Bob, ENTS:
It was great to spend the day with you, to meet Andrew, and to set
some records!.
Trout Brook basin does have some impressive hemlocks, along the brook,
and just below the Norway spruce stand. There are more than a handful
above 120', and they don't seem old. That is at 300m elevation, and
the 120's continue along a branch of the brook up to about 400m.
Above that there are some much older, larger ones, but they are in the
115' range. The 152.8' pine is in a cluster of equally impressive
young pines at about 220m, at the mouth of the brook and just above
the highway.
Once we got past the pines, we saw trees blown down, including some of
the hemlocks along the bank. Past the fork in the brook. in the flat
area before cove we found a tangle of downed ash, maple and basswood.
We were looking for a red maple that I had measured to 128' in 2006.
We first measured a tall sugar maple, 129.5' x 5.5' which we got to
just before reaching the red maple. We found the tall red maple
leaning and partly uprooted, and the crown appeared to have broken off
in places, but still had a bushy top. The highest top I measured was
125.5', a loss of 2.5' It may still be the MTSF height leader, but
it is now competing with black cherry for a spot on the first Rucker
iteration for MTSF. The white ash champ came next, and we found it
easily because it stood out and it is at the entrance to the cove. We
easily found tops above 150', and as Bob said we converged on 152' as
the height of the tallest top. It has held a height above 150' for
three years, so it place in history seems secured. Close by this tree
is a sugar maple that has been the tallest in MTSF, and likely still
is, although it lost 2.2' to 132.2' x 5.1'c. There were several other
maples in the 120's. I don't remember finding any other ash above
140', but there were loads in the 130's, and a black birch at 106.9' x
4.9' by the brook.
On leaving we skirted up to the Norway spruce plantation, there
finding the champ in good shape and grown, and continued on to scout
the ledgy old growth area high above the road. We had fun spotting
lots of maples to 125' and ash to 135', some of them quite large. My
favorite was a 124' x 9.7' sugar maple right next to a 117.3' x 9' red
maple, among scenic moss covered boulders.
Our main objective over time is to reconfirm a RI 10-P index, and to
find out which trees have staying power on the list. For now Trout
Brook has 4 of the top 11 height leaders for MTSF, black cherry being
the other, and for now the MTSF Rucker Index remains at 136.0. Bob,
do you have any substitutions for this list?
John
Mohawk Trail State Forest Rucker Index November 2009
sp ht cbh dom
WP 169.3 10.4 07/16/09
WA 152.3 6.5 11/13/09
NRO 133.5 9.3 11/25/04
BNH 133.2 4.6 10/17/07
SM 132.2 5.1 11/13/09
EH 130.8 10.9 05/27/05
AB 130.5 8.4 04/09/06
ABW 126.9 5.5 04/25/06
BTA 126.0 3.9 04/26/06
RM 125.5 5.5 11/13/09
RI 10 136.0
RI 5 144.1
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