| Bullard
Woods, MA |
Robert
Leverett |
|
Mar
15, 2004 06:35 PST |
ENTS:
Yesterday John Knuerr and I combed Bullard
Woods and completed a
Rucker index and re-measured many trees that had not been
measured for 1
or 2 growing seasons. Bullard Woods is owned by the Stockbridge
Bowl
Association and has been the woodland that has been touted as
the big
tree place to go see in Massachusetts. It is an impressive place
as the
following stats reveal.
Species Hgt Girth
White pine 133.3
13.4
Tuliptree 124.4 11.4
White oak 115.3
6.9 (new
state record)
Shagbark H. 114.0
6.5
White ash 113.5 12.0
Hemlock 111.9 10.7
N. red oak 111.1
11.3
Sugar maple 107.9 10.0
Black cherry 100.8 4.2
Black birch 86.9 5.1
Rucker index 111.9 9.2
John Knuerr measured the new white oak champ.
Bullard Woods is the
only fairly diverse, mature woods site I have seen in
Massachusetts
where the white oaks stand toe to toe with the red oaks and in
the case
of Bullard, may slightly eclipse the reds.
I have seldom gotten to Bullard Woods when
measuring conditions were
ideal, but yesterday they were. So we took full advantage of the
conditions. The big trees are rapidly falling and so the magic
of
Bullard Woods will soon be history. In the best of times its
index would
be around 113 or perhaps 114, but not more.
John and I also swung by Ice Glen and
revisited several important
trees. The measuring conditions there were very good also.
Beyond the
white pines, like Mohawk, Ice Glen's crowning achievement is its
abundance of towering ash trees. We remeasurerd the height champ
and
confirmed it at 140.1 feet. We are giving it the benefit of the
doubt
and proclaiming Ice Glen has the second Massachusetts location
that can
grow 140-foot ashes - even if only one.
Meanwhile in Mohawk, John Eichholz bagged
another 120-foot black
cherry. That's number two if the measurement holds and for now,
I'm
giving it the benefit of the doubt.
Bob
Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
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