Cool report! I love that place! I plan to go out and re-measure that pine asap. My meauring skills have improved a bit since my last visit to Kilmer almost two years ago when I had just started measuring trees. I just hope nothing has happened to the tree. It was awesome!
JP On Jan 12, 6:38 pm, "Will Blozan" <[email protected]> wrote: > ENTS, > > Last week, I was invited to accompany Josh Kelly, Jess Riddle, and Hugh > Irwin on a trip to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest in Graham County, NC. The > purpose of the trip was spawned by some unusually high LiDAR canopy height > "hits" in fly-over data Josh had been reviewing. The data set included > several hits in the mid to upper 170's and a few over 180'. Past ENTS trips > to JKMF have not located heights of the magnitude indicated by the data > except for some white pines in the upper 160's and mid 170's. A pine > measured by James Parton in 2008 at 176' is the tallest tree known from this > forest relic, and needs a re-visit to substantiate its current condition. > The current LiDAR data does not indicate a tree of such height in the area; > perhaps it has fallen. > > In general though, most prior trips focused on the "Poplar Loop" in the > productive flats of the lower, heavily visited cove. Canopy heights of > 140-165', though impressive, were not exceptional. Thus, the extreme canopy > hits caused quite a stir in us southern Appalachian tree hunters! > > General map of "Poplar Cove and the loop trail > > The main target was a small cove to the south of the famous Poplar Loop > Trail. The LiDAR data indicated a pocket of exceptionally tall and tightly > clustered trees. Josh had seen the area in the summer and was stunned to see > it was not in the old-growth section but an old clear cut near the homestead > of the Denton family, the prior caretakers of the tract. Portions of this > area were unforested in the late 1930's, and now support impressive > regrowth. In the summertime clutter of leaves Josh was able to substantiate > that the trees were indeed tall but would need to be visited when the leaves > were off for best measurements. > > To get to the cove we proceeded off trail from the Poplar Loop and headed up > a small ravine. At the base of the ravine Jess spotted a fine pignut hickory > 10'1" X 141.1' tall. As we progressed further up the ravine I spotted > another pignut of similar size. This one scaled 10'10" X 142.7' tall. The > ravine offered more tall trees; one of the most impressive was another > pignut with perfect form. I shot up in the crown from below and realized it > would exceed 150'- a height that is quite impressive for the species. Jess > zeroed the base as I went upslope to measure the height. WOW! This slender > tree turned out to be 9'10" X 157.5' tall! > > 157.5 foot pignut hickory > > Jess located a huge snag of a tuliptree that had fallen and the immense bulk > had slid down the slope quite a distance. White ash reached 12'4" in girth > and up to 130.7' tall, and also in this cove were a 14'3" X 166.1' tuliptree > and a 8'6" X 130.1' sugar maple. But stealing the show in the upper reaches > of this cove rimmed with frozen cascades was a large bitternut, 9'2" X > 150.3'. Second new species for the site over 150'! > > Big ash and frozen cascade > > Hugh and Josh and ~130' ash, a.k.a. the three "Ash Holes" > > Having exhausted the tall tree resources of this small cove, we slide-sloped > with great difficulty over the frozen ground into another small cove. We > found nothing of significance in this one and proceeded on to the "hot > spot". We crested the ridge and WHAM! Shafts of arrow straight tuliptree and > other hardwoods dominated the deep but narrow ravine. There was so much > potential in this dense pocket it was hard to know where to start. We began > by shooting up into the crowns to seek out the tall ones and then consulted > the GPS points for the "hits" of tall canopy we were after. Jess was > exclaiming of straight up laser shots into the young trees of 55 yards > (165')! Jess and I stayed upslope to perform the height routines while Josh > and Hugh measured girth and GPS points of the trees. > > The "Hot Spot"! > > The LiDar data was filtered to only show points over 160 feet so shorter > trees- even though exceptional for the species- would not even show up. Thus > "hiding" in the tall forests of tuliptree were trees that don't quite make > it as tall but are none-the-less record breaking for the species. This was > the case with the first tree I measured in the hot spot. This was a black > cherry that