Michele, I dunno. Around here it seems so many people will buy a house and the first thing they will do is cut all the trees down around it. I don't know why. I had a landlord once who had a beautiful area of property when he bought it and the first thing he did was cut back an extensive area of forest in it to make a field for cattle. The larger tree trunks he saved for the mill but the remaining brush fueled a fire that burned and smoldered for two weeks! I just don't feel most people appreciate trees like we do.
I noticed the other day while driving past Nash Welding on Upward Rd ( Hendersonville NC ) the beautiful perfect Norway Spruce located across from it had been recently cut down. I measured the tree last year and it was a decent 97.7 feet tall. JP On Jan 4, 7:17 pm, [email protected] wrote: > For any house I would buy to live in, it would be at the top of the list > after location that it was required that there be mature forest growth or > at least a few yard trees around the house. I cannot imagine spending the > kind of money houses cost and not also have a place to hang a rope for a > tire (or whatever) swing, hang a hammock, build a treehouse, play the > solar heating or cooling game, etc. I'm thinking that all or most > foresters/forest lovers would think it nutso to buy a house that didn't > have some type of tree cover right in the yard but maybe I'm wrong...I'm > still lamenting the loss of the sugar maple in front of my dad's house > that a microburst damaged years ago. While it looked funny (leaning tower > tree), I would've preferred it remain standing but the town made my dad > agree to let them take it down so it wouldn't fall on someone driving > by... although IMHO that risk was quite low as the fall would've been > parallel to the road! > > To make up for it and partly as an experiment on tree stress, I recently > retained a leaning tower large sugar maple alongside a planned skid trail > to serve as a welcoming committee to all who hike or skid along the > trail... the increased windflow in the forest post-logging may require an > adjustment at some future time but, for the time being, I'm letting it > stay!!! > > Michele > > > > > Spruce: > > > My grandparents planted a Norway spruce when my uncle was born, and > > another when my mother was born, in the yard of their house in Kenosha > > Wisconsin. We recently sold the house as part of settling my uncles > > estate, and were happy to hear that the new owners like the trees (now > > 85+ years old), and do not plan to cut them down. So many home owners > > today look at mature trees as a liability. A number of potential buyers > > said they wouldn't buy the house unless all the large trees were cut > > down, or they expected a discount on the price to compensate for the > > expense of doing it themselves. > > > Lee > > > spruce wrote: > >> 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 Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.org > > Send email to [email protected] > > Visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] Hide > > quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- 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]
