ENTS,
On Tuesday I posted this, and got no response, even though I asked for input on
what I was saying. I thought that with the words "old growth" in the subject
line, I might get people to talk.
Anyway, here it is again:
ENTS,
Today I was down in the Atlantic County Park at Estell Manor. I wanted to eat
my lunch, do some hiking, and re-visit my favorite Pitch Pine.
While there, I realized something.
But first you need some background info to understand. In 1917 a munitions
plant was built on the site for the war effort for WW I. On the history page
for this park, on the park website, you can see old photos. In a couple of the
old photos you can clealy see that some of the mature Pitch Pines from the
forest at that time were left there when the site was cleared for the munitions
plant and village. The plant was closed when the armistice was signed in 1919.
It was subsequently dismantled and abandoned. In the ensuing 90 years the
forest has grown up again, the Pine Barrens reclaiming the area. But scattered
around in the woods there are Pitch Pines that are larger than the others. Some
of these are along the dirt roads, which are old rail beds from the munitions
plant days. My favorite pine is one of these trees. Several months ago it hit
me that the biggest Pitch Pines in the park may well be the ones that can be
seen in the historic photos, trees
that were not cut when the site was cleared to build the munitions plant in
1917. That would make the trees 90 years older than the rest of them, give or
take a couple years.
Today I realized something else, that we could call those older trees "old
growth", at least in a limited sense. What do you think?
I have posted about my favorite tree before, by the way. The CBH is 6'11".
Oh, and here is the web page I mentioned:
http://www.aclink.org/PARKS/mainpages/historic.asp
And the 3.5 minute video I shot of the tree is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=272KWC_O7qA
Barry
