H Tom I've never been to Backus Woods, but I've hiked through the Charles Sauriol Forest across the concession road from Backus. I've never seen such large Tulip, Beech and White Pines. It is a great place to see many Carolinian species north of the border. As I live in Toronto, I will go to Lynndale Park, its just up the road from where I live! If you are in the Toronto area, check out Rattlesnake Point near Milton. Its along the escarpment and has many very old and gnarly Eastern White Cedars. Happy New Year Peter On 3-Jan-10, at 5:16 PM, thomas howard wrote:
> ENTS, > > I received the new book Ontario's Old-Growth Forests as a Christmas > present. This book by Michael Henry and Peter Quinby is fabulous! > it is filled with color photos of glorious old growth trees and > forests, and there are detailed descriptions of over 50 old growth > forests with photos of each site, maps of each site, age of oldest > trees, forest type, and preservation status. The book is divided by > forest regions with emphasis on the spectacular White Pine forests > of Ontario, including Algonquin Provincial Park (where White Pine > to 486 years old has been found), Temagami (where the largest old > growth Eastern White Pine forests in the world remain). There is > not much height information and the authors suggest ENTS methods. > They refer to a White Pine 67 meters tall (about 220 ft.) in 1860, > and to what could be Ontario's tallest trees today - White Pines 50 > meters tall (about 164 ft.) in Gillie's Grove west of Ottawa. Old > growth oak savannas are also covered including Paradise Grove in > Niagara-on-the-Lake and High Park in Toronto which I visited a week > ago; also old growth Black Gum over 400 years old in Backus Woods > near Lake Erie. There is a chapter with more wonderful photos of > the ancient White Cedars of the Niagara Escarpment - these are > Ontario's oldest trees and there is a photo of a tree that sprouted > in A.D. 701! Also a White Cedar that died in A.D. 770 after living > 1890 years! There is a great deal of information about how to > recognize old growth, about salamanders, bats, etc. and other > creatures that live in old growth forests, scientific, spiritual > value of old growth, efforts to preserve Ontario's threatened old > growth forests, essays about various values of old growth forests, > and even an essay about a type of forest little heard about - > boreal rain forest by Lake Superior. There is so much more, > including detailed descriptions of species like Hemlock, White > Pine, Red Pine in old growth settings. I highly recommend this book! > > I've also examined some trees in Toronto, and I'm including a > report about them here. I did not have the laser rangefinder with > me. Lynndale Park is a park near where my brother lives in Toronto. > > Lynndale Park, Toronto, Ont. 10/31/2009 and other Toronto sites > Dec. 2009 > > > Lynndale Park is a small neighborhood park in the Scarborough > section of Toronto. > It is near Wood Glen Rd. off Kingston Rd. The main feature of this > pleasant little park is a group of about 22 partly open-grown Red > Oaks and White Oaks up to 50 ft. or a little more tall. The oaks > seem to be about 80-100 years old. > > Trees examined: > Red Oak 30.3” dbh > Red Oak 32.8” dbh largest tree > White Oak 24” dbh should be largest White Oak > Red Oak 32.5” dbh > White Oak 18.9” dbh average for White Oaks > > I counted 12 Red Oaks and 10 White Oaks. > Near edges are large open-grown Silver Maples, and 2 big Black > Locusts near Wood Glen Rd. entrance. Black Locust 23.5” dbh. > Wildlife – Black Squirrels, common in all Toronto parks. > > Toronto has a great many oaks in its neighborhoods, mainly Red Oaks > with some White Oaks; these trees average 50-70 ft. tall and a few > Red Oaks reach 4 ft. dbh. > All Oaks in these areas in eastern Toronto are second growth. > > Large old growth Red Oaks and White Oaks are the dominant trees in > Queens Park in downtown Toronto – these trees average over 4 ft. > dbh and have open-grown form as they are remnants from old growth > savanna. I counted about 170 rings on the stump of a giant Red Oak > (stump radius over 30 in.). > > High Park in western Toronto has a restored old growth Oak Savanna > ecosystem with huge Black Oaks. On Dec. 26, 2009 Jack Howard and I > visited High Park and examined the following: > Black Oak stump 167 rings 30” > radius > Black Oak cross-section 206 rings 12” radius > – from well up in tree; remains of this fallen tree are next to a > massive standing open-grown Black Oak over > 4 ft. dbh. The tree I examined like other fallen trees > at High Park was most likely the victim of a storm. The stump of > the tree with 206 rings was over > 50 % hollow and I could only count 103 rings on the nearly 40” > radius stump. > Black Oak cross-section 164 rings 55” radius > – this cross-section lying on > top of a stump close to 6 ft. across, and near a huge > standing Black Oak > with massive spiral grain trunk and open grown form. > > Tom Howard > > > Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. > -- > 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]
