Manhan River   Robert Leverett
  Jul 21, 2002 16:10 PDT 
Colby and others:

    Well, back to the Manhan River terraces went I this afternoon with an
intention to check on the tulip trees growing there, but did I ever get
sidetracked - by butternuts. Several in the forest are in reasonably good
health and they are trying to compete with the tuliptrees. There are also
several tall black locusts trying to secure their place in the sun. The
result of today's foray is two new tall tree champions for Mass. Both grow
in this Northampton river terrace forest.

    Species            Height        Circumference

    Butternut           111.7         6.0

    Black Locust     110.8        4.0

    The butternut is a new species for my list, which pleases me no end. The
black locust is a slight improvement on the Leeds tree. The Northampton
butternuts have the forest grown shapes and what beauties they are! I am
suddently a butternut fan.
Of the 7 butternuts I saw, 3 are on their way out. Two are doing so-so and
two are in apparently good shape.

    My Massachusetts tall tree list now has 41 species. I've attached and
updated list.

Bob
Manhan River, MA   Robert Leverett
  Aug 10, 2002 14:48 PDT 
Dale, Colby, et al:

      Today I spent several hours searching and measuring on a river terrace
of the Manhan River in Northampton. I am happy to report that we now have
another site that can officially be listed under Colby's list of Tall Tree
Sites:

      Species      Height    Circumference
      TULIPTREE 131.2 13.4
      BUTTERNUT 111.7 6
      BLACK LOCUST 110.8 4
      BLACK CHERRY 109.6 5.3
      SUGAR MAPLE 108 8
      BITTERNUT HICKORY 104.9 10.3
      SWAMP WHITE OAK 103.6 9.8
      AMERICAN BEECH 102.7 7.2
      SILVER MAPLE 101.4 8.8
      N. RED OAK 96.1 9.6




    The Rucker Index for the Northampton site is 108.0. By widening the
search area and going down to the river channel, the Rucker index will reach
109 and eventually 110 or 111. I don't believe it will go higher. The total
number of species in the area that exceed 100 feet will eventually number 12
or possibly 13.

    The swamp white oak (I think) was an excellent, but unexpected find. I
had a hard identifying it because its bark is darker than usual for the
species and there is only a hint of the shingling on limbs aloft. It looks
midway between a chestnut oak and a swamp white oak. I really don't know
quite what to make of it. Its location next to a tall tuliptree caused it to
reach upward.

    The site has several non-native species including European beech. I
measured one at 10.6 feet in circumference and 101.2 feet in height. There
are some over 12 feet around. The maple mix includes both sugar and Norway.
The latter may reach record height for Massachusetts. The bank leading to
the terrace has large, older northern red oaks. The species list for the
site follows:

Tuliptree (canopy dominate)
Bitternut hickory (scattered)
Red maple (scattered)
Sugar maple (very common)
Norway maple (common)
Swamp white oak (two trees only)
Green ash (scattered)
American beech (scattered)
European beech ( a few big ones)
Northern red oak (common on the upper banks)
Butternut (around 12 trees)
Black birch (scattered, mostly on the banks)
Yellow birch (young on the lower bank near a stream)
Black cherry (scattered)
Black locust (a cluster)
American elm (all young)
Box elder (boundary)
European linden (one)
Catalpa (one)

and what may be a river birch. I haven't absolutely identified it yet.

    Dale, a few more thoughts on the turf wars. Over the years, I've made
presentations to all kinds of timber specialist groups and it has never
taken me long to win aceptance from the audience as a legitimate voice in
the world of big tree knowledge. However, many coordinators of the state
champion tree programs are often far removed from the their subject and
possess little or no knowledge on how to accurately measure trees. They
understandably must turn to their superiors for guidance and that is the
start of the bigger problem. But how are the coordinators to know who to
turn to?

    The ENTS mission needs to move rapidly forward and our website needs to
grow along the current direction of site-based information. Let others chase
down isolated trees. We go for the sites, speaking of which a recap of the
Mass sites for which we have a Rucker Index calculated.

Site                                    Index

MTSF                                 131.45
Ice Glen                               125.39
MSF                                    118.69
Mt. Tom                               110.2
Arcadia                                109.68
Northampton-Manhan          108.00
William Cullen Bryant            103.00 (estimated for two species)

    I'm half way there for Bullard Woods. I expect the Rucker Index will be
around 113. Mount Greylock holds great promise and I expect will be between
116 and 118.

Bob

Manhan River floodplain:  
New Record

  dbhg-@comcast.net
  Feb 20, 2005 19:48 PST 
Dale, Will, Lee, et al:

   Gary Beluzo and I scoured part of the Manhan River floodplain for a few hours today and we were rewarded with a arrow straight green ash on the opposite side of the Manhan. It turned out to be 113.7 feet tall, which set a new record for the species in Massachusetts. The tree appeared to be at least 10 feet in circumference. We were impressed. We then remeasured the state's height champion sycamore in Easthampton. It has grown slightly. It is now 136.5 feet and as such now ranks behind the white ash as the state's second tallest hardwood species. Its 13.4-foot circumference makes it an impressive tree. With the tuliptree whimping out in Massachusetts and cottonwoods topping out in the 120s, Massachusetts is the transition zone for hardwoods. By the time Vermont or New Hampshire is reached, tree height has descended another rung on the ladder. Maine is the province of unexciting hardwoods. So the hardwood action is all from central Massachusetts south.

Bob