Allegheny Plateau, WV & MD   Darian Copiz   Oct 07, 2005 06:18 PDT  ENTS, This past weekend I briefly visited two old growth sites on the Allegheny Plateau, one in West Virginia and one in Maryland. On Sunday I went to Gaudineer Knob and Gaudineer Scenic Area, located in the Monongahela National Forest in Pocohontas County. Gaudineer Knob is 4460 feet high and densely covered in a healthy monoculture of red spruce. The age of all the trees appeared to be well under 50 years and in many places there was a dense understory of red spruce saplings. The groundlayer was covered by a solid mat of moss. Gaudineer Knob has a gradual slope on the west side and a steep slope on the east. Just north and slightly east of the knob is Gaudineer Scenic Area. The site is at about 4000 feet in elevation and downslope from the ridgeline. The scenic area has about 50 acres of virgin forest that was not logged due to a survey error. The area's aspect is east and southeast facing slopes. Despite the dry conditions we have had recently, much of the ground was damp. Species at this location are a mix of primarily red spruce, yellow birch, and red maple. The drier portions of the site also had white ash, black cherry, and sugar maple. Many of the red maples had very scaly bark, some of them with long strips peeling off and quite a bit of lichen growing on the trunks. At least one of these also had very twisted trunk growth. Many were limbless for a good height. I did not measure any of the maples, but I don't think there were any exceptional dimensions. There was one very large yellow birch which at first I mistook for a black cherry because of the scaly bark. It did not have an impressive height, but the circumference measured at 11' 7".   The red spruce are the stars of the scenic area. Although there are many dead, dying, and downed large trees, there are still enough healthy old trees standing. I did not measure any circumferences, but would estimate very many of them at close to 10'. One fallen tree's length measured at 115'. A standing tree also measured at 115' which was the tallest I could find. I had expected to find taller measurements, but the narrowness of the tree crowns may have caused them to appear taller than they were. There were many trees over 100'. It may be possible that there are some trees over 120', but I don't think there would be any reaching 130'. To my knowledge there are no record breakers at the site, but it is still an exceptional site and a place worth visiting. On Monday I went to Swallow Falls State Park in Garret County Maryland. The park is located on the west side of the upper portion of the Youghiogheny River and includes the tallest waterfall in Maryland - Muddy Creek Falls. Downstream of the park the Youghiogheny descends into a gorge, but the elevation difference at the park is relatively small. On the west bank of the river, at an elevation of about 2300 feet, there is a 37 acre stand of old growth hemlock and a few white pines. The slopes are east facing, there are some dips and and slight ravines, but nothing very dramatic. The hemlocks are all very healthy - from what I could see there is no sign of adelgid. The tallest hemlock I measured here was 123'. Most other tall ones I measure were around 110'. I measured a white pine at 119'. I did not take any circumference measurements, but most of the larger trees appeared to be around 9' - none of them standing out as being particularly giant but all impressive enough. This is a nice stand of trees but is also very heavily visited. I'm not sure how much of an impact the visitation has on the site, but it does detract somewhat from the experience. Further exploration at both sites could be worthwhile. I don't think I spent much more than an hour at either of them. Darian   Home