Congaree Expedition_Feb 20-23 2009

Congaree Expedition_Feb 20-23 2009	James Parton
	February 28, 2009

ENTS,

Here is my summary to the Congaree Expedition on February 20th to 23rd 2009..

Friday Feb 20.

I arrived around noon on the 20th and after stopping by the visitor center I headed off into the forest to locate the other ENTS. The woman in the visitor center had told be that they were in a pine down near Weston Lake. As I set off, I was immidiately impressed by the forest. However I quickly realized that many of the trees were so unfamiliar to me. No white pines and tuliptree was very rare. And what species is this? What is that? WoW, there is a baldcypress! I have only seen those at Biltmore. Cool. One tree I was very familiar with was the numerous and here oversized American Holly. I set out measuring some of these and came up with one giant 81 footer. One almost 20 feet taller than any I had found in the NC mountains. After wondering around for over 2 hours I heard voices and stumbled upon an ENTS team with Marcus Houtchings in the lead with " Lowland " Larry Tucei behind with the others. I joined the team which explored the area checking out
impressive trees such as huge cypresses. They had just left the other team which was led by Will Blozan and Bob Van Pelt who were climbing and modeling the champion Loblolly Pine. I had to leave them a bit early to secure a place in the dorm for the weekend. Larry Tucei fixed up some killer Shrimp Creole after everyone returned from the swamp.

Saturday Feb 21

Today we all met up at the Visitor Center. A few new faces joined us such as James Smith. We set off to remeasure old champion trees and find some new ones. Larry has covered the specifics very well in his posts as has Will so I will leave that to them. But I was well impressed by CONGs huge trees and Marcus skill at navigating the swamp. Today I learned to measure tree spread while helping the others do so. I also learned how useful GPS units are. I gotta get one! It is great to be involved in a bit of history. We are re-writing the measurements of trees in Congaree National Park! Never before has this number of skilled measurers decended on Congaree. Will Blozan and BVP are in the forefront. As night fell Stuart Greeter and John Galbary of the NPS served up some great burgers and hot dogs and got a fire going. Now this is the life!!

Sunday Feb 22

Will Blozan, BVP, Andrew Joslin and team returned to the Champ Loblolly pine to finish modeling it. The rest of us followed Marcus back into the forest to measure more huge champion trees like the Champion Cherrybark Oak and two nice Willow Oaks. One I measured to 137.5 feet. The tallest I have seen..

Marcus surprised us all by running off into the bushes chasing a wild hog. Someone got a video of it. Tobe Sherrill and a couple of new faces joined us on this outing.

I noticed some really great vines here in Congaree. One could be plenty occupied just studying vines. Some of the Muscadine vines are nearly black. I will upload some vine pictures to the file page.

We hiked out at over 5mph according to GPS. Any faster and I would have had to jog!

After leaving the forest and taking a brief break, some ENTS were already leaving for home, Marcus along with Randy, Larry and Myself headed to check out a huge pecan. After Marcus obtained permission from a hunting party who was leasing the land that the tree was on we measured it. It was 18.1 feet in circumference and 105 feet tall. WoW! It is the biggest pecan I have ever seen, easily surpassing one I measured in Abbeville County.

http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/south_carolina/bennett_ho...

Larry and I afterwards examined a pretty Live Oak, a multitrunked specimen just over 16 ft cbh. It looked big to me but was not near large enough to make Larry's live oak project.

Upon arriving back at the dorm nearly everyone had left for home and soon Larry headed back too, measuring the Sire Oak in Columbia on his way home. Only Randy and I stayed Sunday night. We cleaned up the dorm a bit before turning in.

Monday Feb 23.

Getting up at 8am Randy and I clean up the dorm. He soon departs leaving me to enter the forest again for a final 3.5 hours. I measured a few trees and communed with this great forest before returning home. I also looked for big cypress knees.

Here are some measurements

                               CBH               Height

American Holly                               69.1'
Loblolly Pine                                  129.3'
Loblolly Pine            11' 10"            157.6' !!      Near Weston Loop Trail.
Loblolly Pine             7' 5"               134.5'
Loblolly Pine                                  136.0'
Loblolly Pine            13' 1/2" !
Loblolly Pine             10' 9"             144.5' !

After talking to Stuart Greeter, Kathleen O' Grady and another park service employee I headed for home. I will return.

One thing I must say. All the NPS employees were GREAT hosts and made us feel very welcome. I personally thank Theresa Thom, Stuart Greeter, John Galbary and Kathleen O' Grady. Hats off to all of you! Also we cannot forget our intrepid guide Marcus Houtchings! Thanks Marcus! I hope our data will reward them for their hospitality.

I may have forgot to add something so feel free to.

James Parton