Bob, Thanks for your accounts of the high-volume trees of the past and the exceptional volume forests of the present.
I do concede that the most valuable forests from a timber perspective are probably old second-growth stands, on the order of 120-180 years depending on species composition, like the ones you describe so well with numbers and prose from western MA. Josh On May 3, 8:12 pm, [email protected] wrote: > Josh, > > In doing research for the book that Will Blozan, jack Sobon and I wrote > entitled 'Stalking the Forest Monarchs' I came across an account of a giant > tuliptree near what is now Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest that yielded 20,163 > board feet at the mill. That is the highest one tree figure I've seen. I have > no idea how accurate the figure is . I think a giant tuliptree in the Smokies > yielded 18,000 board feet, if I remember correctly. I believe they have a > photo of it at the Oconoluftee Visitor's Center. Of course, these trees were > the statistical outliers, but they illustrate what was there at least to an > extent in those early forests. Th e giant trees could have been half rotten > and still yiel ded several thousands of board feet per tree. > > Although it is mature second growth instead of old growth, t here are a > number of acres of Mohawk Trail State Forest here in western Mass with over > 100,000 board feet per acre. If that sounds unreasonably high, w e're > talking about a place that has 86 white pines over 150 feet in height and > well over 200 over 140. M ost are in pri me condition. The majority of canopy > pines have DBHs ranging from 25 to 40 inches, w ith a not insignificant > number of trees with DBHs of 41 to 43 inches . At least 17 have DBHs of 44 > inches or more with the top now at about 48. The average density of mature > pines in Mohawk is around 75 trees per acre and in some places the number is > higher than that. There are at least 3 acres that I've identified with basal > areas of over 300 square feet per acre. Again, this is mature second growth. > In today's short rotation mentality, there is no way such standing volume > would survive without a lot of protection. People forget what the land can > produce in a period of about 130 years if left alone or managed carefully. > > In terms of bonafide old growth, when it was in prime condition, Hearts > Content in PA was described as having well over 100,000 board feet per acre. > A small area had close to 200,000 . I don't know if that was standing volume > or projected mill volume. I suspect the former. Regardless, m odern day > lumbermen mostly fiddle around with matchsticks. They have no clue. > > Bob > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Josh Kelly" <[email protected]> > To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 2:25:23 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Kalanu Prong, Greenbrier, TN GRSM 4-21-2009 > > Will and Steve, > > I've got to disagree with you about the extent, quality and > merchantibility of Southern Appalachian forests pre-commercial > logging. The map from the 1905 Report to the President by Rhoades and > Ashe shows approximately 20% of the Southern Blue Ridge in primary > forest condition with extensive areas of inventoried old-growth in > coves estimated to cut over 25,000 board feet to the acre. Anomolous > areas, like Cataloochee Valley, NC and Shady Valley TN were documented > as having groves of standing timber averaging over 100,000 board feet/ > acre. I have a copy of the 1905 map that can be burnt to a CD, or > better yet, posted on the ENTS website. > > The most productive areas of forest were logged and converted to > agriculture long before 1905. I think that pre-European settlement, > the Southern Blue Ridge was 80% forested (minimum), with at least 3/4 > of that meeting contemporary concepts of old-growth. Those numbers > are based on a maximum carrying capacity of 200,000 stone-age amerinds > in the 10 million acre area, assuming the 20,000 residual amerinds in > 1837 represented a 90% population reduction due to diseases and > warfare. I acknowledge that my estimates are conjecture and I stand > by them as about as accurate as anyone else could come up with. > Today, the Southern Blue Ridge is 75% forested with about 3% of the > area meeting an inclusive definition of old-growth, and most of the > remaining old-growth on low productivity sites. The population of the > Southern Blue Ridge today is nearing 2 million, with 1.1 million in > western NC alone. > > Joe, > > 1,000 years ago was apparently near the dawn of agriculture in the > Southern Blue Ridge, and so the forest cover then would have likely > been even greater and more impressive than in 1492 > > A final thought: with trees like the Trail's End Poplar scaling 2,200 > cubic feet of wood, a solid tree of similar dimensions could easily > have sawn 12,000 board feet, even with the realitively wide kerfs of > the early 20th century. I have seen whole coves of trees in the > Smokies and Unicois where almost every tree would saw more than 2 > thousand board feet. Kalanu Prong is an exceptional site by today's > standards, but 1,000 years ago, there were many coves with similar > elevation that had not yet been ravaged by civilization. > > Josh > > On May 3, 8:28 am, "Will Blozan" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Steve, > > > In general, you may be correct. However, there are many, many fine examples > > of oak and tuliptree that predate the chestnut blight by centuries. Based on > > current day surrogates in the southern Appalachians (all I am speaking for) > > I would figure high quality tuliptree was probably not too hard to find and > > oak a bit more challenging. Of course, all depends on your definition of > > high quality. I bet much of the first cut in the mountains was wasted > > "junk". Hollow trunks, curved boles, short trunks, heavy limbs, etc. I often > > look over an old-growth forest cove and think there is virtually nothing > > merchantable (as in sawn timber) in it. How did anyone make money? > > > Will F. Blozan > > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > > _____ > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > > Behalf Of Steven Springer > > Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2009 8:09 AM > > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Kalanu Prong, Greenbrier, TN GRSM 4-21-2009 > > > My hunch is that we would be impressed with the specimen American chestnuts > > and be hardpressed to find a quality oak or yellow-poplar in the Appalachian > > mountain range (American chestnut being the dominant hardwood before the > > blight). > > > (What do you think regarding dominant hardwoods through the Appalachian > > range, Will?) > > > Steve Springer > > > _____ > > > From: [email protected] on behalf of Will Blozan > > Sent: Sun 5/3/2009 6:30 AM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Kalanu Prong, Greenbrier, TN GRSM 4-21-2009 > > > Steve, > > > How is your last sentence supposed to read? > > > Will F. Blozan > > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > > _____ > > > My hunch is that we would be impressed with the specimen American chestnut > > trees and be hardpressed to find a quality oak yellow-poplar in the > > Appalachians mountain range. > > > Steve Springer > > > _____ > > > From: [email protected] on behalf of Joseph Zorzin > > Sent: Sat 5/2/2009 8:21 AM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Kalanu Prong, Greenbrier, TN GRSM 4-21-2009 > > > Question for Bob and Will and the others. Roughly speaking, what percentage > > of the forests of the East - if we could go back a millennium- would appear > > to us as "old growth"?? > > > Of course there have always been fires, storms, clearings for villages, etc. > > I'm just trying to get a sense- if we could go back and wander around the > > forests- would they be filled with gigantic trees, thus looking very > > different from now, or not? > > > Joe > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: [email protected] > > > To: [email protected] > > > Sent: Saturday, May 02, 2009 9:11 AM > > > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Kalanu Prong, Greenbrier, TN GRSM 4-21-2009 > > > Will, > > > A phenomenal report as usual. It would be great to have a list of all the > > 20-foot circumference trees in the Smokies. Information in email > > communications becomes too scattered. Anyway, thanks for the great reports. > > > Bob- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
