Bob, BTW, any evidence of native red pine on Skinner Mountain or environs?
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] [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 > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
