Field Trip at Blanton Forest, Kentucky,  Bob Leverett has his eyes on a red maple that needs measured - photo by Carl Harting

JUNE 13TH:

     June 13th was a rainy day as Monica and I headed south. I had high expectations for the old growth conference in Kentucky and would find myself not in any way disappointed. We headed south on I91 then west across the Mass Turnpike (I90) crossing the Berkshires and part of the Taconics. The crossing on I90 is ritualistic for me. I’ve done it so many times that I know all the trees by first name. On leaving Massachusetts, we traversed a brief stretch of New York’s Turnpike before heading south on the rolling and ever pleasant Taconic Parkway of eastern New York. I immediately set about scanning the changing landscape of trees for signs of an interesting species, the tree of my youth, the tuliptree. Beyond the conference, Tsuga Search, and my usual tree-measuring purposes, I had a special mission and that was to take note of the distribution of tuliptrees over the geographical provinces covered in the trip. I want to do my part in the study that my HCC colleague Professor Gary Beluzo is determined to refine the distribution maps for Liriodendron tulipifera. The tuliptree study will go on through the summer, and by autumn, hopefully, we’ll know more about the distribution of tuliptrees principally in Massachusetts and northern New York. We will also make plenty of comparisons of the performance of that noble species as it presents itself to adoring eyes in the central Atlantic states and the Southeast.    

     The first day of our trip was rainy and the poor driving conditions prevented me from snatching even quick glances at the wooded landscape that passed by. The day was spent driving with me fussing as trucks sprayed our windshield. It was just press the peddle to the metal and hope. We reined it in just north of the Virginia border in a small West Virginia town. The motel we stayed at was adequate and not expensive, at least not compared to Massachusetts standards, where highway robbery is the norm. However, the surrounding location of the West Virginia spot was suburban and carried none of the local color of the mountain communities. It didn’t matter, we just wanted to rest.

JUNE 14th

     Providence smiled on us and the weather turned favorable. We rolled down I81 with the lone line of the Blue Ridge Mountains to our east and the Alleghenies to our west. Basically, for much of its length in Pennsylvania and south, I81 follows a vast rift valley region, which bears different names in different geographical locations. In Pennsylvania, we have the Lehigh Valley. In Virginia, we have the Shenandoah and Roanoke Valleys. Even farther south we encounter the Tennessee Valley. Mountains are ever present on both sides of the valley province, sometimes very close and sometimes more distant. Near Roanoke, VA, the Alleghenies to the west and the Blue Ridge to the east are joined for a brief distance. I’m unsure of the geological explanation for the brief disappearance of the valley.

       In trips that I made down I81 in the 1970s, most of the time the driving was pleasant, but not anymore. Now one must dodge big trucks and suffer the negative visual impact of a degraded landscape. Much of the I81 corridor has become ugly with sprawling developments popping up everywhere. Alas, it is a sign of the times – perhaps apocalyptic. As for me, I long for the times when I81 was a delightful drive that one could take in early April and witness an explosion of color from dogwoods and redbuds. Maybe a few folks even notices the gaudy displays, but now, stressed out people drive 80MPH and yap incessantly on cell phones. You see them constantly multi-tasking in an extremely dangerous way, oblivious to the dwindling tidbits of a once natural landscape that zip by. But there is nothing that can be done. It is the societal norm.

        In southern Virginia, we angled over toward the Kentucky border and eventually picked up Route 160 that goes through a little town named Appalachia, VA. We crossed Black Mountain, actually a small range of mountains that contains Kentucky’s highest single point at 4,139 feet.  Older elevations show up on maps as 4,145 feet – a fact of little importance to most people, but of critical significance to people like myself. Don’t ask me why. Unfortunately, Black Mountain is privately owned – the coal companies, of course. And they have done the mountain dirty. I will not digress into a rant about coal mining companies.   

