The USFS distribution map for red pine shows the northern half of MA with scattered coverage. I wonder if red pine continues to retreat during this interglacial and if anthropogenic global warming has accelerated the march northward.
Gary Prof. Gary A. Beluzo Systems Ecologist Holyoke Comm College 303 Homestead Ave Holyoke, MA. 01040 On Jul 31, 2009, at 8:30 AM, [email protected] wrote: > Mike, > > Tad Zebryk, formerly of Harvard Forest cored red pines on the > upper slopes in Ice Glen in Stockbridge. We got 211 years for our > oldest pine. Others were just a few years younger. Dave Orwig at > Harvard Forest cored red pines on the Mount Tom escarpment and got > comparable ages to Ice Glen red pines. There are old red pines at > High Ledges near Shelburne Falls. There is also some red pine on > Monument Mountain. The species is definitely native to > Massachusetts, hugging the high, dry places as you suspect. > Red pine grows on other ledge environments on Mount Tom, > although not much. I expect the Natural Heritage Program knows of > most of there whereabouts. All these spots are photographic > objectives of mine. > > Bob > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Leonard" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Cc: "Joseph Zorzin" <[email protected]>, "Claudia Hurley" > <[email protected] > >, "Stephen Kaiser" <[email protected]>, "Mike Ryan" > ><[email protected] > >, "Sharl Heller" <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 6:44:21 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Mt Tom Adventures > > Will, > > Thanks for sending those images. OK I think I remember seeing these > trees when I hiked the ridge. > > The controversy about red pine began when our state agency DCR > started to clearcut the red pine plantations which were planted in > the 1930s – 1940s. One of the stated reasons for their removal was t > hat red pine is non-native to MA but the silvics range map does show > its range extending into western MA. Now when DCR wants to clearcut > these plantations they say the red pine was planted “off-site”. > Well it is true that native red pine is definitely a rare thing to s > ee around here but we shouldn’t be so quick to wipe out all the plan > ted red pine. The exception would be in the pine barrens of Myles St > andish in SE MA where most should be removed. In other areas modifie > d shelterwoods can be used which retain high quality “standards” > for aesthetic purposes. > > Red pine is an awesome tree except it is not too resistant to snow > and ice damage. The red pine plantations around the Worcester > reservoirs in Paxton and Rutland, for example, were devastated by > last year’s ice storm snapped off like matchsticks. But if it has ro > om to grow throughout its life it can become pretty impressive. Most > likely any native red pine here could only survive on dry exposed s > ites like this where there is less competition and the area is prone > to disturbance like fire or windthrow. > > Have you or Bob cored these trees? If so, how old are they? > > The Mt. Tom Range is definitely worthy of being designated as a > Forest Reserve. How about showing an image of the extraordinary > basalt columns? > > Mike > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Will Blozan > Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 8:57 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Mt Tom Adventures > > > > Mike, > > These are some shots I took back in 2004. > > Will F. Blozan > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Mike Leonard > Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 7:07 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] Re: Mt Tom Adventures > > 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 > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
