Jess,
Thanks for sharing. The Cohuttas are the mountains of my youth. Gotta get back down there. Will you ever get back to Flattop and remeasure those sooooper tulip trees? Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jess Riddle" <[email protected]> To: [email protected], "Wayne Jenkins" <[email protected]>, "Doug Riddle" <[email protected]>, [email protected], "David Govus" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 12:18:23 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [ENTS] Cohutta Wilderness Area, GA--update Ents, Last month, I spent a few days hiking in the Cohutta Wilderness Area after having been away from the area for four years. On this return trip, I was repeatedly struck by the Cohutta's unusual species distributions and the odd juxtapositions allowed by the area's location and topography. Elevations in the wilderness area range from just under a thousand feet near the mouth of the Jacks River to 4151' on Cowpen Mountain, and the range comprises the western edge of the Appalachians, except for smaller foothills that continue into Alabama (I wrote a fuller overview of the Cohuttas here http://tinyurl.com/ml7lcq). Loblolly pine, among the most ubiquitous trees in the Piedmont of the Southeast but absent elsewhere in the Appalachians, follows larger streams into the Cohuttas and scattered individuals reach as high as 2200' elevation. They compete directly with hemlock, white pine, and sweetgum. White pine’s range overlaps with loblolly only in the cohuttas and surrounding areas, so those two workhorses of the timber industry rarely interact. Sweetgum, similar to loblolly pine in general distribution although creeping into the edges of several other mountain ranges, remains a dominant stream side tree to over 2000'. The phenomenon occurs not only in trees, but also shrubs. Yellowroot, a small riparian shrub common in the Piedmont, occurs in patches as high as 2800’. Adding to the unusual combinations, scattered yellow birch, a tree in Georgia generally restricted to high peaks, grow along the Conasauga River down to at least 2000’. When I saw some saplings with extremely large leaves growing along the road at the wilderness area’s southern edge, I thought umbrella magnolia, a tree of low elevation mountain streams that occurs in the eastern half of the wilderness area, also reached exceptional elevations . On closer inspection, the saplings turned out to be big leaf magnolia, a similar species whose closest natural populations are 30 or 40 miles to the south. Either birds have carried the seed from yard trees a few miles away, or someone has chosen convenient canopy gaps to try to start a new population. In either case, the trees seem unlikely to survive long since they grow on the shoulders of a high, exposed ridge rather than the species’ typical habitat of narrow ravines. On the trip, my dad and I also explored several coves for tall trees. As occurs elsewhere in the wilderness area with remarkable consistency, tuliptrees shaded a dense herb layer at upper ends of north facing coves, but at about the point where surface water began to flow the understory changed to pure rhododendron and hemlocks entered the canopy. A well sheltered east facing cove with slightly older forests than previously visited local rich coves followed that pattern, and held easily the most impressive trees. In addition to tuliptrees, scattered basswood, bitternut hickory, and sugar maples reached the overstory, and sapling silverbell, buckeye, and sugar formed a well developed midstory. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the cove, I barely had enough light to see through the rangefinder, so I could only collect rough heights only a few trees. Species…………….……Cbh……Height Hemlock………………...NA…….138.9’ Hemlock*………………..NA…….149.0’ Magnolia, Cucumber……8’0”…...129.1’ Maple, Sugar*…………...9’4”……121.2’ Oak, Northern Red……...8’8.5”….132.4’ Pine, White……………...NA……..145.1’ Tuliptree*………………...9’1”…….150.4’ Winterberry, Mountain…1’1”…….34.7’ Winterberry, Mountain…1’9”…….38.1’ *tree in the cove described above The hemlock and northern red oak are each the fifth tallest of the species measured in Georgia with all of the taller red oaks growing in the Chattooga/Tugaloo watershed. The cucumbertree is the second tallest known in Georgia, and sugar maple and mountain winterberry are Georgia's tallest known individuals. Rucker Index…………..134.8’ Tuliptree………………..150.4’ Hemlock………………..149.0’ White Pine……………..145.1’ Pignut Hickory………...140.3’ Black Cherry…………..137.3’ Northern Red Oak……..132.4’ Cucumber Magnolia…..129.1’ White Ash……………...128.0’ Sugar Maple……………121.2’ Yellow Buckeye……….120.8’ The Rucker Index ranks fourth among Georgia sites, although all of higher Rucker indices are for smaller sites. Jess --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
