Atlantic White Cedar

Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturejournal/sets/72157606164491385/

Andrew Joslin
Jamaica Plain, MA

== 2 of 7 ==
Date: Tues, Jul 15 2008 1:09 pm
From: "Edward Frank"

Andrew,

Nice looking tree in your photos. Atlantic White Cedar is not a tree we have measured that heavily, so your numbers would be worthwhile to collect. The greatest girth we have officially measured so far is 78.5 inches, and it is also the tallest is 96 feet from Downing Creek, NC. Dale found a similar girth one in High Point State park, NJ, but it was only 46.9 feet tall.

Ed

== 3 of 7 ==
Date: Tues, Jul 15 2008 3:09 pm
From: Andrew Joslin

From my research on the net it appears New Jersey and North Carolina are
likely to have the largest or tallest with hurricanes being the
height-limiting factor (like everything else on the east coast) for these
mostly coastal trees. I've heard there are some good sized ones in New
Hampshire. Of the group of tallish trees that I looked at, a couple had
broken tops with reiterations and excellent gnarl, the tallest had
extremely slender vertical crowns. Such beautiful trees, reminded me of
miniature Coast Redwood. The surrounding swamp is quite interesting and
has some of the most difficult bushwhack I've ever encountered. I was
rewarded with ripe high bush blueberries and a close look at a Woodcock
resting in a sphagnum moss hollow under the blueberries.
-AJ

== 5 of 7 ==
Date: Tues, Jul 15 2008 7:02 pm
From: "Edward Frank"

Gary,

This website describes the distribution as:

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Atlantic white-cedar grows in a narrow belt along the Atlantic and Gulf
coasts from southern Maine to northern Florida westward to southern
Mississippi. It occurs no farther than 50 to 130 miles (80-210
km) inland .Vast stands occur in the Great Dismal Swamp of
Virginia and eastern North Carolina. Small isolated stands are more
typical in much of New Jersey, Georgia, and eastern Florida, but stands
are infrequent in Delaware and Maryland. The species is uncommon in
South Carolina but becomes more frequent in the Florida Panhandle and in
southern Alabama . At the western edge of its range in southern
Mississippi, Atlantic white-cedar grow in scattered relict stands.
--------------------------------------------

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/chamaecyparis/thyoides.htm says:

Atlantic white-cedar grows in a narrow coastal belt 80 to 210 km (50 to 130 miles) wide from southern Maine to northern Florida and west to southern Mississippi. Atlantic white-cedar forests, however, have always been of minor importance because the scarcity of suitable sites makes distribution of the species within the coastal belt exceedingly patchy. White-cedar is most important commercially in southeastern New Jersey, southeastern Virginia, eastern North Carolina, and northwestern Florida

Native Range of Atlantic White Cedar
----------------------------------------

This website shows a state based distribution map. There is an outlier population shown in western PA that may be a naturalized pocket - I am not sure: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CHTH2 The site also notes its status in several states: Georgia:
Atlantic white cedar Rare
Maine:
Atlantic white-cedar Special Concern
New York:
Atlantic white-cedar Rare
Pennsylvania:
Atlantic white cedar Extirpated

Edward Frank

== 7 of 7 ==
Date: Wed, Jul 16 2008 5:29 am
From: doug bidlack

Andrew,

atlantic white cedar swamps are among my favorite places in Massachussetts. I have a publication by Glenn Motzkin titled 'Atlantic White Cedar Wetlands of Massachussetts'. Here are a few interesting bits of info.

Glenn says that the largest individual tree known in Massachussetts occurs at Nickerson State Park in Brewster and it is 6'11" in girth. He doesn't say what he means by largest, but since he only gives girth that is a pretty good indication that it is mostly, if not entirely, based on girth. He also states that the oldest tree cored during his study was 204+ years old and it was at the Marconi Atlantic White Cedar Swamp in South Wellfleet. About 74% of all the Atlantic white cedar (AWC) swamps in Massachussets occur in Bristol and Plymouth counties and about 71% of all AWC swamps are found at elevations under 100 feet. Here is a rundown of the amount of AWC wetlands in the glaciated Northeast. These are wetlands with more than 25% cedar cover.
Massachussetts 4300
Rhode Island 3200
Connecticut 2700
New Hampshire 1200
Maine <1000
New Jersey 360
New York 225

New Jersey has more than 20,000 acres in the unglaciated Pinelands Region.

The best remaining AWC swamp in Massachusetts may be the Acushnet Cedar Swamp in New Bedford. It contains 390 acres with more than 25% cedar cover and 1110 acres with more than 5% cedar cover.

Doug

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Atlantic White Cedar info?
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/91b31be04b78c4cf?hl=en
==============================================================================
Shealy's Pond Heritage Preserve Own by the State DNR in Lexingon S.C.
is really Nice I have not really look to see what is the biggest tree
out there really in a mile from my house :) I hope to look into it
more to get some more info. Marcas

Shealy’s Pond covers 62 acres in Lexington County, and is centered
around an old mill pond and associated wetlands on spring-fed Scouter
Creek. County Road 279 crosses the dam of the mill pond, which covers
about 6 acres. The preserve also includes approximately 6 acres of
sandhills on the west side, which is forested primarily in longleaf
pine and turkey oak. The remainder of the tract is an Atlantic white
cedar bog surrounding the mill pond that supports several rare plant
species. This is one of only 3 known localities for the globally rare
Rayner's blueberry.

Atlantic white cedar is an aromatic evergreen tree, 50 to 80 feet tall
and 1 to 4 feet in diameter, with a conical crown of slender, often
pendulous branches. It occurs in a narrow belt along the Atlantic
coast from southern Maine to northern Florida, and along the Gulf
Coast to southern Mississippi.

Lack of adequate regeneration has decreased the acreage of Atlantic
white cedar in the Carolinas by at least 90 percent since the early
19th century. However, the stand at Shealy’s Pond is one of the best
in the state. Much of it is over 150 years old. The preserve’s
Atlantic white cedar forest filters and purifies water flowing through
it and helps stabilize streamflow by storing floodwater and mitigating
the effects of drought.

The rarest and most important species on the preserve is Rayner’s
blueberry, which is classified as a plant species of national concern
by Heritage Trust. Plants ranked as species of state concern on the
preserve include white beak-rush, swaying bullrush, Collins’ sedge,
wooly-berry, northern burmannia and Pickering’s breweria.
Insectivorous plant species include yellow pitcher plant, purple
pitcher plant, sweet pitcher plant, and three species of sundews. The
black water snake, a species of state concern, is also found on the
preserve.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Atlantic white cedar article
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/6b0ff143f9b23220?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Sep 26 2008 8:39 am
From: ForestRuss@aol.com

ENTS:

Recently there was some discussion on Atlantic white cedar....below is a
link to a very recent article on the species.

Russ Richardson

http://timberbuysell.com/Community/DisplayNews.asp?id=3336

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