Russ and Don,
The load of coarse woody debris is building up in the area at
the base of Todd Mountain. As it does, I'm watching the place being
transformed and the results are both interesting and rather magical.
Wildlife habitat is enhanced at least for species like salamanders. I
was bummed out when the champion went down, but now I've become more
accepting and philosophical.
Bob
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 25, 2009, at 10:58 PM, DON BERTOLETTE <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Russ-
> I thought the same thing...I was seeing a USFS CFI Decay 5 stage!
> -Don
>
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [ENTS] Re: Frog Pond
> Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:55:36 -0400
> From: [email protected]
>
> Bob:
>
> I can just imagine the fallen champion in about 30 years covered
> with a six inch thick blanket of ,moss.
>
> Russ
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: Sarah Belchetz-Swenson <[email protected]>; Tanya
> Blaich <[email protected]>; John Davis <[email protected]
> >; Carol Gilmour <[email protected]>; Sharl Heller <[email protected]
> >; Claudia Hurley <[email protected]>; Amy Kaiser
> ><[email protected]
> >; Judy Isacoff <[email protected]>; Heidi Ricci
> ><[email protected]
> >; Mike Ryan <[email protected]>; Doug Seale <[email protected]
> >; Nancy Weiss <[email protected]>; Timothy Zelazo
> ><[email protected]
> >; ROBERT CAMPANILE <[email protected]>
> Sent: Tue, Aug 25, 2009 8:48 pm
> Subject: [ENTS] Frog Pond
>
> ENTS,
>
> Monica and I took two dear friends to MTSF, our forest Mecca, and
> shared with them a few of the tree treasures that draw us back over
> and over. The attached images show some of the highlights of the trip.
>
> Image#1-FallenChampionC.jpg: This fallen sugar maple was once the
> height champion of its species for all New England, and possibly the
> Northeast. It proudly stood at the base of Todd Mountain and was a
> boundary tree marking the end of a pasture. Jack Sobon and I
> measured the tree to 134.6 feet using a transit back around 1990.
> The tree eventually grew to slightly over 136.0 feet before it began
> to lose crown. Its maximum girth was 11.5 feet. Its big trunk is now
> covered in moss. I originally measured this tree with a Haga
> Altimeter borrowed from Harvard Forest. I pretty green in those
> days. I was using the tangent-based technique and got the improbable
> height of 155 feet for the maple. A half dozen professionals
> measured the tree with me on different occasions and all made
> approximately the same size error. This downed maple was the tree
> that first alerted me to the fact that something was badly amiss
> with the accepted height measuring technique or at least how it was
> described in the instructions that typically accompany clinometers.
> After feeling embarrassed at the size of error I had made, I put on
> my mathematician cap and figured out what had gone wrong and how to
> achieve a higher level of accuracy with a tape measure and
> clinometer. Will Blozan and I engineered what we came to refer to as
> the crown-point cross-triangulation method. Later BVP, who had been
> doing things right, let Will Blozan and me in on the latest
> inexpensive technology - the laser rangefinder. The rest is history.
> I own the prostrate maple a big thanks as well as Jack Sobon and his
> transit. Notice the luxuriant herb growth. This year's abundant
> rainfall has been well received.
>
> Image#2-TheCave2.jpg: I've submitted photos of "Frank's Cave"
> before. Frank Decontie was the Algonquin medicine man who performed
> an extended ceremony in the cave back in October 1993. He later
> became an advisor to ENTS. I can't resist taking a shot of the cave
> when I'm in the area. There is now Frank's cave and Frank's tree -
> fitting tributes to a great man.
>
> Image#3-PatriciaTerryTreesC.jpg: From the area of the cave, Monica
> and I worked our way down to the young Frog Pond pines. This image
> shows two trees located near the "Sweetie Pie" Pine. Patricia Fiske
> from Colorado stands near her tree and her husband Terry Fiske near
> his. Both are very deserving of their trees. I succeeded in
> measuring Patricia's pine. It is 7.9 feet in girth and reaches to
> 140.1 feet, if I located the absolute top. I'm not sure I did.
> Regardless, Patricia's tree becomes the 5th Frog Pond pine to be
> confirmed to a height of 140 feet. Terry's pine must await a more
> transparent canopy. As a reminder, these are all relatively young
> pines. Lots of growing left.
>
> Image#4-FrogPondPine1C.jpg: Three hemlocks are in the foreground.
> Most of the trees in the stand are white pines, but there is a
> scattering of other species to include hemlock and shagbark hickory.
>
> Image#5-FrogPond2C.jpg: This is a more typical picture of the Frog
> Pond pines. The range of heights based on my current measurements is
> from 125 to 147 feet. Girths are 6 to 8 feet, with a few larger ones
> scattered around. One pine at the edge of the lower meadow is 10.4
> feet in girth. Again, these are young trees.
>
> The Frog Pond pines won't bowl visitors over like the behemoths of
> the Elders Grove in MTSF and the ones along Dunbar Brook in MSF.
> However, the Froggers have great potential and will almost certainly
> join the elite 150 Club in 3 to 5 years. To this point, I've
> measured 5 over 140 and expect to find a couple more before I'm
> finished searching.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you’re up
> to on Facebook. Find out more.
> >
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
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]
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
