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TOPIC: Visit to an old haunt
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/1fb68c30e36dcbef?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Oct 26 2008 3:44 pm
From: dbhguru@comcast.net


ENTS,

Today Monica, a friend, and I went to Clark Ridge in MTSF. The objective was to check on the champion American beech, which appeared in good enough health the last time I saw the tree several years ago. We would first visit the Elder's Grove, then hunt for the beech, and finally return to the Elders Grove.

Well, the bad news is I could not relocate the beech. One of the two beech trees I saw on the ground may have confirmed the demise of our champion. The downed beech was in the right vicinity. A smaller, younger beech not far away and in good shape was hardly consolation. Its dimensions are 7.7 feet in girth and 122.4 feet in height. Not bad, but not good enough. No cigar. I could be mistaken about the location. I'll check one more time.

Doug and I then revisited the first major white ash site on Clark Ridge where years ago Jack Sobon and I confirmed a white ash to 134 feet with a transit. An ash tree in the vicinity of the 134-footer measured 132.6 feet in height and 7.1 feet in girth at the time (1999). I remember the tree well. The slender ash now measures 137.4 feet in height and has gained to 7.5 feet in girth. The ash tree's growth provides a little consolation.

On returning to the Elders Grove, Monica wanted to name a big pine for Sitting Bull. She's been reading an excellent biography of the distinguished Lakota Medicine Man-Chief and felt he deserves a tree in the Elders Grove. We settled on a big pine that I have heretofore had called the Benchmark Tree. The tree is located near the Saheda and Crazy Horse Trees. It is now the Sitting Bull Pine. Sitting Bull's dimensions are: height = 150.8 feet, girth = 11.3 feet. We did a short ceremony honoring Sitting Bull and his handsome tree. Principal measured trees in the Elders Stand are as follows.

Bob