Tyler,
Great to hear you're out and about in Congaree. What is the source of the height on the tupelo? Did it have a recently broken crown? I plan to be down this winter to do some canopy height plots and tree modeling. Hopefully you can be a part of the measuring efforts. Will F. Blozan President, Eastern Native Tree Society President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. "No sympathy for apathy" _____ From: Roy Phillips [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 2:48 PM To: ENTS Subject: [ENTS] Congaree National Park West End ENTS, Last Saturday I explored a portion of the western side of Congaree National Park. Specifically I was interested in getting measurements of the former champion Shumard Oak and the national champion Swamp Tupelo. The river was still dropping from the rains received from tropical storm Ida the week before. Most guts and sloughs still contained about a foot or two of water so log crossings were common. The machine gun like tapping of woodpeckers was heard throughout the day. I calibrated my measurements by measuring the former state champion loblolly pine that Will and Larry had measured in February. I was only off by half a foot or so with 140.4' Flooded Slough I measured some trees on the way to the shumard oak, most were 115-125' swamp chestnut oaks, sweetgums, and cypresses. The gut that the shumard oak is on borders a recovering clearcut area that was logged just prior to the park's formation in 1976. Many chinaberry trees have taken over portions of this area unfortunately, with some reaching 30" cbh and 63' tall. Sweetgums have reached larger sizes though with some 41" cbh and 84.9' tall. Not bad for a 33 year old forest. The shumard oak fell in a storm in 2004. It was still impressive however. I measured the cbh to 23'. Looking inside the trunk revealed it to be entirely hollow. Next I measured the trunk that was on the ground. The trunk measured 127.5' long, but could have been longer with the smaller twigs that would have been on it years ago. The trunk still measured 4' 10" in diameter where it forked into two leads that would have been 67.4' above the ground. The broken trunk measured 17..9' high for a total tree height of 145.4'. Fallen Shumard Next it was on to the national champion swamp tupelo. It measures 15'11" cbh and 116' tall. The state lists it's height as 132', but the best I could get shooting vertically was 116' and a little less from a distance away. It does slowly taper though. Some impressive trees on the way back included a sycamore with a max spread of 102' and a swamp chestnut oak with a max spread of 124.5' and a longest limb of 70.5'. Swamp Tupelo Tyler -- 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]