     Driving Route 160 is an experience. I don’t recommend it for the fainthearted. The road starts out benign enough. But as it gains altitude, it turns narrow, has hairpin turns, and is extremely steep.  There are spots where the grade is at least 15% if not more. Our car labored mightily as I had to downshift into second gear. But 160 is scenic and it had been honored by the name the “Trail of the Lonesome Pine”. The name honors John Fox Jr. who wrote a novel about families in the southern Appalachians in the early 1900s. A popular movie was made by that name. I vaguely remember the movie.

      Dropping down Black Mountain’s west side, we headed through coal mining country and toward Pineville, Pine Mountain, and ultimately Pine Mountain State Resort Park. That is where our conference was held. Pine Mountain isn’t as lofty as Black Mountain, but is nonetheless steep-sided and is the site of Kentucky’s largest old-growth forest. I should point out that both Black Mountain and Pine Mountain are geologically defined as mountains as opposed to the broad Cumberland Plateau, which has plenty of mountainous relief courtesy of water erosion. But according to what we were told, Pine and Black Mountains are the stubs of uplifts that have always born the shapes of mountains.

Pine Mountain Resort Lodge

     In late afternoon, we made it to the resort and found it very much to our liking. The cabin we stayed in was well designed and most comfortable. While checking in, we ran into Carl Harting and his wife.  It was great to see familiar faces. Ents are carpeting the landscape. Our cabin had two bedrooms, two baths, a living room area, a kitchenette, and a back deck. It was immaculate. We shared the cabin the second night with our friend Lee Frelich.

       Pine Mountain Resort Park has a conference center, plenty of hiking trails, a golf course, cabins, regular rooms, and a fine restaurant. From the dining room, there are fabulous views of the surrounding mountainous terrain. Immediately down the ridge from the lodge is an old-growth forest named Hemlock Garden. You look out the restaurant window and down and into the old growth. Way cool! Monica gave a thumbs-up to everything and that made me extremely happy. We planned an early trip into Hemlock Garden for Friday morning before the conference.

     Well, this ends the first installment and gets us ready for to the real goodies, which I’ll begin faithfully reporting on in installment #2 next week.

Bob

Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society

JUNE 15th

         On June 15th, Monica and I awoke in the cabin to clear skies and empty stomachs. However, the morning was cool and so I took a quick walk around the cabin to check out the forest while Monica showered. I found a short trail and took it. I noticed the abundance of hickories, black and white oak, American beech, and tuliptree. They were commingled. There was a lot of poison ivy, both on the boundaries of the woodlands and within. I tiptoed around it to take a girth measurement of a black oak. Tree heights were around 100 feet. I searched for taller stuff, but then my stomach growled. It was time to put on the feed bag, so I hustled back to the cabin. Monica was ready. Our plan was to satisfy our hunger at the lodge before heading down the trail to Hemlock Gardens. We were mindful that the day was going to be hot and humid, so we rushed a bit, but not too much. I always look forward to breakfasts in the South. I love New England, but breakfasts are not a specialty in the Northeast. There are the good spots, but they are rare. However, good breakfasts in the South are common. Spiced sausage, fresh eggs, bacon that you can’t see through, country ham, biscuits, gravy, and grits are the mainstay. Umm, umm good! Unfortunately, I have had to give up country ham because of the excessive salt content. You can permanently preserve your internal organs with a daily ration of country ham, if consumed continuously for a couple of decades.

        The Hemlock Gardens trail drops rapidly down into a steep ravine. The trail then winds a bit, before eventually reaching an old CCCs shelter, which was constructed in the 1930s. The change in elevation is a little over 250 feet, so the climb is quite modest. A stream flows through the ravine, providing extra moisture for a number of charismatic tree species. Big leaf magnolia, umbrella magnolia, and cucumber magnolia are all present in the Ravine as is tuliptree, black gum, hemlock, red, black, white, and chestnut oak. The red maple, sugar maple, pignut hickory, white ash, yellow and black birch and American beech combined with the former list remind one that the Kentucky woodlands are a mix of northern and southern species jumbled together. It is a mix and match theme that is repeated through the southern Appalachians. The Smokies have it in spades, but so do the mountain woodlands of eastern Kentucky.

