aww, shucks Bob. i can be obscure on this list for a good bit of the year and, admittedly, a bit sheepish. but this? shucks - thanks. a very nice honor.
hope to see it soon. really, thanks. neil On Nov 19, 9:50 am, [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 > > PedersonPine1.jpg > 767KViewDownload > > PedersonPine2.jpg > 650KViewDownload > > NamelessPine2.jpg > 836KViewDownload -- 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]
