Will, Gaines, The "Type Map: Gennett Lumber Company Tract No. 309f.g. Graham Co. North Carolina" by John Wasilk (sound familiar) and Party from June, July 1935 clearly shows an abandoned field adjacent to second growth coves we visited, but depicts the coves, like the 99% of the rest of the 13,055 acre tract, as "virgin". The more I think about it, the more I think those coves were logged sometime from August 1935-late 1937, when the USFS acquired the tract. The wagon road that led to the abandoned field gave better access to that exceptional spot than was available to Poplar Cove, so now we are left with exceptional 2nd growth, rather than exceptional old-growth. I'd wager many of the poplars in that stand regenerated in the late 1930's while a few are a decade or two older. For all of you botanically inclined ENTS, I have started to key in on a couple of tall tree and high-productivity-site- indicating herbs. They are Goldie's Fern (Dryopteris goldiana) and walking fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum), both basophiles or calceophiles. A number of the tall tree spots in the Smokies have one or both of these species as well as "Wachacha Flats" -the name I propose for the exceptional 2nd growth area at Kilmer.
For all of you of you folks interesed in LiDAR and tall trees, I am compiling an article from information contributed by Paul Jost, Jenn Hushaw (Nichols School masters student at Duke), Hugh Irwin (ENTS, SAFC), Will Blozan, Jess Riddle, and myself. Included in the article will be a narrative about our experiences utilizing LiDAR data and some notes on its accuracy and precision in the mountains of North Carolina. It will also include some fancy smancy maps! Josh On Jan 11, 7:22 pm, "Will Blozan" <[email protected]> wrote: > Gaines, > > I have a 170 footer in Big Creek; 69 years at BH. The Kilmer trees may only > be 75 years old. > > Will F. Blozan > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > "No sympathy for apathy" > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > > Behalf Of Gaines McMartin > Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 7:20 PM > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [ENTS] Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest LiDAR ground-truthing > expedition 1-2010 > > Will: > > Thanks for the very exciting account of your survey in Joyce > Kilmer. Maybe you know, but there have been reports of site indexes > of up to 140 feet for tuliptree. Second growth can really be > something if given just a little time. I don't have any data for > tuliptree growth rates past 50 years. It may be out there. > > --Gaines