       Hemlock Gardens is old growth and the question always arises in the inquiring mind as to why? Layered sedimentary rock, a sandstone conglomerate, creates overhangs that obviously deterred logging, but only within a narrow corridor; basically, the bottom of the ravine. I should point out that rhododendron and mountain laurel are common in eastern Kentucky and these evergreen shrubs impart a slightly exotic look and feel to the vegetation. They can do it singly, but in combination one feels transported beyond the temperate zone.

        Adelgid has reached the hemlocks and the Nature Preserves people who manage the site plan to hit the adelgid with everything they have. It is a refreshing attitude. They value not only hemlock habitat, but individual trees. That doesn’t always happen. The staff has an abundant supply of Merit, courtesy of the nearby golf course, so I’m happy to report that the hemlocks of Hemlock Gardens have a reasonably bright future.

        I measured a number of trees on our quick rounds of the trail, a sufficient number to convince me that the tallest trees are hemlocks and tuliptrees and are in the mid-120s with the exception of a single tuliptree that tipped the scales at 131.1 feet in height and 9.8 feet in girth. The best I could do on hemlocks was a respectable 124.7 feet in height and 7.1 feet in girth. A few hemlocks approach 12 feet in circumference as a consequence of heavy buttressing because of being on a steep slope. A single chestnut oak in Hemlock Gardens reaches 101.2 feet in height and 12.2 feet in girth. It is the largest tree we saw. With some searching, I think we could establish a Rucker index of around 110 for Hemlock Gardens. On 7 species, I got 111.2. Notably, size of the hardwoods was not appreciably different from what I routinely see in the Massachusetts Berkshires and Taconics and the hemlocks of Hemlock Gardens are comparable to their old-growth Berkshire counterparts.

     All in all, Hemlock Gardens is fairly impressive, especially when one combines forests with rock outcroppings. Most importantly, the site provided Monica with her first real look at a southern Appalachian forest – a mixed mesophytic forest. The rhododendron and mountain laurel gives Hemlock Gardens that exotic, southern Appalachian cove forest look, but in a fairly mild dose within Hemlock Gardens. I knew what Monica had ahead of her in the Smokies and so I was careful not to spoil the ambience by uttering one of my silly Bubba-like statement such as “You ain’t seen nuthin yet!”.

     In summary, Hemlock Gardens is a fairly dry ravine environment with moderately large, quite old, and somewhat tall trees. Although the Gardens is located in the wettest area of the state, which I presume averages around 50 to 55 inches of precipitation annually, the abundance of oaks in the ravine on the slopes just above the wet corridor speaks to less precipitation--I’m guessing between 40 and 45. One last statement of our round of the Gardens, I wish they had chosen a different name. “Gardens” sounds too manicured, and manicured, it isn’t.

            Upon returning from the walk, we prepared ourselves for the start of the OG conference. We met some old friends of mine, ate a delightful lunch at the lodge, and then filed into the conference room, ready for what we all knew would be a delightful experience. I’ll save the conference for installment #3.

Bob      

         Lee Frelich’s post-dinner presentation on the earthworm invasion had a fresh face and was, as always, extremely informative. Lee is an incredible engaging presenter. He knows how to take large amounts of data, complicated relationships, obscure trends, and draw clear conclusions for an audience of varying scientific sophistication and do it in both a compelling and entertaining way. He is simply one of the best presenters around. Other highly qualified scientists often struggle with their presentations. They never seem to know what makes for a good, attention-holding presentation and what becomes insufferably boring. How many planning steps and partial results must we have to endure. I recall many groans from an audienc e trying to be appreciative when exposed to one too may confusing graphs. However, I’ve never heard anyone call Lee’s presentations boring. His presentations not only get the highest marks for informational content, but Lee's Garrison Keilor-like sense of humor delights all but the stuff-shirts. In answering questions from the audience, Lee is informative, but also blunt. He pulls no punches, dodges no questions.  

     After dinner, we took a second walk in Hemlock Gardens. Lee and Neil accompanied us. I measured a huge chestnut oak. Jess Riddle took the girth at 12 feet and 2 inches. Its height to an obscure crown was right at 101 feet. Great tree? I look forward to pitching in, exploring Kentucky, and helping out Neil in whatever ways I can.    Well, I’ll stop here and pick up Saturday’s events in Installment #4.

