| Petticoat
Hill, Williamsburg, MA |
Robert
Leverett |
| Apr
30, 2007 04:56 PDT |
ENTS,
SUNDAY:
Petticoat Hill in Williamsburg, MA is a
property that was acquired
by the Trustees of Reservations in 1905. The property covers a
modest 60
acres and includes a hill and a small rounded, rocky summit.
Except for
a small boulder field area, the property was sheep pasture in
the
mid-1800s. Thanks to the Trustees concerns, the property may
become the
first to be treated for hemlock woolly adelgid. ENTS will help
the
Trustees develop a treatment plan for what can be salvaged. The
stand
has been hit hard and it is too late for most of the trees and
the
adelgid survived this winter and is thick. Bummer. The few
subzero
nights we had this winter did not kill the adelgid. Why the
hemlocks on
Petticoat that hill have been hit so hard is a mystery.
I visited the site with Trustee’s principal
ecologist Dr. Julie
Richberg. Julie is a superb botanist. The hill exhibits plenty
of rich
woods indicators and is, all in all, a pretty good tree-growing
environment. I measured one white pine low on the slope to 131.5
feet in
height and 8.6 feet in girth. I think it is the tallest tree on
the
property. A couple or three other white pines are in the 125-ft
height
class. Several hardwood species on the property approach 100
feet with
white ash leading the pack. Hemlocks will exceed 100, but not by
much. I
plan to do a Rucker Index on the property. Although none of the
trees
are not going to break any height records, that isn’t why the
property
is important. We will probably launch Tsuga Search-New England
there and
the propert does have a surprise. A boulder field on the
property has a
swath of about 2 acres, maybe 3, of genuine old growth. Northern
reds,
hemlocks, American basswood, and black birch all reach advanced
age. I
think some of the oaks will run to 225 years or more – perhaps
260.
We’ll see.
Low on the slope, in the old-field area, I
found an enormous grape
vine that measures 24 inches CBH. Pictures are coming from Julie
who is
going to be joining ENTS.
Bob
Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
|
| Petticoat
Hill |
Robert
Leverett |
| May
07, 2007 06:04 PDT |
ENTS,
Monica and I revisited Petticoat Hill in
Williamsburg, MA on Sunday
PM. I wanted to take a second look at the hemlocks and get a
feel for
how many may be worth saving. Most in the central grove are in
bad
shape, but there appear to be a number of ones lower on the
ridge that
are well worth saving. Perhaps the most impressive hemlock is a
tree of
modest girth (8.1 ft), but surprisingly tall for Massachusetts.
I
measured it twice and settled on 126.7 feet. I've only measured
6 taller
ones in the bay state. I also confirmed several noteworthy white
pines
on the 60-acre property. All together the catch for the two
trips is
summarized in the list below. WP = white pine, HM = hemlock, RM
= red
maple, SM = sugar maple, PNH = pignut hickory, SBH= shagbark
hickory, HH
= hop hornbeam.
Species Hgt CBH
WP 133.7 8.2
WP 131.5 8.6
WP 129.2 8.4
HM 126.7 8.1
WP 120.4 N/A
WP 119.8 9.2
HM 116.9 8.7
HM 115.7 8.8
RM 110.6 6.8
RM 102.5 5.4
HM 102.3 8.1
SM 98.6 7.9
SM 97.7 N/A
BB 97.2 6.5
PNH 96.4 6.2
SBH 94.0 6.8
HH 51.0
2.6
There are some gorgeous northern red
oaks on Petticoat Hill that
will break 100 feet by a few feet and there are a several
noteworthy
white ash trees, but none conspicuously tall. I find that odd.
Any way,
I believe the Rucker index can be coaxed up to between 108 and
112
before I’m through. Two grape vines were measured, one on each
visit.
One is 24 inches CBH and the other is 26 inches CBH – the one
I measured
today. That is as large as I ever see them.
On Saturday afternoon, I scouted out
more of Monica's Woods. The
follow trees were measured. Using the legend for the above list,
WO =
white oak, TT = tulip tree are added for the one below.
Species Hgt CBH
HM 116.1 8.2
PNH 115.1 5.6
(remeasurement)
TT 110.9 7.5
WO 109.7 7.7
PNH 109.2 4.4
SM 106.5 6.9
WO 103.1 7.6
The Rucker index for Monica's
Woods now stands at a highly
respectable 113.6. There are 13 species of trees that surpass
100 feet,
Two that surpass 120, and 1 that surpasses 130. Robinson SP, Tom
State
Reservation, Green River Park, Monica's Woods, Petticoat Hill,
Mount,
Look Park, Smith College Campus, Grave's Farm, Hatfield Flood
Plain,
etc. show what mature woodlands in the Connecticut River Valley,
Mount
Tom Range, and eastern Berkshires are capable of growing. We'll
never
know if these swaths of mature forest are representative of what
once
grew. I suspect that in pre-colonial times, the trees were a
little
larger and slightly taller and there were a lot more of them.
But, I
have a feeling that we are getting a pretty good feel for what
mature
trees of a good couple dozen species did in times past.
Of all my species data, I
have the most on the white pine. For
Massachusetts, conspicuously tall white pines have been measured
at
different 42 sites. Hundreds of sites are passed up. So, what
can we
state about the pines at these conspicuous locations? Well, the
average
of the maximum heights for these locations is 134.9 feet. I
think that
we could build a case for the Massachusetts average as applying
to a
broader northeastern zone starting at about 41.5 degrees and
going to
maybe 43.5. Dale, Will, Lee, etc. any thoughts on this?
Bob
Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
(413)-538-8631
|
| Petticoat
Hill, MA |
Robert
Leverett |
| May
29, 2007 06:34 PDT |
ENTS,
On Sunday, I went back to
Petticoat Hill and found a super white ash
tree. At 119.2 feet it exceeds the heights of all previously
measured
hardwoods on Petticoat Hill. Its girth is a substantial 10.2
feet.
Sweet! The Petticoat Hill is a truly impressive tree. All told,
I’ve
measured 11 white ashes in Massachusetts that have a girth equal
to or
greater than 10 feet and a height of 100 feet or more.
While at Petticoat, I measured a sugar
maple at 104.3 feet in height
and 6.4 feet in girth. I had previously fallen shy of 100 feet
for the
species. But I now recognize that there are other 100-ft+ sugar
maples
around. As of Saturday, Petticoat Hill's Rucker Index went to
109.9. I
think we can nudge the index to around 110.5 before we're
through and
possible 111.
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