I don't think I have posted a report on the Arms Cemetery/Audubon reservation land in Shelburne Falls. I reconfirmed a few of the cemetery trees and gathered the rest scattered among my notebooks, mostly from 2006. There are a few trees I remember but couldn't find in my notes.
The Arms Cemetery has lots of old gravestones dating back to the early heyday of Shelburne Falls. It sits on a high bank above the Deerfield River, which is probably of glacial origin. There are many old trees, but only a really nice tulip tree makes the list for height. On the slope opposite the Deerfield the land drops down to a basin that features a series of beaver ponds covering a flat area at the base of the Massamet Mountain. On the bank are several of the trees in this list, the most prominent being a ring of old white pine along the west bank of the pond. There are several trees over 9' in circumference. The tallest is 139.3'h x 11.3'c. The red oak and the white oak are on the same slope. The Audubon land begins at the pond, and continues up the slope to the top, where it includes the High Ledges area. The lower reaches of this slope have thick pine stands mixed mostly with black cherry, red and sugar maple, black birch, and hemlock, and open areas where shagbark and bitternut hickory and white birch mix in with the others. The rest of the trees in this list are found in this area, some in a mature forest on a toe slope area at the base of the first boulder field. There are a couple old red pines, and one will end up on this list. Just below this toe slope is a flat area criss crossed with streams, which has pine stand with a dozen or so trees over 120'h. Species height cbh WP 139.3 11.3 NRO 108.1 4.8 TT 107.1 13.2 BC 106.3 3.8 WO 105.3 4.6 BTA 104.8 4.0 WA 103.9 4.4 BB 103.5 5.9 SBH 102.0 4.4 RM 101.5 4.4 RI 10 108.2 The ten species Rucker Index for this site, 108.2 is just about the same as the Catamount index, which is 108.3. 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
