Joe: Based on some research I did during the 1990s, for part of New England and other coastal areas hit by hurricanes (perhaps every 250 years for a direct hit at any given location), one would expect about 1/3 of the landscape to be covered with even-aged stands in various stages of development, about 1/3 in transition to uneven-aged condition, and the remaining third old multi-aged stands, usually referred to as old growth.
For areas not in the direct path of hurricanes, such as western MA, where hurricane winds were not very powerful, and thunderstorm winds such as derechos and tornadoes were the common form of disturbance, probably about 10% of the stands would be even-aged, 10% in transition, and 80% would be old multi-aged stands. The southern Appalachians would probably have been in this category, because they are far inland, giving protection from the full strength of hurricanes, but not so far inland as to be in tornado alley. Of course, using a natural heritage definition of old growth, anything that had not been logged, then it would all have been old growth. Its also important to note the 'even-aged' stands after natural disturbance are very different in character than even-aged stands after clearcut like the ones that have been done recently in MA, since there is a lot more coarse woody debris, and usually remnant trees of a variety of sizes and ages. Lee Joseph Zorzin wrote: > 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] <mailto:[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[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 > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
