Hey, Will Omitting the Holly, which was the smallest measured the RHI is 89.1. That is with 10 trees. This should be the final accurate figure.
JP On Jan 8, 9:44 am, "Will Blozan" <[email protected]> wrote: > James, > > Another great installment on your local forest. BTW, the Rucker index is > always the 10 tallest species on the site- looks like you may have used 11? > > Will F. Blozan > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > "No sympathy for apathy" > > _____ > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of James Parton > Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 11:20 PM > To: ENTS > Subject: [ENTS] Eaton/Julian Forest > > ENTS, > > Today I continue to explore the forests near my home that surround Lake > Julian near Asheville NC. I have done a couple of past posts on the forests > near the lake and following these I will label this section of forest > section 6. > > http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/north_carolina/julian/lak... > n_park_nc.htm > > http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/north_carolina/lake_julia... > forest.htm > > Section 6, is located on a peninsula jutting out into the lake whose base is > near the EATON plant at the end of Heywood Rd. I entered the woods near the > plant and first found a nice Holly and big Pitch Pine. While measuring the > pine which turned out to be a decent 6' 2 1/2" cbh and 97.3 ft tall I > thought of " Pine Barrens " Barry and thought, " This one's for him ". It > reminded me of that big one he found recently in the barrens. . Going deeper > into the forest I noticed several hemlocks. One that was close to 100 feet > tall was dead and all are in decline, no doubt because of adelgid > infestation. Also invasive plants were everywhere. Especially tangles of > Oriental Bittersweet and Engish Ivy had the forest floor carpeted green in > places. I also found a small Norway Spruce growing here too. Later I found a > live hemlock at 97.9 feet. > > One really big Red Oak was measured. A fused one that split into two trunks > about 3 feet above the ground. Below the split it measures a whopping 12' 1" > in girth! The left trunks highest point is 95.1ft and right is 97.2ft tall. > > After measuring some more pines and a nice White Oak I ventured into a pine > dominated part of the forest. I was hoping to find some big White Pine since > other sites on the lake had yielded some well over 100 feet tall. White Pine > proved not as numerous here and also not as tall. Of the few I measured, > they fell just short of the 100 foot mark and none had girths of 10 feet or > more, unlike some of the WP on other lake sites. Pitch and Virginia pine > dominate the site here but even here I found none quite 100 feet tall. > > Approaching the lake I found the shore covered and surrounded by ice. The > lake is a cooling lake for the Progress Energy coal-fired plant here and is > warmer than typical lakes in the area. So warm that they have Tilapia > stocked in the lake which would die off in the winter in other area lakes. > This forest is located near the cooling outlet of the plant hence locals > call it the " hothole " side. Anyway, the warm water causes fog which > condenses in the cold air and freezes on averything near the lake. The trees > and bushes often are covered in ice during really cold weather and can be > really pretty. I have fished many nights and left with ice all over my > fishing stuff and even my coat! It can be a misty lake. > > Overall the trees here are pretty average and I surprisingly found none 100 > feet tall or over. However I only explored not quite half of the peninsula > and a hundred footer is probably present somewhere. However I believe I got > a good sampling of the forest. Enough to get a good idea of what is there. I > got 11 species, enough to get a preliminary Rucker Height Index of 84.91. > Before factoring in the White Pine as the 11th tree I got 83.81 for 10 trees > on the site. Still it gives me a good idea of the average canopy height. It > agrees with what I see here. > > Here are the measurements > > Species CBH Height Spread > > American Holly* 2' 1/2" 43.1' > > White Pine* 7' 11 1/2" 96.0' > > Red Maple 1' 5" 41.3' > > Pitch Pine* 6' 2 1/2" 97.3' > > Eastern Hemlock* 5' 0" 97.9' > > Red Oak* 12' 1"! 97.2' > > White Oak 7' 7 1/2" 87.6' > > Tuliptree 5' 3" 98.2' > > Black Locust* 3' 11" 86.2' > > WhiteOak* 9' 2 1/2" 93.6' 77' 5" avg > > Sourwood 2' 8" 57.6' > > Pitch Pine 4' 2 1/2" 85.4' > > Virginia Pine* 4' 0' 88.4' > > Sourwood* 5' 6" 71.1' > > Tuliptree* 7' 3" 99.6' > > White Pine 7' 8' 94.2' > > Red Maple* 3' 0" 63.7' > > * Tree used in calculating Rucker Height Index. > > Rucker Index 84.91 > > Red Maples on the site averaged much smaller than the other hardwoods. Only > Dogwoods and American Holly were smaller and then not by much. I wondered > why this was so. > > This was my first time doing a Rucker index and Avg spread. I think I got it > right. I thought about not using the American Holly because of it's small > size compared to the other trees and using just the 10 others but Holly is > common here and I thought it should be represented. > > James Parton
