| Kalanu
Prong, GSMNP, TN |
Jess
Riddle |
| Mar
12, 2006 22:03 PST |
Ents,
In the park's Greenbrier section, Kalanu Prong flows north off
the
main divide of the Great Smoky Mountains. Despite the lack of a
maintained trail, the stream has for decades been recognized as
one of
the premier big tree sites in the Smokies. That reputation comes
from
the massive tuliptrees and other large hardwoods that thrive on
the
flats and adjacent slopes along the creek's lower end. Even
though
extensive farming occurred just below the creek's mouth,
settlers and
timber companies never cleared or even highgraded the flats.
Consequently, a forest of large sugar maples, red maples,
buckeyes,
silverbells, hemlocks, and tuliptrees remains on the rich,
moist,
gentle slopes around 3100' elevation.
Recording of Kalanu Prong's large trees began at least as early
as the
1950's. At that time, Arthur Stupka, the long time park
naturalist,
located a national champion cucumbertree, an 18'6" cbh
giant. As of
the late 1990's, that tree had fallen, but three tuliptrees over
20'
circumference remained on one small section of the creek. Among
those
tuliptrees, the "Greenbrier Giant" vied for the title
of largest tree
in the park. With the help of Kris Johnson and Tom Remaley from
the
National Park Service, we took careful measurements of the tree
with a
monocular. Even though the tree maintained a diameter of
approximately six feet for the first 61', one of the unnamed
tuliptrees in the same vicinity has an even larger trunk. The
unnamed
tuliptree maintains a diameter of over 5.5' for 85' to amass a
trunk
volume of 2520 cubic feet. The tree is likely one of the three
largest in the entire mountain range (the Sag Branch tuliptree
is
larger and the "Mill Creek Monster" is probably very
similar in size).
Kris and Tom also helped us model the largest hemlock seen in
the
area. The tree grows immediately adjacent to one fork of Kalanu
Prong
and at the edge of the rich cove forest. The 15'1" cbh x
152.9' tall
tree maintains a diameter of over 3.5' for the first 78'. The
trunk
volume totals 1270 cubic feet. The Long Branch hemlock, which
Will
Blozan climbed last year, is the only living hemlock with a
confirmed
larger trunk; three trees, two in the Smokies and one in
Highlands,
NC, are suspected to be larger, but they have not been measured
yet.
Species Cbh Height
Birch, Black 11'6" NA
Buckeye, Yellow NA 130.8'
Buckeye, Yellow 13'6" 142.5'
Buckeye, Yellow 11'5" 142.6'
Hemlock, Eastern 15'1" 152.9'
Maple, Red 12'4" 128.3'
Maple, Sugar 12'5" NA
Pine, Table Mountain 4'0" 96.0'
Sourwood 3'7.5" 107.7'
Tuliptree 20'10" NA
Tuliptree 22'3" 157.1'
Tuliptree 22'10" 146.2' "Greenbrier Giant"
The black birch represents a new park diameter record. The table
mountain pine grows in the old fields along False Gap Prong,
which
Kalanu Prong flows into, and is a Tennessee height record. The
sourwood grows in the old fields along Woolly Tops Branch, and
is a
Tennessee height record.
Jess Riddle & Will Blozan |
|