ENTS- This article reminds me of the story of a 400 ft. tall Douglas-fir cut down in Seattle around the turn of the 20th century. I thought this was a tall tale told by my grandfather until I did a little research and just found out it was probably true. Even for a Doug Fir (extraordinary specimens still grow to 300 ft.) a hundred feet taller seems incredible by today’s standards, though there are still thousands of acres of virgin, old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest, as I can attest to from personal experience. However, little of it is on fertile soil in protected valleys. Before millions of acres of the best tree-growing land was taken, perhaps one in a billion ancient firs grew to 400 ft., whether by genetic potential, conditions, or pure chance. That isn’t likely to happen again.
As for New England’s white pine country, surely we will never know how fertile the best soil was, as it was the first to be exploited and degraded centuries ago, along with the taking of all of the best pines. How then can we evaluate the possibility of a 300 ft. pine based on incomparable current conditions and populations, and on a few unreliable records? How many ancient eastern white pines are there left growing under ideal conditions on which to base a comparison? I think none. I vote that one-in-a-billion 300 ft. tall eastern white pines once lived! Now follow this link: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_tall_can_a_Douglas-fir_grow and you’ll see reliable-looking records for several Douglas-firs over 400 ft. tall cut down as late as the 1920’s. Dan Miles -- 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]
