Workshop   dbhguru   Apr 29, 2003 05:16 PDT  ENTS:        The ENTS workshop put on this past Saturday at Cook Forest was successful. There was about the same number as attended last year if not slightly more. The diagrams dale had prepared for the overhead were just what was needed. I probably should have started out with a slide of a right triangle clearly defining sine, cosine, and tangent for the benefit of those who never took trigonometry or have forgotten the basics. Eventually we can post the presentation to the ENTS website as an alternative or in addition to the one that is already there. Bob Re: Workshop   Howard Stoner   Apr 29, 2003 05:35 PDT  I had a wonderful time at the Cook Forest ENTS event. All of the presentations where great and oh what a touching moment Saturday nite at the theater with Anthony Cook's presentation. For all the hard work and many hours many of you put into this event, thanks! Howard Workshop Cont'   Leverett, Robert   Apr 29, 2003 05:56 PDT  ENTS: In the name of ENTS, we have now put on at least 5 formal tree measuring workshops, 2 at Cook Forest State Park, 1 at Mohawk Trail State Forest, 1 at the Landis Arboretum, and 1 at Haywood Community College (I think Will included tree measuring). In addition we have a good working relationship with American Forests and several state coordinators. We have two website presentations on tree measuring. In addition ENTS members have individually demonstrated tree measuring to individuals and groups many times. Less formal, field presentations have reached many people. So we are making progress, probably a lot more than I realize. Patience has never been one of my strengths. The group of meticulous measurers has grown to at least the following: Dr. Robert Van Pelt Will Blozan The infamous Burl-belly Colby Rucker Dale Luthringer Jess Riddle Paul Jost Dr. Lee Frelich Dr. Tom Diggins Howard Stoner John Knuerr Gary Beluzo Jack Sobon Joe Choiniere Those waiting in the wings to join the above group include Loona Brogan, founder of the Vermont Tree Society. I think Loona is going to be a dedicated documentor. Bruce Kershner recently acquired the equipment and I think we'll be hearing plenty from him. Dr. Larry Winship has all the techniques down and I suspect is taking measurements. Then there is Don Bertolette in Arizona. He knows the methods, but hasn't found the time to wander around the vastness of the Grand Canyon looking for the big stuff. I have a feeling that Don's contribution isn't far away. There may be others we just don't know about, but members of the above list are solid in terms of getting out and taking measurements. The one problem is that we don't have enough women. We're definitely over-staffed with males. So we cordially invite the ladies to join us and help balance the group. Lisa Bozzuto, Susan Benoit, and Michele Wilson will hopefully come aboard the measurement train. We extend an invitation to others to come aboard, but to do that you need a laser rangefinder and a clinometer in some form; i.e as single instruments or combined. You need to get comfortable with the sin top-sin bottom method and Colby Rucker's sin top-pole bottom method. If you're still stuck on the % slope method, trying to do it all with a clinometer, well, as much as we may want you, you've not made the grade. So save up your pennies for that laser rangefinder and don't even think of an optical rangefinder. They suck! Bob RE: OOPS!   NR, Cook Forest   Apr 29, 2003 14:09 PDT  Bob, Will pulled off a couple more for us. He bumped our state Am. beech height record up a tad from 6.4 x 124.3 to 8.8 x 124.4ft, and found our largest documented single stem E. hemlock in the park at 13.5 x 132.4. Lee found Will's old black birch height champ from last year along the Hemlock Trail to at least 105ft (the old record was 105.8 I believe). No reason at all to apologize. We are extremely grateful for the sacrifice and time all of our speakers made to come all the way over here to Cook Forest... that also goes out to those who spent part of their time here doing preliminary old growth forest survey work such as: Lee Frelich Will Blozan John Knuerr Colby Rucker Paul Jost David Stahle  Anthony Cook Bruce Kershner You guys are always welcome! I only hope that we can bring everyone together again for another future event. Dale Holy Hemlock!   dbhguru   Apr 30, 2003 04:57 PDT  Dale, Will, Lee:     Congratulations. The 13.5-foot tall, 132.4-foot girth hemlock is a whopper and if there isn't much taper to the trunk, it should have as much volume as the Seneca Pine. I would guess that 850 cubes is the low end of the volume range and perhaps 950 the upper end. Will, did you make a volume estimate? The tree is worthy of its own name. How about the Susquehannock Hemlock or Susquehanna Hemlock? The Susquehannocks was another nation of Indians that lived in central and western PA.     In terms of a future ENTS rendezvous at Cook, I could see one for 2005. We probably need to let the dust settle for a while and work on the idea of a tree measuring school for Cook. We need to polish up the height diagrams and add some for girth and volume. You'd then have the full set there at Cook to use. You might want to periodically give local tree measuring workshops. Other ENTS members including myself could join you if you needed the help. If we use Cook as a home for the course, we can perfect it better than if we hop from place to place. It's just a thought. Bob   Home