Thanks, Ed, for the wonderful overview. An interesting read... I wish I HAD more time to contribute on technical forestry matters I encounter in my daily work life, for example... but, for the time being, it is all I can do to keep up with the gist of what comes in. Someday I'll have a little more "free" time. Meanwhile, I always appreciate the research that floats around and emanates out from the ENTS cyberhome... and as I roam the woods of western Mass., I'll be danged if I don't see ole' burlbelly grinning out from all those wonderful character-filled OZ trees I make it a point to retain on my clients woodlots. Michele
ps to ole' burlbelly: When I first arrived in southwestern CO, I thought it the strangest thing to see the ponderosa pine forests, these humongous creatures sticking out of the earth, sometimes at a very wide spacing, and with the forest "understory" so lacking as compared to New England. Refresh my memory if you will, what IS the typical understory thereunder??!! > ENTS, > > In a fit of masochism I have spent most of the last three days reworking > the past five months of the website. I have created a couple hundred web > pages incorporating trip reports and select discussions from that time > frame and added them to the website Looking at all of the posts in that > time frame allows me to make a few observations and personal comments. > > First I want to point out the remarkable work Larry Tucei has be doing in > driving the Live Oak Project. His reports includes dozens of trees from > Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama. He has posted not just Live > Oaks, but other trees as well. > > I want to acknowledge the posts by Barry Caselli. They often do not > contain hard numbers and measurements, but can be considered more of a > naturalists journal for the Pine barrens of New Jersey. These posts have > an emphasis on the trees and are illustrated with many photos. > > I want to acknowledge the people who attended the gathering at Congaree > National park in South Carolina, and for Will Blozan, Marcus, Houtchings, > and others who participated in the organization of the event. > > Don Bragg continues to do an exemplary job in editing and producing the > Bulletin of the Eastern Native Tree Society. These Journals include > research and article by Don as well as other people. > > Steve Galehouse has produced a number of reports from Ohio, making it a > hot spot for tree reports. Randy Brown has contributed to the effort > there as well. I wish Tom Diggins, the Lion of Zoar Valley, NY would come > out of hiding and again participate actively in the ENTS mission. > > In Pennsylvania, I have written reports on a number of field trips. These > have often been in the company of Dale Luthringer and Carl Harting who are > contributing tot the effort as well. Anthony Kelly has been under the > weather, but hopes to soon be back in the field. Scott Wade is still > working on the PA Champion Trees website and field work. Newer Member > George Fieo has posted several excellent reports, and we have posts from > Michael Dunn. > > New England posts are as expected dominated by burl-belly himself Bob > Leverett. Mike Leonard has been active ion many of the discussions. Gary > Beluzo and Joe Zorzin has made contributions as well. There have been > some posts by Andrew Joslin, and others, but many of the other members in > New England have not posted recently. What can we do to get them back in > the groove? I would like to hear from people like John Knuer, Scott > Bolotin, Ray Weber, John Eicholz, and many others. > > Neil Pederson has been ably representing ENTS in Kentucky and keeping the > Eastern Old-List website up to date. Beth Koebel comments on Missouri and > Illinois. Lee Frelich posts regularly from Frostbite Falls. Still I > would like to see more materials from Pal Jost. Jay Hayek is teaching > people to use the sin-sin method for measuring heights, but otherwise ahs > not written much. What happened to to the weather god himself - Ernie > Ostuno? > > We have Don Bragg and Steve Springer from the Tennessee/ Arkansas areas. > In South Carolina there have been some posts by new member Tyler Phillips, > but from Alabama we seem to have misplaced Zac Stewart. Jess Riddle, once > the master of the southern forests is lost somewhere in the halls of > college in upstate New York. Gary Smith, once founder of Tennessee > Hemlock Rescue is absent from these posts. > > Moving up the coast to North Carolina. Our intrepid author and postal > worker has posted about trips from Florida to Virginia and beyond? Will > Blozan has provided reports on the fate of some of the great hemlocks of > the Smokies and elsewhere, even if the news is not good. MIA is James > Parton. He has not been heard from since Congaree. In the mid-Atlantic > there have been some reports by Darrian Copiz and Mathew Hannum. (I am not > sure what a dusk druid is, but it sounds intriguing). I would like to see > more. > > West Virginia - Russ Richardson has been providing insight on forestry > practices and commentary about the forests of West Virginia. I hope to > visit later this month to get some measurements. Are you up to try one of > the new zip lines? Turner Sharp has written about several sites in the > West Virginia area and has compiled a Big Tree Registry for Parkersburg, > WV. Some god stuff is coming out of the Mountain State. > > New York has seen a revival. Tom Howard has posted several times > reporting on old growth sites in upstate New York. Perhaps this is the > rebirth of the New York Old Growth surveys? I am looking forward to > hearing more. David Yarrow has been reworking the former NY Big Trees > site. I am not sure how far along he is, but this is god news. > > In New York City we have two new members.Jennifer Dduley has been posting > regularly and it is great to see the enthusiasm she exhibits in her posts. > Karl Cronin has posted a few times. He is involved with dance and has > posted concerning the relationship between dance and the natural > world/trees. Certainly a different approach not broached by ENTS before. > Carolyn Summers has also contributed from this area. > > In far off Alaska we can not forget to mention Don Bertolette. He is > working on the Big Tree listings for the state and is active in most of > the discussion after years of working all across the country. Roman Dial > has not posted much - he is involved in big tree research in southeast > Asia, the east indies, and Australia, among other areas. he has been on > an extended trip and I have been following his journey on Face book. > > I am sure I have left out many people in this commentary. There are > simply too many to mention everyone and it is not meant as any type of a > slight. > > There is a listing under Group Information of the Google Groups Page: It > lists the top posters to the discussion list since it has been on Google. > Top all time is myself, followed by Bob Leverett. For the last month > these are reversed. The others on the list, in case you do not recognize > the acronyms, I have added the names below. The biggest missing name is > James Parton. Will has not posted much lately, but what he has done have > been significant posts. > > Top posters > This month 91 DBH GURU Bob Leverett > 76 Barry C Barry Caselli > 72 Edward Frank Edward Frank > 70 FoRestoration Don Bertolette > 53 MiketheForester mike Leonard > 36 [email protected] Steve Springer > 32 Lee Frelich Lee Frelich > 32 JennyNYC Jennifer Dudley > 30 ECOGAB Gary Beluzo > 24 Larry Larry Tucei > > All time 1725 Edward Frank Edward Frank > 1465 DBH GURU Bob Leverett > 1425 James Parton James Parton > 822 FoRestoration Don Bertolette > 684 Will Blozan Will Blozan > 665 Larry Larry Tucei > 498 Barry C Barry Caselli > 324 Beth Beth Koebel > 298 [email protected] Joe Zorzin > 291 JennyNYC Jennifer Dudley > > > > I wanted to share these thoughts and encourage people to participate in > the group. If you haven't posted for a ling time, write something to the > list. Even if you have never posted before, time to get started. > > Edward Frank > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
