John,
Glad you are making it out to some new sites! Sweet black birch- is that a NE record? Need some help this winter in Congaree- can you make it? Hey, did the HWA near you get killed by the winter cold? I hope so. Will F. Blozan President, Eastern Native Tree Society President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. "No sympathy for apathy" _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Eichholz Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] Catamount State Forest The Catamount State Forest in Colrain, Massachusetts contains many interesting features, among them a plaque commemorating the first time and place an American Flag was raised above a school house, and extensive rugged uplands, reaching as high as 570 meters at the summit of Pocumtuck Mountain. This elevation is equivalent to the top of Clark Mountain and to the uplands above Dunbar Brook. In these areas, the tree heights are undistinguished. However, Catamount also contains several tributaries of the North River, which then flows directly into the Deerfield River. As the Deerfield River basin contains many of the state's tallest forests, and since Catamount is within a 30 minute bike ride of my house, I have been spending time there looking for exemplary forest stands to report on. The first area I have studied enough to develop a Rucker index for is the basin of Meadow Brook, at the southern end of McLeod Pond. Stacy Road is a dirt road that begins at Charlemont Road and travels up Meadow Brook, ending in a turnaround near the pond. There is State Wildlife Management land starting about half way up Stacy Road on the brook side, and this land contains several nice stands of white pine mixed with red oak, bitternut hickory, eastern hemlock, sugar maple, and various birches. I measured several pines over 110', with the tallest at 120.4'h x 6.8'c. The road enters the State Forest, eventually ending at a turnaround that features a marker commemorating a McLeod (I didn't write down the first name). This area seems to be an old home site. Just before the turnaround is a classic rich forest area at the base of a 50' high ledge. There are several large red oak, white ash, sugar maple, and white pine, as well as many younger but quite vigorous trees. Following along the ledge leads to a series of flat basins, mostly dominated by older red oaks and younger white ash. The tallest specimens are a white ash at 109.0'h x 5.8'c, a red oak at 105.5'h x 7.0'c, a white pine at 117.7'h x 5.4'c, a red maple at 104.4'h x 3.5'c, and a yellow birch at 88.7'h x 3.6'c. Before this area there is a side road, which leads eventually to a crossing of Meadow Brook as it leaves the pond, and then to the pond itself, but which first passes by a cove leading to a confluence of Meadow Brook and an unnamed tributary. This cove contains several nice white pine throughout and also a very diverse and rich collection of hardwood trees. There are white ash, bitternut hickory, red oak, sugar maple, black birch, basswood, and bigtooth aspen in about that order of frequency. At the stream side there are a few hemlock trees as well. The tallest specimens are a white pine at 134.2'h x 9.5'c and a white ash at 121.0'h x 7.1'c, both near the stream, and a bitternut hickory at 111.4'h x 5.7'd and a surprisingly tall black birch, 103.9'h x 3.6'c, both at the upper end of the cove. An initial Rucker Index from both areas consists of: Species height cbh WP 134.2' 9.5' WA 121.0' 7.1' BH 111.4' 5.7' RO 105.5' 7.0' RM 104.4' 3.5' BB 103.9' 3.6' SM 103.7' ABW 103.4' 4.0' EH 102.2' 5.0' BTA 93.7' 5.7' RI 10 108.3 The area below this cove may hold more surprises, and there are a couple more coves to explore, which leads me to believe a RI 10 above 110 is possible for Catamount. John --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
