| Meet
Yo Mama's Sister, Westfield, MA |
Robert
Leverett |
| May
11, 2006 05:56 PDT |
ENTS,
My good buddy, Professor Gary Beluzo and I
went back to pay a visit
to a huge white pine growing in Stanley Park in Westfield, MA. I
had
last measured the tree slightly over 5 years ago and was raring
to get
back to it. I couldn't remember where it was, so I needed Gary's
help.
Stanley Park is an urban park with the usual
ball fields, but it has
a large forested area along the Litte River, a tributary to the
Westfield River, which is itself a tributary to the Connecticut
River.
Stanley Park has an excellent boardwalk that was built by a good
friend
of Gary's.
Stanley Park has a rich assortment of
hardwoods, white pines, and
hemlocks. It has a few pitch pines. The elevation of Stanley
Park is
about 200 feet above sea level, so we're talking about bottom
land, a
lot of it sandy. Much of the forested area in Stanley Park has
regrown
from old fields. That kind of forest can be pretty dull unless
over 100
years in age, but overall, the area is a rich growing habitat
for a
number of species to include northern red oak, pignut hickory,
sugar
maple, and white pine. There may be a few tuliptrees lurking
about.
There is at least one.
However, yesterday afternoon our focus was the
huge aforementioned
pine that at the time of original measurement was a 126.1 feet
tall and
15.5 feet in circumference. That is impressive and nothing has
changed.
In fact, it has grown a bit. It is now 131.5 feet tall and 15.7
feet
around. The 15.7 is from mid-slope. Both sides of the tree
yielded the
same measurement.
Gary and I had gone to visit the pine with the
thought of modeling
the tree, but that will take time - a lot of time. Modeling Yo
Mama's
Sister is going to be a little like modeling a huge pretzel.
Twisted
limbs go in every direction. I couldn't help thinking that if Yo
Mama's
Sister had wanted a slender figure like some of her companions,
she
should have laid off the spaghetti - but fortunately for us, she
didn't.
So today, she's one big sister. She and Yo Mama are going to be
strong
competitors for the prize of largest volume, single-stemmed
white pine
in Massachusetts modeled by ENTS. I think Yo Mama's Sister will
push a
thousand cubes, but the jury will be out for a long time. BTW,
my latest
take on Yo Mama, herself, is about 1050 cubes. Initially I
thought more,
but refinements have whittled the number down.
In tackling Yo Mama's Sister, we will have to
first sketch the tree,
clearly identifying individual trunks and limbs so we can track
what
we've modeled and what remains to be done. Lots of work. The
main
branching of Yo Mama's Sister begins at 7 to 8 feet above the
base and
there are 4 trunks.
Another pasture pine in Stanley Park,
not too far from Yo Mama's
Sister measures 14.5 feet in circumference and reaches to 111.6
feet. It
too is a pretzel. I've named the second big Stanley Park pine,
Yo Mama's
Cousin. Yep, Yo Mama's got quite the family scattered about.
Gary and I measured a more
conventionally shaped pine to 117.8 feet
in height and 11.0 feet in circumference. Beautiful tree. It is
one of a
number in Stanley Park in the 115 - 120 ft height range and 9 to
11-foot
circumference range. There may also be another real biggie.
We'll
eventually find it, if out there. We're committed to canvassing
the
area. Fortunately, we won't have to negotiate tortured terrain
like Lee
and Paul do in their Porkies excursions. Truthfully, I feel a
little
guilty, like I'm getting cracks at goodies without having to
work for
them. Maybe, I'll intentionally fall in the water or something
just to
show sympathy for Lee and Paul. Then again....
Are there any really tall trees in Stanley
Park? Well, there is a
stand of young fast growing pines near Yo Mama's Sister sporting
a
skinny tree that measures 134.2 feet in height and 6.9 feet
around.
Other trees in the vicinity appear to be between 120 to 125 feet
in
height. The big question is: are there any 140-footers in
Stanley Park?
Before measuring the 134-footer, I would have said emphatically,
no.
But, I now think there is at least a very small chance. For now,
I'll
settle for a 135-footer. But a 140-footer is a slight
possibility, and
in 10 years, a virtual certainty.
There are also some large, impressive
oaks to measure in Stanley
Park, including whites, reds, blacks, scarlets, and pin oaks.
There
might be a few swamp white oaks too. Pignut and shagbark
hickories,
green ash, red maple, sugar maple, and black cherry are also
conspicuous. There are a few sycamores, cottonwoods, and silver
maples.
All in all, I expect the species count for the trees to go to
between 20
and 25 - not counting shrubs. And with sufficient looking, I
expect the
Rucker index to go to between 105 and 110. I suppose it could go
to 113
or 114, but that's pushing it. Anyway, Stanley Park cries out
for a
thorough Eichholzing. John, John, where are you, John?
Bob
Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
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