Ed,
Actually, I spend a fair amount of time in other forest sites, but don't always find trees of interest to report to the list. However, your suggestion set me to thinking about where and how I spend my time in Massachusetts. State properties do occupy most of my time, because they tend to have the oldest forests, although there are private parcels that compete. The areas below get moderate to frequent to visitation from yours truly. State forests, parks, and reservations: Mohawk Trail State Forest Monroe State Forest (you probably think of that as an extension of Mohawk) Savoy Mountain State Forest (I don't always distinguish between Mohawk and Savoy, which are contiguous) Mt Tom State State Reservation Robinson State Park Mt Greylock State Reservation Bash Bish Falls State Park Mount Washington State Forest Mount Everett State Reservation Skinner State Park Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation Windsor State Forest Windsor Jambs Wachusett Mountain State Reservstion Private forests owned by environmental organizations that I visit fairly often with worthy trees include: Ice Glen Bryant Homestead Petticoat Hill Bullard Woods Graves Farm Monument Mountain Bartholomew Cobble Small conservation areas I visit include: Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area Several areas along Connecticut River Broad Brook corridor Stebbins Wildlife Sanctuary Black Stevens Conservation Area Parks, Cemeteries, etc. I visit include: Tanglewood Look Park Stanley Park Mittenauge (sp) Childs Memorial Park Conway Cemetery Forest Park Fruit Street Tuliptrees Mill River conservation areas A sample of areas I visit, but far less often, are as follows: Negus Mountain Wendell State Forest Quabbin Reservoir Beartown State Forest Notchview Westfield sand plains Mineral Hills Bardswell Ferry (once visited it often) etc., etc., etc. Well, I think you get the picture. I visit plenty of places, but the truly great forest sites are few and far between and I am reluctant to waste time in the myriad of undistinguished places. This brings me to a suggestion. What do you think about all of us banning together to produce tan 'ENTS Guide to Great Eastern Forests'? We could approach Sierra Club Guide Books - but preferably a different publisher. Sierra Club Guide Books is difficult to work with. I know that from experience. Chapters, sections, or sites would be contributed by different authors. That is the only practical way to do it, i.e the book would need to be coauthored, given its scope. We are THE only organization in the country that could take on such a project and do justice to it from a forest point of view. Other authors would write such a book relying on the mediocre and usually inaccurate descriptions of others. Our book would be 100% ENTS. To make the point even stronger, I just bought an AMC's 'Massachusetts Trail Guide'. It is 399 pages long. It was written by a highly qualified retired Smith College Professor by the name of John Burk. I have met John and hold him in the highest esteem. The guide gives directions to and a brief write-up on each trail. It is a hefty work. But in compiling the information, John had to rely on many sources, and consequently, descriptions of the forests one encounters along the trails that are included vary greatly in detail and in quality. That is not intended as a criticism, just a statement of fact. It would be true of virtually any other guide written via relying on the descriptions of others. If we want the public to have a guide to excellent eastern forests, we will have to produce it. Thoughts? Oh BTW, we tend to overload ourselves with projects. If we take this one on, other forest projects will need to be put on the back burner. Each potential contributor would need to commit himself/herself to a schedule. Otherwise, such a big, joint project would never get finished. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Edward Frank" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 8:45:09 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [ENTS] Fwd: Continuing the mission Bob, I am glad you are still making discoveries in your old stomping grounds there at MTSF. Here in Pennsylvania we have I believe 78 State Forest Natural Areas and many in State Parks also. Several Years ago Charles (Chuck) Fergus, a naturalist/outdoor writer set himself the task of visiting each of the 78 State Forest Natural Areas in a single year. He wrote a trip report for each visit and directions for finding the area. These were compiled into a book I have found very useful in my explorations of forests in PA. This could be a project for you in Massachusetts and a reason to visit some of these other areas. There are 9 large forest reserves in the state, with some divided into multiple sections. You could visit each of the sites and measure trees and do a site description for each, with the goal of putting them together into a more formal report. Each description could be from 3 to 12 pages. You wrote a nice overview in this style of MTSF in your original MTSF Annual Report series. That could be updated. There was also a list of various areas being considered for small scale forest reserves in the state that would encompass only a few areas. Even if these did not have great trees, there is surely natural features of interest you could visit and describe. This would be a more relaxed and less demanding than the Mensuration Book. You could even take photos and GPS locations this time. As you know I have been trying to visit the little pockets of old forest found in PA that others haven't been to yet. In between I am trying to see some of the other State Natural Areas - many have already been reported by Ernie Ostuno and Dale Luthringer, among others. But it is something that is a nice ongoing project that lets me see some different areas rather than just revisiting the old ones. Ed Frank Check out my new Blog: http://nature-web-network.blogspot.com/ (and click on some of the ads) ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Cc: Belchetz-Swenson, Sarah ; CAMPANILE, ROBERT ; Ricci, Heidi Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 4:50 PM Subject: [ENTS] Fwd: Continuing the mission ENTS, I short time back I mentioned to Monica that I was becoming frustrated with my forest mission. Naturally she asked why. I explained that I hadn't been making enough new big/tall tree discoveries. I was spending too much time revisiting the same trees. I do like to check up on favorite trees, but I need to add to my database. -- 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]
