The Ice Glen Story   Robert Leverett
  Mar 03, 2002 13:39 PST 
Hi Folks:

        Kim Jensen and I returned to Ice Glen today to continue documenting
its wealth of superlative trees. Kim had limited time, so our focus was on:
(1) verifying the Shagbark Hickory champ, (2) searching for other tall white
ash trees, and looking for other 120-foot tall Hemlocks. Tree viewing was
perfect and we were able to confirm a large white ash to 135.3 feet, using
two sets of instruments. Kim's measurements slightly exceeded 136 feet. The
circumference of the tree is 10.4 feet. We confirmed the Shagbark Hickory.
My calculation was 131.2 feet. My original was 131.7 feet. After Kim left, I
continued on and found an ash that measures a very impressive 134.0 feet in
height and is 8.6 feet in circumference. This ash and the 135.3-footer are
the two tallest hardwoods in Ice Glen. I've now measured four White Ash
trees in Ice Glen to over 130 feet in height.

        The following list includes all trees measured today for height and
girth. A Red Maple along the trail was measured at 102 feet, but a girth
measurement wasn't taken and I confirmed 4 White Pines at between 137 and 39
feet.

Species        Height        Circ        Comments

WP            142.9'             8.8'     New
WP            142.3'             7.9'     New
WA            135.3'            10.4'    Confirmation
WA            134.0'             8.6'     New
SBH           131.2'             5.0'     Confirmation
HM            123.3'             7.6'     New
HM            121.7'             8.2'     New
SBH           117.7'             6.4'     New
AE              115.2'             6.1'    New and new record for American
Elm
SBH           113.8'             3.8'     New
WO            106.7'            7.4'     New and new record for White Oak

WP=White Pine, WA=White Ash, SBH=Shagbark Hickory, HM=Hemlock, AE=American
Elm, WO=White Oak

    So between yesterday and today, 4 new height champions were confirmed.
Only one, the Catalpa, is new to my list as a species. All others are
improvements.

    Ice Glen now boasts 5 height champions for Massachusetts. They are:

Species        Height        Circ

HM            136.6'           10.2'
SBH           131.7'             5.0'
BC             121.9'             7.1' (Black Cherry)
AE             115.2'             6.1'
WO           106.7'             7.4'

    The height champion for all Ice Glen is the huge Ice Glen Pine at 152.1
feet in height and 12.8 feet in circumference. So far I've confirmed 11
pines to over 140 feet. White Pines over 130 feet in height are common in
Ice Glen.

    Well, checking the score card, four species have been confirmed to
heights of 130 feet or more in Ice Glen and 5 to over 120 feet. Twelve
species top 100 feet. With in the Glen, itself, there are trees in the 250 -
350 year age range.

    The largest circumferences trees in Ice Glen are 10 - 12 feet around,
with trees in the 10-foot circumference range generously distributed.

    Once upon a time, there would have been many Ice Glens and big, tall
hardwoods would have been everywhere. Tall White Pines would have been in
strips and patches.

    Ice Glen is not a bad place to visit to see big, impressive trees.

Bob
Ice Glen Rules   Robert Leverett
  Jun 02, 2002 14:52 PDT 
Ents:

     We went, we measured, we left. Kim Jensen, Ken Greason, and myself
roamed through the underbrush looking upward, trying to find new ice Glen
champions. The list now reads as follows.


Species                    Height         Girth            New Find

White Pine                153.2'        12.8'               no
White Ash                137.6'          9.6'               no
Hemlock                   136.6'        10.2'               no
Shagbark Hickory     131.2'          5.0'               no
Black Cherry            121.9           7.1'               no
Pignut Hickory          120.8           6.4'               no
Red Maple                115.6'          4.9 '              yes
American Elm            115.2'          6.1'               no
N. Red Oak              110.9'           7.3'              yes
Bitternut Hickory       108.3'           5.7'               no
American Basswood 107.5'           5.7'              yes
White Oak                 106.7'           7.4'             no
Sugar Maple              106.5'           5.6'              yes
Black Birch                102.3'           4.7'              no

        Averaging the tallest member of the top ten species yields a site
average of 125.12 feet. This should move Ice Glen up slightly in Colby
Rucker's rankings. However, I don't think the Glen has much more potential.
Perhaps future confirmations will move the average up to between 125.5 and
126.0, but that will be it. In terms of the number of species over 100 feet,
the number may stay at 14. Yellow Birch might make it, but that is far from
a certainty. I expect to eventually find a Sugar Maple in the 115-foot
class.

        What about the other tall tree site in Massachusetts? I am confident
that Mohawk Trail State Forest will eventually make a 130-foot average.
Perhaps 131, but that will likely be it. Elsewhere in the NE, Cook Forest
may eventually move up to 131.5 or 132. I expect Zoar Valley, NY will
eventually move to around 127. Green Lake will likely move up to 119.5.

    Given what we've compiled so far, I now believe that a 130-foot average
for the tallest of the top ten species pushes the site in the Northeast to
their limits at the latitude of 41 degrees north or higher. By the time the
latitude of central New Jersey has been reached, it might be a new ball
game, but that remains to be seen.

Bob
More musings about ENTS and back to business   dbhg-@comcast.net
  Oct 30, 2004 16:19 PDT 
Don:
    
    This afternoon I gave a lecture at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens and it was well received. We then went to Ice Glen where I found another splendid ash tree. At 137.6 ft x 8.9 ft, it is most handsome. It isn't far away from the 140-footer.

     I remeasured the Ice Glen champion hemlock and it now stands 138.1 feet tall and is 10.3 feet around. If the adelgid doesn't get it, it actually has a chance to reach 140 feet in 3 or 4 years. Ice Glen's Rucker Index now stands at 126.2.

