Bob,
I was real interested in that dwarf old growth native red pine you wrote
about on Mt. Tom. Have you photographed that? That would be something of
a rarity.
Yes I've hiked through Mt Tom's gorgeous hemlock forest. Does DCR have
any strategy to protect it from the HWA?
Mike
www.northquabbinforestry.com
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From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 5:39 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Belchetz-Swenson, Sarah; Carr, Robert; Dittmer,
Paul; Davis, John; Goodrich, John; Heller, Sharl; Hurley, Claudia;
Kaiser, Amy; Jakuc, Denis; Morrison, Laurie Sanders & Fred; Neil, Rick;
Seale, Doug; Weiss, Nancy; Weil, Phoebe; White, Richard; Zorzin, Joseph;
Williams, Bill; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: [ENTS] Mt Tom Adventures
ENTS,
Folks, my project plate is really full these
days. I am forced to chop a way (no pun intended) at my many time
consuming endeavors. One self-imposed mission is to document in images,
words, and numbers the forest treasures of Massachusetts. I have several
reasons for taking on this project, one of which is to share some of the
hidden corners of our forests with others who otherwise would never know
of their existence. A second reason is to help the Department of
Conservation and Recreation document the special places that have
heretofore been under-described and consequently under-appreciated.
Today Monica and I went to the Mount Tom State
Reservation and I took three photos for documentation purposes. I'd like
to share them with my fellow and lady Ents and with the others that I am
copying.
The first image is of one of the big white pines
on Mount Tom. It is 133.3 feet tall and 10.8 feet in girth. It is a
particularly handsome tree and slightly large for a mature Mount Tom
pine. Small hemlocks surround it. The big pine is in good shape and
hopefully has at least 100 years left of life. I keep close tabs on this
tree.
The second image was taken well off the trail
system in one of the secluded little coves. The basalt ledge is rather
striking. However, the trees in the area of the basalt ledges grow in
challenging conditions. Solid bedrock is only inches below the surface
of the ground. Tree longevity here is not great. In the past, the
European settlers of the region stripped Mount Tom of its original
forest cover - not a wise action to take on the slopes of Mount Tom.
Soils are compromised and the re-growth struggles to make ages much
beyond 125 or 130 years. Today, deer add insult to injury by browsing
the re-growth.
The last image is of the New England champion
eastern hemlock. It is a very large tree as can be seen in the
photograph with Monica present to provide a sense of proportion (she's
brushing off a pesky mosquito in the image). It will be fall before I
can re-measure the champ's height due to canopy closure. However, at the
end of the last growing season, the big hemlock's dimensions were:
height = 125.0 feet, girth = 14.9 feet, and average crown spread = 49.0
feet. This gives our champ 316 points. In the point department, it has
no close rivals in New England. The hemlock's trunk volume is
approximately 750 cubic feet as determined using a Macroscope 25/45.
Bob
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