It's so interesting that the tallest Dunbar Brook pines are up on the slopes and not in the bottom along the creek. I would've thought it would be the other way around. Perhaps there is a sweet spot between being too high on the slope and suffering wind damage but still being high enough to get more sunlight as opposed to the pines in shadow down in the bottom by the brook. Thoreau and Grandfather pines might be demonstrating that principle, both on the slope, the Grandfather higher up, the upper crown is more sparse (limb break out) and not as tall as Thoreau despite appearing to have equivalent age or maybe even being an older tree than Thoreau.
Something else to consider is that we're only looking at a 100+ year cycle, it may be that the pines in the bottom of the cove are turtles in the race, if they keep going for another 100 years undisturbed maybe some become the mythical plus 200 ft. trees, while the Thoreaus and the Grandfather pines max out due to greater exposure to extreme wind events over time up on the slope -Andrew [email protected] wrote: > ENTS, > > Yesterday Monica and I went to Monroe State Forest on a specific > mission. On a couple of previous trips, about 15 minutes up the trail > from the trailhead, I had observed a white pine high on the south > facing slopes across Dunbar Brook. Most of the year, the pine cannot > be seen. The forest in the foreground is dense, the brook below the > trail is mesmerizing, and one must watch one's footing. Consequently, > the pine is obscured from sight most of the year. When we were in > Monroe State Forest on Monday, I happened to look across the brook at > just the right spot and realized that I needed to see this pine up > close and personal. Around 9:00AM yesterday, I sheepishly approached > Monica about tracking down the pine as the day's mission. Although she > needed to practice for upcoming concerts, being the perfect wife, she > relented and off we went. > > To cut to the chase, the pine is on the south facing ridges of Dunbar > Brook. Sheep pasturing was an economic mainstay of that location in > the more distant past, and more recently, the area experienced > logging. The ridge is recovering from those past activities and to an > extent and shows promise, but compared to the north-facing slopes is > not inspiring. On the slopes, the white ashes reach to between 100 > and 110 feet. The sugar maples reach to between 90 and 100. White > birches reach to 85 feet at most. The only tall trees are close to > Dunbar Brook. The hardwoods on the slopes are nothing to get excited > about. But then there are the pines. They too are on the short side. > Almost all are between 115 and 125 feet. Only two brush 130 feet. Then > there is the mystery pine. > > Upon reaching the tree, it revealed itself to be modest in size. Its > girth is 9.9 feet, exactly matching another pine farther down the > slopes. IBut several other pines are larger, including one that is > 11.7 feet in girth. It did look pretty tall. I finally settled on > 144.1 feet. That is significant. It becomes the 5th tallest tree in > the Dunbar watershed and the northern most 140 in Massachusetts. Its > trunk volume is approximately 400 cubic feet. I thought to myself, > "this fine tree deserves a name." My Kentucky friend Dr. Neil Pederson > came to mind and so it was. It became the Pederson Pine. > > The first two of the attached images show Neil's pine. The first shot > is up close with Monica in the image for scale. The second is through > the peep hole on the other side of Dunbar Brook. Neil's pine is the > one with dark green foliage. The 3rd image is of a handsome pine lower > on the ridge. - a 129.5-footer. > > The confirmation of the Pederson Pine rekindled my memory of the > mission that Jack Sobon and I undertook years ago to locate and > measure all 140-foot white pines in Massachusetts. That mission continues. > > Bob > > > > > > > > > -- > 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]
