Tim,
Thanks for the image. In the photo, we see the look of determination in Andrew's eyes. Then in one mighty bound, he was up in the canopy. It happened so fast, I hardly followed it. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Timothy Zelazo" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 10:18:31 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [ENTS] Re: A Great Day with John and Andrew On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 9:56 AM, Timothy Zelazo < [email protected] > wrote: On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 8:22 AM, < [email protected] > wrote: John, No, you've nailed the RHI for Mohawk down pretty well. One point I would emphasize though is that the Norway spruce that we measured to 129.2 feet. is very significant. Even though it isn't a native species, the height is the best we've done for New England. A question that makes sense to raise is how do the 10 trees in Mohawk's RHI compare to other areas of New England, Northeast, the entire East? I'm unsure of the absolute Northeast maximum heights for a few species at this point, but I think that a useful index for a site might be the following. RRI = Sum(heights of 10 species in the RHI for a site)/Sum(champs of height for the 10 species in the site RHI but extended to a designated geographical Area). Here RRI = Relative Rucker Index. MTSF scores around 0.96 for this index. Another index is: RRI = (RHI for site)/(Top RHI for geographical area). For this variation, for the Northeast, MTSF = 0.99. That's not freaking bad for a little state forest in populous Massachusetts. As Austin Powers would say, "Yeah Baby"! John, it was great to get out with you and Andrew. Lots of fun. Very rewarding. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Eichholz" < [email protected] > To: "ENTSTrees" < [email protected] > Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 11:09:44 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [ENTS] Re: A Great Day with John and Andrew 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 -- 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] -- 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] -- 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] -- 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]
