Spruce,
You may be interested to know that the tallest accurately measured Norway spruce in Massachusetts grows in Mohawk Trail State Forest in one of those un-thinned plantations that is still sorting itself out. The tree is 129.3 feet in height. John Eichholz, Andrew Joslin, and I measured it some week ago. Originally, I fell prey to the non-native species disparaging arguments. But my forester friend Joe Zorzin kept discussing the virtues of the Norway spruce and why we don't need to disparage it. One day I took off the blinders and saw it as the noble, beautiful species that it is. I've loved it ever since. There are some beauties in New York's Taconic State Park. Several are in the 120-foot height class. Most are 7 to 8 feet in girth. Another place where you can see drop dead gorgeous Norways is in Lenox, Mass. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "spruce" <[email protected]> To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 4, 2010 10:13:07 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [ENTS] Re: Honorary native tree--a possibility?: Norway spruce NS Lovers: Wow! I have found some more Norway spruce enthusiasts. There really are a few of us out there—more about that in a minute. First, as for what they are doing in Mass—destroying the NS plantings. This is a shame, and it comes from people not understanding how these plantations grow. An unthinned/un-pruned, unmanaged NS plantation can be a very ugly thing to the casual/ uninitiated observer. My favorite plantation near Glady, WV can to some eyes, at the present stage of its growth, looks like one of the ugliest stands of trees on earth. It is so full of dead limbs, dead and dying overtopped trees, some of which are fallen over, that it is difficult to walk through. But, if one looks at the dominant trees— and this is an important point—NS trees express dominance over time as good or better than just about any other tree species—one’s eye is drawn upwards into what is an astonishing cathedral of soaring trees with wonderfully graceful weeping foliage, hanging like great green banners from the vaults. To my eyes—and I almost always look upward in a forest--the beauty of this stand is simply heart melting! I haven’t visited this stand in several years—I hope it is still there! The Rothkugel is recognized for its historical importance—the connection to Gifford Pinchot, etc. so it will never be cut. In fact, there may be some efforts to make it more open and accessible to visitors. As for the Glady stand—I talked to a Mr. Brenneman, who at the time was in charge of the woodlands management division of Westvaco, the owner of the stand, and expressed my feelings that he had something very special there—a stand of NS of an especially wonderful, and very distinctive genetic strain—so I have hopes that has had some influence. Mr. Brenneman was very nice and gave me permission to cut down a few trees to take some measurements, etc. He also gave me permission to get some seedlings, which are growing wonderfully, both in the mountains of MD and here in Winchester. This stand at Glady should be used as a seed source for NS, maybe not just for areas with the same climate, but perhaps over a somewhat wider area. My guess is that the original provenance was somewhere in the more eastern and sourthern area of Europe. The cones would seem to indicate that. I have not seen any other stands that look the same as this one. In the forestry community, there are a few—maybe more than a few— real NS enthusiasts. One is Professor Edwin White, Dean of Research at The Department of Forestry and Environmental Science at SUNY Syracuse (at the moment I am not sure this is the exact name of the department there). He directed a number of studies on NS a few years ago, the most interesting of which to the non-forester may be the growth curves study and the site factors study. If you contact him he will be more than happy to send a copy of these studies, and refer you to some others there, and elsewhere, interested in NS. As for unthinned plantations of NS, Ed White says that NS stands need no thinning to achieve the best development in the long run. He says the same of white pine. I am growing plantations of both species on my timberland (80 to 100 feet tall), but I do thin and prune—it simply makes the stands more enjoyable and makes them look better (re those in Mass that think they should be removed). Another NS enthusiast is Jim Kochenderfer, a forest research scientist at the N. E. Forest Experimental Station in Parsons, WV. He is the one who told me about the locations of various stands in WV, including the ones at Glady, and the Rothkugel. I hope Jim is not now retired—I have not talked to him for many years. He did a study on the release of small NS plantings overtopped by brush and saplings, etc using roundup. Well, I do go on and on. I have more to say/respond to later. I have to go now. --Gaines ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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]
