| Clark
ridge |
john-@crocker.com |
| May
10, 2005 17:33 PDT |
ENTS:
Ahh, records are meant to be broken. I had a few hours to spend
in Mohawk
Trail State Forest today, so I decided to go over to the Clark
Ridge area
near Zoar Gap. I first remeasured New England's tallest American
Elm.
The last time it was measured, in March of 2004, we came up with
115.6'h
and 6.5'cbh. I think I'm going to go with 6.6' for the cbh now.
I spent
"quite a while" examining the top, which is basically
flat and quite wide.
Eventually by shooting underneath a forward branch I was able to
hit
120.6' There were numerous tops in the 117' range as well. I
guess the
tree has been growing.
Next I continued up the ridge, enjoying the glorious spring day.
Temperature was in the 70' and the black flies were just coming
out. The
maples are leafing out, as were the cherries, but ash was not,
and red oak
only had fuzzy stuff. It was perhaps the last good conditions
for
tree-measuring I'll see until fall. It was striking to look out
at the
mountain face from below, seeing quite clearly the areas of
maple
dominance and ash dominance.
There were several black birches in the 100' to 105' range. I
measured a
bigtooth aspen with deeply furrowed bark to 117.0'. There are
many fine
ashes, in the 125' range were common, with a few in the 130's.
The tallest
I found was 137.9', 5.9' cbh. Immediately below this tree was a
fine
yellow birch, 4.8' cbh, which turned out to have a height of
105.6'. This
makes it the new Northeast height record for yellow birch. On
the way
down, I measured a red oak to 130.7', 7.0' cbh. It is probably
already
documented. Near there is the former MTSF black cherry record. I
remeasured the tree, and came up with a respectible 121.9', 4.2'
cbh.
Last spring the tree was measured at 120.7', so it seems to be
growing
nicely. I think I could see how the sprig had grown.
Clark Ridge
Summary:
American Elm 120.8' 6.6' New England record
Bigtooth Aspen 117.1' 6.0'
Black Birch 101.5' nt
Black Birch 103.0' nt
White Ash 137.9' 5.9'
Yellow Birch 105.6' 4.8' Northeast record
N. Red Oak 130.7' 7.0'
Black Cherry 121.9' 4.2'
That raises the Rucker-25 index for MTSF from 115.8 to 116.2,
with 12
species over 120'.
John |
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