Bob
Viva La Modeling   Robert Leverett
  Aug 08, 2005 06:05 PDT 

ENTS:

     Saturday and Sunday was devoted to tree modeling using the RD 1000
Relascope/dendrometer. Beyond the simple diameter at breast height
exercises that I had satisfactorily done, the weekend's modeling
projects were my first real opportunities to see just how well the
device works on whole tree modeling, both with and without a tripod. I
tackled the Ice Glen Pine, solo, on Saturday without a tripod. Monica
communed with the trees and rocks of Ice Glen while I measured the huge
Ice Glen pine. Then on Sunday John Knuerr, Susan Scott and I modeled the
Jake Swamp white pine in MTSF using a tripod. In terms of the ease of
use of the RD 1000, I'll cut to the chase. It is accurate as advertised,
but lots of technical/practical considerations make modeling a whole
tree much more complicated than just shooting a diameter at breast
height plus one or two upper trunk measurements. Please be forewarned.
The process is labor intensive. For starters, intervening branches from
nearby trees as well as the target tree can obscure the trunk at key
height intervals and require frequent changes of vantage point. It
became very apparent that use of the included magnifier lens is
necessary to adequately see the trunk in many if not most situations.
However, built-in limitations on how wide the scale can be expanded
means that if you get too close, you can’t cover the entire trunk, so
you must change vantage points to get the benefit of magnification.

      One thing is absolutely certain, you can't take too many
cross-checking measurements. If you accept one measurement at a
particular height, then you are fooling yourself about accuracy.
Unfortunately when starting out it isn't obvious what the best
measurement plan is for a tree unless it has been thoroughly scrutinized
beforehand. So expect some false starts. Also, better have a good tripod
that allows delicate movements both laterally and vertically. The tripod
we used was difficult to move horizontally. It did so in fits and jerks,
which was not good for aligning the diameter scale against the trunk.
The problem elicited some choice mumblings from me - under my breath of
course.

       Anyway, I computed 42 diameters for the Ice Glen pine, but used
only 16 sections. Many of my first measurements were taken from too
great a distance when I was trying to see the whole tree. I eventually
had to move much closer and use magnification. John Knuerr and I used 18
measurements for the Jake Swamp Tree. Susan Scott took some of the
measurements and we also had a UMASS student participating.

      So what did we get? I’m pleased to announce that Jake's volume is
about 660 cubic feet. That isn’t much different from some of my early
cruder calculations. However, I am elated to announce that the Ice Glen
pine is an impressive 1204 cubic feet. This was a surprising. I did
think it would make 1,000, but not 1200. So, the Ice Glen pine is a true
giant. BTW, its circumference at 4.5 feet is now 13 feet even. That may
be in part a result of be giving the big tree the benefit of the doubt
as to base point. An older spotting of the base would have produced 12.9
feet.

     By contrast, the circumference of Jake, which is about half the age
of the Ice Glen pine, is a solid 10.4 feet. So the difference of 2.6
feet in circumference and the Ice Glen’s more columnar form makes a heck
of a difference. No surprise there. Incidentally, the Ice Glen pine's
height was measured at 153.3 feet. It is growing more slowly than Jake.

     What are the odds that we would be at the Jake tree and not measure
its height? Foolish question. John Knuerr and I measured Jake's final
season height at a cool 167.3 feet and we did it from an entirely new
location. So I'm very satisfied that Jake's height is rock solid. We’ve
measured and re-measured using different equipment and measurers from
different locations. Jakes vital measurements can now be recorded for
posterity.


As of August 7, 2005:

       Full Height    --------------- 167.3 feet
       DBH --------------------------   10.4 feet
       Max Crown spread -------- 46.0 feet
       Trunk and limb volume --- 660 cubic feet
       Approximate board feet -- 660 x 12 x 0.50 = 3960 bdft (The
assumed 50% usage is my guess. That might be a little low. I defer to
our foresters to provide a more realistic conversion factor.)

Measuring Team:

       Robert Leverett
       John Knuerr
       Susan Scott
       
Observer:

       Martha Jorz, UMASS student

     I presume the huge Ander's Run white pine in PA will top 1200 cubic
feet and the Seneca Pine in Cook Forest will approach 1,000 cubic feet.
The Tamworth pine in NH will certainly top 1200 cubic feet. The Bradford
Pine in NH will top 1000 cubic feet. The other huge 12-foot plus
circumference white pine in Cook Forest may go to 1,000 cubic feet.

     So at present, we have a handful of great whites in the Northeast
that will make the magic number of 1,000 cubes.

Bob   


Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
Sweet Taste of Victory - Ice Glen   Robert Leverett
  Sep 21, 2006 12:54 PDT 
ENTS,

...
     On the way to the meeting I stopped at Ice Glen and communed with
some old friends. When in the Glen, I always visit a particular white
ash. It is a beauty. This morning it received its formal ENTS name
"Monarch of the Glen". Guess where that name came from? Well, of course
I had to remeasure the Monarch. Its revised statistics are:

     Hgt: 138.4 ft
     Cir: 11.2 ft (conservative)

     This is one great white ash tree, folks. Its 42.8-inch diameter is
very high on the list of ashes with a 100 % forest-grown shape in New
England. There a re a few larger ones, but not many. So three cheers for
the Monarch of the Glen.

      I had time for one other measurement and chose a trailside pine.
The trail's close passing obscures the height of the tree. I eventually
found the top at 148.1 feet above the base. Its 7.8-foot girth is hardly
noticeable in Ice Glen. What a great place!

Bob