Bob-Looks familiar!Oddly enough I especially liked the last photo with the mushroom standing proud in the beaming ray of sunlight that made it to the forest floor!! -Don
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:25:07 +0000 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] ordinary versus extraordinary forests ENTS, Massachusetts has acres and acres of ordinary woodlands. Beyond the spectacle of autumn foliage and the imagination of the nostalgic, we fall short on "forestscapes", especially in-forest scenes, that are an inspiration for the arts. That's bad news. The good news is that despite the mentioned shortage, exemplary woodlands do exist in Massachusetts. In this communication, I'd like to share one extraordinary place with you. The site is located in Monroe State Forest in northwestern Massachusetts. More specifically, it is the stretch of forest on the lower Dunbar Brook watershed that runs for about a mile and a half along the north-facing slopes of the main Brook, starting from where the brook is dammed. I hope the following images sufficiently portray what the eye sees when hiking along Dunbar Brook. Capturing the essence of the old growth forest and big trees on film is what I hope to do with the help of friends. In many communications, I have attempted to convey Dunbar's status through statistics. The dimensions and ages of the old and large trees growing in this deep woods setting have been determined and previously reported. For example, we have dated eastern hemlocks to 474 years in age at core height. That suggests at least one 500-year old tree. There are many trees in the 250-year age class, and there is another age class of 140 to 180-year old trees. Insiders have always recognized that Dunbar excels in big trees. The largest volume hemlock we have modeled in Massachusetts grows there. One of the site's white pines has been climbed and tape-drop-measured to a height of 160.2 feet. Dunbar is also home to the largest single-trunk white pine that we've yet modeled in Massachusetts - a different pine from the tall one just mentioned. Dunbar also boasts what may be the largest forest-grown white ash in all New England. The Rucker index of Monroe State Forest stands at 123.7, third highest in Massachusetts after Mohawk Trail State Forest (136.0) and Ice Glen (128.2). The list of forest and tree superlatives is long, but there is more to Dunbar than just big and old trees. There is an unmistakable deep woods ambience that develops from centuries of natural forest history and from Dunbar's relatively isolated location. This combination has made the forest a place of real significance for those in search of inspiring woodlands. But enough talk. Without further comment, I will let the images do the talking - accompanied by my image narration, of course. Image#1-TanyaRolandOnStripedMaple.jpg: This image conveys a message. Yes, the downed tree that Roland Blaich and his daughter Tanya are sitting on is a striped maple. Striped maple? Impossible, you say! Not at all. I visited this very tree for years and watched it get larger and larger. But alas, it went down. It now returns its nutrients to the earth that so faithfully nourished it. As Lee Frelich adroitly explained in a past communication over the fall of the height champion red spruce on Greylock, a tree has two jobs, one while standing and one as a decaying log. The old striped maple's forest job has not as yet been completed. This provides a degree of solace for me. However, this big striped maple is not unique. There are other large members of its species in the watershed. Somewhere on the north-facing ridge, there is a striped maple that will challenge the two 66-footers in Mohawk Trail State Forest. In the past, I have measured these gorgeous understory trees in Dunbar to 59 feet in height and 33 inches CBH. There are many in the 24-inch girth class. Image#2-SugarMapleAndGroup.jpg: Dunbar Brook's old growth forest has areas where sugar maple primarily and white ash secondarily dominate. Canopy trees of these two species commonly grow to heights between 100 and 120 feet, and diameters between 30 and 40 inches. American beech once had a significant presence in Dunbar, but beech blight has reduced the species population to a pittance. I once worried about the abundance of white ash as suggestive of past logging operations in what otherwise appeared to be primary forest. Dr. Charles Cogbill, New England ecologist extraordinaire, assured me that on rocky slopes, such as the north-facing slopes above Dunbar Brook, white ash can be fairly abundant from natural disturbances. So, it is not necessary to invoke direct human activities to account for the abundance of ash. This having been said, trees of at least seven species in the 150 to 300-year age range grow among the boulders in the Dunbar forest. In image #2, Roland, Tanya and Monica are seen near one of many large old-growth sugar maples. The big tree appears isolated. In other places, big trees may grow in clusters of 2 or more. The hint of bright light in the upper right-hand corner is from a blowdown of a single forest giant that took a number of lesser trees with it. The result of these blowdowns and subsequent regeneration is a wide distribution of ages. Dunbar's forest is multi-aged. Lee Frelich has walked Dunbar's slopes and has been the primary source of information to me about probable past site disturbances. Lee sees what scientists with lesser field experience have trouble recognizing - the fading imprints of multiple medium-to-large disturbances mixed with countless smaller ones. Maybe Lee could dig into his memory banks and comment on the Dunbar forest. Hopefully, these images will serve as memory joggers for him. Image#3-ForestPrimeval2.jpg: In places, Dunbar is jungle-like with large old growth emergents thrusting their straight trunks skyward for 100 feet and more through a rich understory of young trees, shrubs, herbs, and ferns. American beech, yellow birch, sugar