines and tulips were already nearing 130' and 9 feet in girth. I passed over a dry ridge into the eastern side of Clontz Branch and encountered a second-growth forest of mainly tuliptree. As I headed up the creek the western bank began to harbor some larger trees. I crossed over since the eastern side was west facing and dry. The soils were very rich and spring wildflowers were raging. The trees reflected the soil quality and the older relic specimens of tulip, cucumbertree, red oak, and buckeye were getting impressive. The first tree I measured was a fine, "stovepipe" cucumbertree 10'6" cbh X 139' tall. Surrounding tuliptrees were approaching 150' tall and were accompanied by white basswood, black birch, black cherry, and scattered hemlock. One fine birch hit 107.8' tall on a stem 5'2" in girth. As I ascended the west bank a small rich cove was the first uncut or non-settled area I encountered. A huge 16'1" X 155.1' tuliptree with little taper dominated the cove with several others 12-15' in girth nearby. Large red oak, buckeye, and more cucumbertree shared the cove with some impressive hemlocks. One hemlock in the center of a dense grove was the tallest I found all day and would have surely scaled close to 1000 cubic feet. It was 13'7" cbh X 157' tall with sloooow taper. 16'1" cbh X 155.1' tuliptree "Dutchman's Hammock" I was mainly on a hunt for hemlock but the soils on Clontz Branch were much too rich for dense or extensive hemlock forests. However, the hardwoods more than made up for the lack of hemlock and were some of the most impressive I have seen in the valley. The upper cove of Clontz certainly has the finest collection of yellow buckeye I have seen in Cataloochee. The largest I saw was 14' cbh X 141' and MASSIVE. This species is unjustly underrated as a big tree species; among the hardwoods- second only to tuliptree and perhaps red oak. Incidentally, a nearby unnamed cove has one over 151' tall- the tallest specimen in the valley. Crown of 14' cbh X 141' buckeye Base of 14' cbh X 141' buckeye Sharing the upper cove with the buckeyes was a giant black cherry that I believe is a girth record for the valley. This giant tree stood 121.9 feet tall on a stocky base 15'2" CBH. Just downstream from this beast grew a massive ~900 ft3 hemlock 14' cbh X 149.4' tall. Not bad for 4000 feet elevation. A sugar maple nearly was 9'5" cbh and 131.1' tall. 15'2" X 121.9' cherry Crown of 15'2" X 121.9' cherry I headed back down the stream and explored the side coves on the eastern side. One of the other dense hemlock groves nearly hid huge tree that would have been close to a volume superlative. The top was broken out and the remaining trunk stood 136.3' high. The base however, was really chunky and at 15'7" cbh enters an elite class of huge hemlocks. Taper was slow and numerous reiterations would have put the volume in the 1,200 ft3 range. Like every other large hemlock I saw on Clontz Branch, it was dead and oozing black goo from the trunk flare. Wholesale HWA slaughter. Not far from this giant hemlock was a sourwood that looked really, really old. It was a relic in a former chestnut dominated flat and stood among the carcasses of its former, fallen cohorts. At 6'4" cbh and 101 feet tall it is the largest I know of in the valley. I headed out from there and didn't measure anything else except for a really gnarly 17'5" tuliptree that was completely balded and scarred with bear claw scratches leading to a huge hollow in one of the broken off branches. I could have crawled inside the branch if I climbed up there- it was that large. 6'4" X 101' sourwood 17'5" tuliptree base 17'5" tuliptree crown Clontz Branch has a fine collection of hardwoods and is relatively easy to traverse. The rich soils keep the rhododendron out and the wildflowers are spectacular. BTW, I made a concerted effort to locate a specimen of yellowwood but even though the perfect habitat was present, none were spotted. I don't believe the species has ever been reported from Cataloochee yet it occurs in rich coves just to the north in Big Creek and elsewhere in the Smokies. Maybe the elevation was too high. Truly bizarre. Will F. 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