Will, Awesome dude! Your trips are always among the best. Dang what tulips!
Work and current events have kept me out of the woods too much lately. I did take some cool pictures of a beautiful Timber Rattlesnake below Picklesimer Field ( Above Davidson River Fish Hatchery, PNF ) last weekend. No, I did not kill it. I was in it's territory, not it in mine. James Parton. On May 1, 7:53 pm, "Will Blozan" <[email protected]> wrote: > ENTS, > > Last Sunday I led a hike into the superlative old-growth forests of the > Greenbrier section of the Great Smokies for the Smoky Mountain Wildflower > Pilgrimage. My intent was to revisit some of the giant tuliptrees that grow > on Kalanu Prong, a tributary of False Gap Prong. One super rich section of > this area is known as "Boat Gunnel Flats", and has historically (until ENTS > came along ;) harbored some of the largest specimens of several species know > in the Smokies. > > At the end of an unofficial trail stands a huge tuliptree Jess Riddle and I > named the Trails End Tulip. In 2006 we reticled the first 87' of trunk to an > estimated volume of 2,522 ft3. This specimen has the second largest trunk > for the species I have yet seen. At 22'3" in girth and 157 feet tall it is > high on my list for a crown mapping and volume climb. Total tree volume > would be in the low 3,000 ft3 range, far less than the huge Sag Branch > Tuliptree, but likely the second largest tree in the Smokies. > > The next targeted tree was the Greenbrier Giant tuliptree that has one of > the largest forest-grown girths at 22'11" feet. The immense crown of this > huge tree doesn't have the loft of the other giants and tops out at a mere > 146'. The main trunk, though larger at BH than the Trails End Tulip, is > shorter, more tapered, and thus would not scale the same volume. A reticle > modeling in 2006 indicated the main trunk contained 2,200 ft3. I estimate > the tree to contain around 3,000 ft3 of wood. > > We proceeded up stream to find another 21'+ tuliptree and soon got > distracted by a gorgeous red maple. I lasered the maple from below to ~130 > feet and went upslope to perform the full ENTS sine method for the height. I > measured the tree to 131.7' and on the way down spotted a striped maple with > a lofty crown. Shooting straight up it was definitely going to exceed 70'. > With few known individuals over 70 feet I backed up for the height routine. > This 8.2" diameter tree soared to a new species height record of 77.8'! > > Heading upstream again we spotted a nice tuliptree that I had not measured > before. It was a "new" 20 footer at 20.6' girth. We did not have time to > visit the other huge tree. Regardless, I know of no other cove with at 4 > tuliptrees over 20' in girth that are within 1/3 of a mile from each other. > > There is much more to discover in this area. Unfortunately, despite a beetle > release, the entirety of the canopy hemlocks I saw was dead. I had the group > search for predator beetles on the surviving smaller trees; none were found. > > Will F. Blozan > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > image001.jpg > 70KViewDownload > > image002.jpg > 134KViewDownload > > image003.jpg > 99KViewDownload > > image004.jpg > 161KViewDownload > > image005.jpg > 112KViewDownload > > image006.jpg > 99KViewDownload > > image007.jpg > 106KViewDownload > > image009.jpg > 110KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
