112" of rain! That place must look like the amazon. I have never been to the Smokies. How do they compare to the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest in terms of rainfall?
On Jan 15, 10:43 am, [email protected] wrote: > Jess, > > I have long been curious about what the Balsam Mountains have to offer. > Thanks for taking on the challenge of decoding these marvelous mountains that > stand in the Shadows of the Blacks and Smokies, but are pretty much their > equals. I saw a rainfall distribution that was established out of the > University of Oregon, I think. It listed an area of the Balsams at 112 > inches, if my memory serves me correctly. That was the highest eastern > rainfall plot I had seen. Do you know the one I refer to? > > Bob > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jess Riddle" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 10:33:04 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Horse Cove, NC > > Ents, On Saturday, at the suggestion of Josh Kelly and Will Blozan, we > followed the Davidson River west from Brevard, NC to explore Horse Cove and > East Horse Cove. Ascending to just under 6000’ elevation, the surrounding > watershed drains the steep southeastern flank of the Balsam Mountains, and > features several granitic domes, the best known of which is Looking Glass > Rock (http://tinyurl.com/yct2wqw). John Rock, one of the smaller granitic > domes, shelters Horse Cove from the west, and the steep upper slopes of > Chestnut Knob provide shade from the south/southeast. While Horse Cove is a > broad cove draining to the north with several small, steep, sub-coves coming > off Chestnut Knob, the adjacent East Horse Cove is a northeast flowing > ravine. East Horse Cove generally appears more acidic with patchy > rhododendron along the stream, although near the top of the stream spicebush > dominates the understory. Tuliptrees line the stream, but on the east facing > slopes they quickly give way to a mix of hickories and oaks. Tuliptree also > forms nearly pure stands where side coves enter into Horse Cove, and on those > sites spicebush again dominates the understory. Gentler sections of Horse > Cove support a more diverse overstory that, in addition to tuliptree, > includes a mix of oaks, pignut hickory, and beech. Throughout the cove > silverbell occurs as an understory species, and a few sugar maples, locally > uncommon, grow in the midstory. The overstory is generally mature, probably a > little less than 100 years old, except for a section of the middle of the > cove that was clear cut perhaps a decade ago. Species Cbh Height Ash, White > 7’8” 136.6’ Beech 6’2.5” 130.6’ Basswood, White 5’10” 142.3’ Hickory, > Mockernut 7’11” 132.9’ Hickory, Mockernut 7’4” 133.1’ Hickory, Pignut NA > 143.4’ Hickory, Pignut 6’6” 152.1’ Magnolia, Cucumber NA 128.7’ Oak, Black > 9’2” 125.5’ Oak, Chestnut 5’0” 128.0’ Oak, Northern Red 9’0” 129.2’ Oak, > Southern Red 7’10” 119.7’ Pine, White 9’7” 149.9’ Tuliptree 6’4.5” 150.4’ > Tuliptree NA 150.9’ Tuliptree 6’10” 157.5’ Tuliptree NA 159.5’ Rucker Index > 139.0’ The mockernut hickories may be state height records, and the great > height and abundance of the hickories relative to other species resembles > tall tree sites along the Blue Ridge Escarpment in SC, including Wadakoe > Mountain and Tamassee Knob. However, basswood does not reach 140 along the > escarpment, and all of the tall ash on the escarpment are var. biltmoreana > not var. americana as in Horse Cove. The southern red oak is also exceptional > for the mountains, and not surprisingly, grows on a slope outside the coves > and just above the Davidson River. We did not attempt to find the tallest > tuliptree and only explored about half of the cove, so more searching will > almost certainly raise the Rucker Index above 140’. Jess and Mike > -- Eastern Native Tree Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.orgSend email to > [email protected] Visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=enTo unsubscribe send email to > [email protected] Email > Options:http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/subscribe?hl=en- Hide quoted > text - > > - Show quoted text -
-- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] Email Options: http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/subscribe?hl=en
