Larry
The oaks are certainly not young trees, but the surrounding
forest has seen a lot of human disturbance and consequently does not
qualify as old growth. We frequently speak of old trees but most of us
don't refer to them old growth trees. We apply The concept of old
growth at the forest scale as opposed to the individual tree scale.
Hope this clarifies my not calling the area old growth.
How old are the oaks? Somewhere between 120 and 160 years I'd
guess.
Bob
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 11, 2010, at 7:05 PM, "x" <[email protected]> wrote:
Bob,
wow, those red oaks really aren't old-growth???
they look bigger than lots of stuff on OG sites and Forest Park
can't have growth rates like down in NC or LA.
-Larry
From: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 6:59 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ENTS] Forest Park with Bart and Sam
Larry,
No old growth in Forest Park that I've seen so far. Mature second
growth is all over the place. We'll gradually cover all the hot
spots. Bart Bouricius lived next to Forest Park for 6 years.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "x" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 6:48:17 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [ENTS] Forest Park with Bart and Sam
Guru,
wow, very nice trees there!
How much of the park is old-growth?
Looking at the satellite image it looks like it has been quite
riddled with tennis courts and ballfields and roads (and on the
outskirts lots of apartment complexes and gold courses). Did that
all occur in areas away from the old-growth?
-Larry
From: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 5:53 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ENTS] Forest Park with Bart and Sam
ENTS,
Bart Bouricius, Sam Goodwin, and I went to Forest Park today to
measure and document trees. I'll get right to the numbers and then
describe the attached images. The measurements are listed in the
order taken.
Species Height Girth
White pine
131.3
9.5
Pitch pine
89.0
6.7
American beech
100.6
8.8
American beech
108.8
9.5
N. red oak
98.0
12.8
W. oak
103.0
9.2
Black birch
105.5
9.0
White pine
134.5
10.5
White Pine
97.7
9.9
N. red oak
108.1
12.5
Hemlock
131.9
8.8
White pine
134.4
6.8
Hemlock
128.9 9.5
White pine
130.9
White pine
133.0
White pine
120.9
White pine
133.7
Hemlock
113.9
Hemlock
114.3
The two hemlocks were sweet. Description of images follow.
WP134_5.jpg shows the 134.5-foot white pine.
Beech2AndSam.jpg show the 108.8-ft tall, 9.5-ft girth American
beech. Very impressive for Massachusetts.
PPAndBart.jpg shows the 89-ft tall, 6.7-ft girth pitch pine. It's a
beauty.
NRO12_5AndBart.jpg shows the 108-ft tall, 12.5-ft girth N. red oak.
A very impressive tree.
NRO12_8AndBart.jpg show the 98-ft tall, 12.8-ft girth N. red oak,
also very impressive
So, to this point, we have measured 6 white pines to over 130 feet
and 4 hemlock to over 120, with 1 over 130. Sweet! Bart knows of
another section of the park with good potential. There are likely
many black birch and beech over 100 feet. We're edging toward a
RHI. I now believe it will be between 108 and 109.
Bob
