Jack- Welcome back!
Much as Bob is skeptical of the 300 footer, I'm not yet willing to concede that there couldn't have been. One of the tenets of forest restoration is the collection of existing historical accounts for region being considered, to establish 'reference conditions'. A perfect example of this would be use of repeat photography for old images showing vegetative states. However, one must be wary of singular accounts such as the 300 footer being discussed...without separate substantiating accounts, Bob's skepticism is not unreasonable. Your comments re Charlemont potential, provide a reasonable rationale for continued research! -Don Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:35:20 -0800 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ENTS] A Large Tree article in 1849 To: [email protected] Dear ENTS: This is my first foray into the ENTS cyber world as I have only recently got email, but talk of a 300 footer sure gets me going. Tim told me of this account years ago and I have been thinking of it ever since. There are other historical accounts of similar tall pine: 247' Meredith, NY History of the Lumber Industry in the State of New York 250' Timothy Dwights' Travels in New England and New York 240' Dartmouth, NH A Natural History of Trees 260' Lincoln, NH Forest Giants of the World Past and Present 262' Forest Giants... 264' NH. Forest Giants... Three hundred feet is not much taller than these historical record pines, especially considering that Charlemont currently has the tallest pines in New England-New York and may have had them in the past as well. The Charlemont account of 300' can't be a typo as 22 - 12' (average length) logs comes to 264 feet. Charlemont also has a combination of good bottom land soils and rugged typography adjacent to it. With its feet in rich soil, a pine growing in the bottom of a cove or next to a steep bank or cliff face could easily be a hundred feet taller to have its top up with nearby trees, protected from the wind. Also consider that these were much larger diameter trees (six to ten feet) and probably substantially older than anything growing today. Only a small percentage of the most fertile land is actually used to grow timber today, it being used mostly for farmland or developement. So, given the best sites, protection from the winds, and thousands of years of forest growth to raise the canopy height, this account is not so far fetched. Jack Sobon Windsor, MA -- 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] _________________________________________________________________ Windows 7: It works the way you want. Learn more. http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/windows-7/default.aspx?ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_evergreen:112009v2 -- 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]