maple, and white ash dominate the overstory. One sees an occasional basswood or mature red maple, and there are small clusters of hemlocks, but this rich, mesic environment isn't hemlock country, nor red maple country. There is no hint in Dunbar of the dreaded takeover by red maple - a fiction spawned within circles of the timber profession to hoodwink a clueless public into believing that cutting mature forests is needed to thwart an eventual red maple takeover, the very act that will guarantee an increase of red maple. In mature forests like Dunbar's the abundance of red maple is controlled by competition with other species and ecological processes that Lee and other top-line ecologists can more authoritatively speak to. Image#4-BigtoothAspen.jpg: Despite what I am predominantly showing in these boulder field images, much of the Dunbar watershed experienced direct human impact, especially along the lower part of the brook and on the south-facing slopes, but most of the logging occurred fairly long ago. One regenerating stand of hemlocks near the start of the nature trail has a fairly uniform age distribution from 130 to 150 years. There is also the suggestion of an old fire along a steep ridge. Another stretch near the brook has a stand of impressive bigtooth aspens that are now at the far end of their life spans. One on the other side of the brook may soon become the height champion. It was 124 feet the last time I measured it, and it continues to show great vigor. Image#4 shows one of a handful of super bigtooths. Its circumference just makes 8 feet and its height is between 105 and 110 feet. I couldn't get laser returns from the aspen's highest sprigs because of the dense understory. Incidentally, the Indian name of this beautiful tree person is: Tree that eats D-Tapes. Image#5-TanyaAndWhiteAsh: This huge forest-grown ash tree is over 14 feet in girth. Depending on where one determines mid-slope to be, CBH values can be obtained between 14.3 and 15.0 feet. My choice gives it a girth of 14.7 feet. The current height of this forest giant is 123.7 feet. It was once over 130, but old age and natural crown loss is taking a toll. It is not long for this earth. In the early 1990s, we cored the Dunbar Ash, and at the time, we counted 258 rings at core height. Today this old gent is at least 275 years young. The big white ash is accessible from the Raycroft Extension trail. It has been the subject of numerous photographs and a painting by artist Heather Lenz. Image#6-ThoreauPine.jpg: This is an image of the great Henry David Thoreau pine. I have reported on it many times in the past. Its dimensions are approximately 12.7' x 160.2'. I say approximately, because it now may be above 160.2 feet. It was climbed by Will Blozan and Bob Van Pelt in 2004 and tape-drop-measured. As I recall, Bob modeled the trunk volume to 812 cubes at the time. It is probably at least 830 by now. The Henry David Thoreau pine is one of the truly great white pines in New England. It was the first pine that Jack Sobon and I confirmed to a height of over 150 feet. We used a transit and got 152.4 feet at the time. That was around 1990. The holes in the pine's trunk are relatively new and troublesome to say the least. Tanya took this image of her dad, Monica, and me. Good photo, Tanya. Thanks. Image#7-OldYellowBirch.jpg: Roots of this ancient yellow birch engulf the rock on which it seeded maybe 300 years ago. "Rock-eating" birches are a common sight in the Dunbar forest. A Tolkien-like environment of moss and fern-covered boulders, tangled roots, twisting trunks and limbs, many species of herbs, and a canopy high above create that magic forest elixir that we commonly associate with old growth forests. Image#8-GrandfatherAndGroup.jpg: If total volume is the criteria, the great Grandfather pine is the patrirach of the slopes. It's girth is a solid 14 feet and its height at the end of the growing season is between 144.0 and 144.5 feet. Will Blozan climbed and modeled this huge pine a couple of years ago. Grandfather's volume by now is at least 970 cubic feet - if not more. To cut to the chase, the Grandfather tree is the largest single-trunked white pine in Massachusetts that we have modeled. Elsewhere, it is likely exceeded in volume only by the astoundingly large Tamworth Pine in Hemenway State Forest New Hampshire, which I believe exceeds 1,000 cubic feet of trunk volume. The giant Ice Glen Pine has been modeled to 933 cubes, but that was several years ago. It is probably over 940 by now. Note that in the image the group is nestled against the Grandfather pine as opposed to standing behind, a trick to exaggerate the actual size of a tree in an image. In this case, what you see is what you get. Grandpa is a whopper. How old? We dated the Grandfather pine about 13 years ago, at which time it was 175 years old. Today, allowing about 3 years to core height, Grandfather is 191 years of age. That's respectable, but not old for the species. Hopefully, the Grandfather pine will continue to grace us with its presence for another 100 years. Image#9-SpreadEagleHemlock.jpg: Dunbar's forest is awash with intriguing tree forms - an artist's feast. Yellow birches, black birches, and eastern hemlocks play a dominant role in tree-rock sculptures. This old hemlock exhibits characteristic tree-rock posture. The hemlock sits with its back to a drop off, spreading its roots (legs) and relaxing. Its state of relaxation can last for a century or two. By comparison, Rip Van Winkle only took catnaps. Well, that is it for now. There's more to come on Dunbar and its forest treasures. Oh yes, I apologize to any of those on the copy list who did not want to receive this email. Please let me know and I'll insure none are sent in the future. Bob _________________________________________________________________ With Windows Live, you can organize, edit, and share your photos. http://www.windowslive.com/Desktop/PhotoGallery --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