looked really tall yet was obviously shorter than the tuliptrees > around it. I found a solid sighting position while Josh measured the girth. > Well, this tree shattered the former height record by 11 feet! At 152.2 feet > tall this tree is a new 150 club member! > > Josh at base of 152.2 foot black cherry > > Josh and Hugh would walk in the base of the ravine and state that, according > to the LiDAR data there should be a 175' tree within 10 feet or so. Sure > enough, the LiDAR was dead-on. The 178 foot hit was also dead on, and the > 178.1 foot tree is now the tallest tree in JKMF and the second tallest > currently known (The Rucker Tuliptree, formerly 178.2', has died back from > the extreme frost of 2008). In all we measured six tuliptrees over 170' and > there are probably a few more in this one small cove. > > After detailed measurements of the tallest in the ravine we headed up a flat > cove to check out more hot spots and check out a 175' LiDAR return. On the > way Jess spotted a fine white ash that proved to be of exceptional height. > This tree fell below the 160' threshold but not by much! The 9'10" tree > reached an impressive 157.3' tall. More 170+ tulips were scattered in the > small cove we went up, the tallest 174.5'. Jess measured a cucumbertree to > 134.5' and I measured a decent white basswood to 139.7'. In this cove, aside > from the tuliptree, white ash and cherry nothing else made it into the > Rucker Index. > > Hug and Josh at base of 165' tuliptree. Note density of large, straight > trees! > > We headed down to find the 175'+ point. We used the GPS to get to the spot > yet no tree of that height was found. However, a 135 foot tuliptree was > leaning heavy over a small ravine. Guess what? The leaning tree's top was > ~185 feet above the ravine! So, ground-truthing is still a very important > part of the LiDAR process and this error shows that it is certainly not > full-proof. Same thing happened with a leaning white pine on a steep slope. > The tree was only 149 feet tall but the ground was easily 170 feet below the > top. But, pretty dag-gone awesome to say the least! I was floored at the > height accuracy and the ground placement of the hits. Incredible! > > We wish to point out that no 170+ LiDAR hits in the old-growth have yet > proven to be legitimate; it looks as though the tallest trees in JKMF are > second-growth. This finding is mirrored in the Smokies and other sites as > well. What is also striking about this site is the impressive Rucker Index > is composed of trees in a very small area. This suggests that there is more > to be found in this impressive forest relic! > > So, the current Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest Rucker Index stands at 149.8! > Note that EIGHT of the trees in the current Rucker Index were measured in > one day! Pending the revisit of James Parton's white pine the Rucker will > exceed 150'. More to come on this site! > > Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest Rucker Index 1/2010 > > Current > > Species > > Girth > > Height > > ENTS measurer > > Date > > Notes > > Liritul > > 8.1 > > 178.1 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle, Irwin > > 1/7/2010 > > Second-growth > > Carygla > > 9.8 > > 157.5 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle, Irwin > > 1/7/2010 > > Old-growth > > Fraxame > > 9.9 > > 157.3 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle, Irwin > > 1/7/2010 > > Second-growth > > Prunser > > 8.7 > > 152.2 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle, Irwin > > 1/7/2010 > > Second-growth > > Carycor > > 9.2 > > 150.3 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle, Irwin > > 1/7/2010 > > Old-growth > > Magnacu > > 13.5 > > 144.1 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle > > 3/28/2007 > > Old-growth > > Pinustr > > 9.7 > > 143.4 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle, Irwin > > 1/7/2010 > > Old-growth > > Aescfla > > 11.8 > > 141.8 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle > > 3/28/2007 > > Old-growth > > Tilihet > > 8.4 > > 139.7 > > Blozan, Kelly, Riddle, Irwin > > 1/7/2010 > > Second-growth > > Robipsu > > 4.7 > > 133.9 > > J. Riddle > > 1/7/2010 > > Second-growth > > 149.83 > > Will F. Blozan > > Josh Kelly > > Jess Riddle > > Hugh Irwin > > Eastern Native Tree Society > > image002.jpg > 101KViewDownload > > image003.jpg > 77KViewDownload > > image004.jpg > 100KViewDownload > > image005.jpg > 93KViewDownload > > image006.jpg > 88KViewDownload > > image007.jpg > 67KViewDownload > > image008.jpg > 85KViewDownload
