Bob: Among the four pictures you just posted, the black walnut and tuliptree bear a rather extreme resemblance to one another. I believe you have discovered the first instance of mimicry among trees.
Lee [email protected] wrote: > ENTS, > > I'm in the process of sorting through the many, many images that I > took on Monica's and my epic trip to Durango,CO and environs. On our > return journey back to western Massachusetts, we stopped at several > iconic woodlands including Beall Woods, IL; Pioneer Mothers Memorial > Forest, IN; Davey's Woods, OH; Johnson Woods, OH; and Plateau Mountain > in New York's incomparable Catskill Park. The primary objective of > our stopovers was to study surviving old growth ecosystems, and of > course, for me to measure big trees. An ancillary, but very important, > objective of the stopovers was to observe how other states handle > their special forest sites. Let me say a few words about that mission. > Over the last 25 years, I've spent a lot of time examining forest > sites in many eastern states and have formed some pretty concrete > opinions about which states are doing a good job and which ones > aren't. I will share, in due course, my conclusions with interested > parties here in Massachusetts. In particular, I plan to speak at > length on the subject of real forest protection at this fall's Forest > Summit Lecture Series at Holyoke Community College. My conclusion at > this point is that we in Massachusetts have a longer way to go to > implement programs with teeth than many state officials may believe. > The Robinson State Park debacle and botched logging jobs in the > Berkshires point to big gaps in our protection methodology. There is a > distinct difference between conceptualizing, broad planning, and > actual on-the-ground implementation. I observed plenty of the actual > implementation on my trip and was duly impressed. But, that is also > another story. > The attached images are from Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest. The four > images of individual trees were taken with my beautiful wife Monica in > the photos for proportion. The images speak to the aesthetics of this > delightful eastern woodland. I went off trail several times to measure > tall trees and unknowingly measured the same American sycamore that > Will Blozan measured years before. The sycamore was likely the tallest > tree in Pioneer Mothers when Will measured it and it continues to be > now. At 145 feet in height, give or take a half a foot, the sycamore > is not typical of Pioneer Mothers tall trees. It is a good 10 feet > taller than competitors. Heights of 130 to 135 feet are more typical > of the best those woodlands have to offer. > Girths of the bigger trees in Pioneer Mothers are in the 10 to 14-foot > circumference range, with one or two larger ones. However, many of the > largest trees are now fading. Their time has come to surrender their > hallowed place in the canopy and allow some of the aspiring younger > trees to fill their long held patriarchal-matriarchal roles. However, > Pioneer Mothers is an old growth forest, which means multi-aged for > the central mixed-mesophytic forest and is in accord with Dr. Lee > Frelich's definition of old growth. Consequently, there is a wide age > distribution within Pioneer Mothers. This seems to be a difficult > concept for timber community specialists to grasp. Traditionally, they > have cast old growth forests as geriatric woodlands in desperate need > of their logging services. Were it not for the corp of enlightened > forest researchers and protectors, I fear the timber community would > have long ago gotten its way. But that is another story. > In terms of diversity of tree species, Pioneer Mothers is on a par > with the southern New England woodlands, if slightly more diverse. > However, my buddy Will Blozan has a better feel for the overall > diversity of Pioneer Mothers. Will is extremely talented at making > quick identifications of many species. I take a little longer with the > less familiar ones. Will, what would you say about Pioneer Mothers > species diversity? Also, Dr. Don Bragg visited the woodlands a couple > of years ago for ENTS, if I remember correctly. Will and Don, we > should combine our data to get a good updated Rucker index. > In the images above, the Black Walnut measures 12.1 feet in girth. The > highest top I could get on it is approximately 114.0 feet. I did break > 130 feet on Tulip Poplar, Northern Red Oak, and American Sycamore. > > 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
