Spruce, I think you will find that ENTS who have been measuring and studying white pine for a long time will agree that historical max heights for the species were likely in the low 200's. We've discussed this extensively and the conclusions is we'll probably never know but the probability of a white pine reaching 250' is very low. There has been verified exaggeration of white pine heights right up into recent history. Human nature being what it is, the same dynamics of height exaggeration (How big was that fish you caught?) combined with non-standard or inaccurate measuring techniques contributed to the 250' heights reported in the 1800's for the New England states.
Here are some measurements on the Boogerman Pine recorded by Will Blozan, first two entries in the list: http://www.nativetreesociety.org/bigtree/webpage_tall_tree_list.htm Will is probably the most qualified eastern U.S. tree measurer and I'm sure can speak with high credibility about the Boogerman Pine measurements. No disrespect meant to the rest of the very talented ENTS tree measurers :-) Andrew Joslin Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts spruce wrote: > I have to count myself as an "open minded" skptic about white pines > over 200 feet tall, or at least significantly over, as the "early" > reports would have us believe. > > Yes, I saw the report of the 207' white pine. I guess I can trust > this report. But many are skeptical about trees that once were > supposedly taller than they are now. The most famous case in point is > the Founders Tree in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It was once > supposed to be the talest tree at 364'. Later when it was re- > measured, with better equipment, or more carefully, maybe, it turned > out to be 346 feet tall. Then the story was that the top was blown > out of it, but there was never any evidence that it ever suffered any > top damage. So.... > > --Gaines > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > On Jan 3, 5:31 pm, "x" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> if it really all bares out that is some interesting stuff (although one >> wonders if they didn't study only plots that had been farmed or clear cut >> before or bruned over which might alter things) >> >> one thing though is there has already been a reliably measured white pine >> over 200'- in the catalochee area of the smoky mtns - 207' a few years back, >> although the top recently broke. >> >> >> >> > > -- 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]