Bob.

Blanton Forest - photo by Carl Harting

     Blanton Woods OG was our field trip. The weather cooperated and after lunch on Saturday, we were on our way. The Blanton OG was discovered by Marc Evans back in the 1990s. I remember Bill Martin telling me about it. It turned out to be the largest OG reserve in the state. The total protected OG acreage in Blanton stands at about 2,300 although I have no doubt that Pine Mountain has more spots scattered over its 100-mile plus length. Much of the OG is on the dry side of Pine Mountain and it is that side that we sat out to explore with Marc and Neil as our very capable leaders. After passing through a second-growth area, the old growth signatures became everywhere unmistakable - at least to those who recognize them. That apparently wasn't the case for Kentucky state foresters who flatly denied there could be any OG that they didn't know about when it was first reported by Marc. However, Bill Martin quickly put the issue to rest and Blanton has since grown into a source of pride for Kentuckians who are in the know. There is more to the Blanton story than that, but I'll leave the rest of it to Neil.   

Neal Pederson cores a nearly 300 year old white oak at Blanton Forest - photo by Carl Harting

     We headed up Pine Mountain on a moderately steep trail. Tuliptrees, umbrella magnolias, hemlock, chestnut oak, and red maple caught my eye.  The rhododendron created that characteristic, slightly exotic effect that I associate with the southern Appalachians. We walked via a path that starts out in second growth forest. Well-shaped hemlocks and several impressive white oaks greeted us. I measured one to 105 feet in height and 10.4 feet in girth. A second, discovered on the return trip measured 117.8 feet in height and 9.0 feet around.

Marc Evans stands next to the recently christened (by Bob Leverett) Marc Evans Hemlock in Blanton Forest - photo by Carl Harting

     But to conclude, the trees on the dry side of Blanton forest are impressive, but not overpowering. I measured the following species maximums:

    Species           Max Hgt      Max Girth      Same Tree

     Hemlock         131.5             10.9              No

     Tuliptree          135.3            7.4 *            Yes

     Red Maple       121.7             7.5               Yes

     N. Red Oak      105.0             8.4               Yes

    Chestnut Oak    105.1             9.7                No


* There are slightly larger ones, but the tuliptree performance is not at all exceptional for that species on the dry side of Blanton. Marc assured me that significantly larger tulips grow on the wet side of the mountain. I want to see them.

     When Monica and I left Blanton, we headed down U.S. 25E passing near historic Cumberland Gap of Daniel Boone fame. Boone was a heck of a woodsman, but no better than the Indians who captured him. He lived with them for a year or more, as I recall, before leaving - sneaking away, I think. Anyway, we were passing through Daniel Boone territory. We entered Tennessee and rolled on, eventually crossing the Clinch Mountain Ridge at about 2,000 feet elevation. Serendipitously, we found an idyllic little cabin to spend the night. The cabin is perched at the edge of the mountainside overlooking a valley at about 1,000 feet below.  The highest points of Clinch Mountain Ridge brush 2,500 feet, so the terrain has mountainous elements, but its long ridgeline overlooking smaller ridges and a large valley region gives it a different feel form the more continuous mountain terrain in the Pine Mountain region. There was something instantly pleasing about the spot and the cabin on Clinch Mountain.

     The cabin had a small deck overlooking the valley beyond. By opening the front and back doors, a delightful breeze passed through, and as nightfall approached, Monica and I sat on the deck and looked into a starry sky. The night was magical, the stuff of novels. There was something else. On occasion, if one is lucky, one gets the right combination of temperature, humidity, and breezes to experience and effect that is ineffable. Those were the conditions that we experienced that Saturday night. The little restaurant at the gap was adequate, but we chose not to eat there that evening. We both agreed that we must return to that spot on Clinch Mountain our next trip through Kentucky and Tennessee.

     Still coming is our return trip after the Smokies via the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've already covered the Smokies portion. Oh yes, I found more OG in the Pisgah area along the Parkway.

Bob

Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society