Sat and Sun   Robert Leverett   May 21, 2007 08:19 PDT  ENTS, SATURDAY BRUCE’S CEREMONY:      On Saturday afternoon, we dedicated Bruce Kershner's tree in a moving private ceremony in MTSF. Eight of Bruce's family members were there. Fellow Ent and great friend Howard Stoner from the New York ENTS contingent joined us. Bruce’s family was most appreciative of the dedication. Finding Bruce's tree requires a precise knowledge of the local terrain, so I'll likely be leading family members to the tree in the future until they become comfortable with the way to get to the tree. We will not be marking a path.      Bruce's tree was formerly called the Northern Sentinel. It is the northern most of Mohawk's 150s and until Saturday was the last of the 150s to be confirmed. Beyond the information given above, I will honor the privacy of the ceremony for Bruce and conclude by saying, my participation was a singular honor. A NEW 150:      Before the ceremony for Bruce, I went to the Elders Grove and did some tree measuring and I am mightily pleased to report that a 12th pine joins the list of 150s in the Elders Grove. The complete list of 150s for the Elders Grove is as follows. Height Girth DOM      Tag No TreeName Nation 165.23 11.44 13-Aug-06 154 Saheda         Mohawk 161.78 11.70 15-Apr-06 160 Tecumseh Shawnee 156.54 10.20 13-Aug-06 153 Sacajawea Shoshoni 153.00 9.10 10-Apr-05 161 Degonawida Huron 152.18 10.90 20-May-07 158 Dull Knife Cheyenne 151.88 11.00 26-Nov-06 155 Cochise         Apache 151.70 7.90 13-Aug-06 162 Ouray         Ute 151.32 10.10 20-May-07 165 Crazy Horse Lakota 151.04 9.00 13-Aug-06 164 Osceola         Seminole 150.87 10.80 13-Aug-06 158 Quannah Parker Comanche 150.63 9.50 13-Aug-06 152 Washakie Shoshoni 150.16 8.20 20-May-07 163 Chief Joseph Nez perce        There are more pines in the Elders Grove to dedicate to Native Americans, but the above list includes all the 150s. In a couple of years there may be another 150-class pine, but for the present, we'll have to settle for an even dozen. In a future e-mail, I'll share my reasons for selecting the above Native Americans to honor. There are many worthy Native elders who have past and the choice of the above may seem arbitrary, and to a degree, it is, but there are good reasons behind the choices.       The addition of Chief Joseph's tree to the Elder's Grove 150s gives MTSF a total of 83 white pines and 2 white ash trees that reach the magic threshold of 150 feet. The grand total is 85 Mohawk 150-footers. In terms of Massachusetts as a whole, there are 94 great whites over 150 and 96 trees of all species over 150. In terms of other species in Massachusetts, my hope of finding a tuliptree in this height class has faded. I just don’t think one is out there. For New England as a whole, southern Connecticut may have a few. There are probably a number of sites in New York with tulips pushing the 150-foot height threshold, although to date, we have only found 2. A RESPECTIBLE NORTHERN RED:       On the way to the Elders Grove, I passed by a handsome northern red oak that I routinely walk by on visits to Clark Ridge via the main nature trail. This time I happened to look up just at the right spot and noticed that the oak looked taller that I customarily notice, more than the 104 feet that I think I measured it to previously. Taking a little time, I found a sprig at 114.2 feet, confirming my perception. The oak's girth is a modest 6.9 feet, so it is pleasing to look at but not overpowering. Pleasing but not overpowering is the norm for the Mohawk trees. The slender red oak becomes the 24th of its species in MTSF to be measured to 114 feet or more. To be sure, there are others to find, probably quite a few, but widely scattered. There are many red oaks over 100 feet, but the density of oaks above 110 drops rapidly, and oaks above 120 are encountered only infrequently – one here, one there. In fact, to this point, only 11 have been confirmed to over 120, 4 of which exceed 130 feet. Around 130 feet seems to be the limit that the species can reach in Mohawk. The same is true for sugar maple. Although, I have not given up hope entirely, either a northern red oak or a sugar maple reaching 140 is highly unlikely in Mohawk. Some kind of physical limit seems to be reached just over 130 – probably the interplay if several environmental factors. By contrast, 25 white ash trees have been confirmed to 140 feet or more in Mohawk, 2 of which exceed 150. A total of 68 have been measured to 130 feet or more, and in places, 120s are fairly common, with 110 of them having been measured to the 120 threshold to date. As I have reported before, the white ash is the tallest hardwood in Massachusetts although in the Connecticut River Valley areas where it competes with the tuliptree, the latter usually wins. The ash does best in low elevation coves and ravines and along stream corridors in the Berkshires. Its performance in the broad river valleys trails its performance in the mountains. MUSINGS ON MOHAWK’S RUCKER INDEX:       The sad occasion of Saturday not withstanding, it was good to reconnect to Mohawk’s abundance of tall trees ands I know that from his spiritual perch, Bruce heartily approved of my unbridled enthusiasm for the new member of the 150 Club. The Rucker index of Mohawk stands at 136.2, and short of really substantive tree growth this season, the index is not likely to rise by more than one or two tenths of a point. I’ll be ecstatic if it makes 136.5 by late summer. In terms of individual performances, I’m counting on the Jake Swamp pine to exceed 169 feet this season. Barring disaster, the October 2008 Forest Summit should include a cozy “170-foot party” for Jake. SUNDAY      John Knuerr and I began work on Tsuga Search for MTSF by looking at hemlocks in the Trout Brook area. In the process, we confirmed two new 120-foot class hemlocks, which really sweetened the day: (125.3, 9.1) and (124.8, 7.3). These trees help the iterated Rucker index. The number of iterations of the MTSF Rucker index at 125 or more now stands at 11. The number of iterations of the index that reach 120 or more now stands at 20. That is way cool. OTHER MUSINGS:        Is all the ENTS fanfare for tall trees really necessary? Does it matter if the Jake Swamp pine makes 169 feet this season, that there are such and such a number of trees meeting this or that height or diameter threshold, that we gradually, but surely, are closing in on profiling the maximum height of a species over its latitude range, that we can measure tree heights to under +/- 1 foot of absolute accuracy? Does ENTS further any worthy objectives or promote any useful values by all the measuring and comparing hoopla that we do? Well, it is my unbiased and humble judgment that we do further worthy objectives and promote useful values by practicing and promoting our unusual craft. For one thing, we build the public’s knowledge of what is common versus what is rare or exceptional and that accomplishment has served to activate the protection gene in more than a few receptive people. By contrast, widespread public ignorance provides a one-way ticket to habitat, species, and tree loss. Public ignorance as to what is exceptional versus run of the mill gives the scalawags among us free reign to exploit. As an example, before the ENTS promotion of Mohawk’s splendid trees and accompanying deluge of data, MTSF was an attractive state timber resource with some collocated recreational features. The timber would currently be being exploited under green certification. That is virtually guaranteed. Prior to the formation of FMTSF and later ENTS, the upper echelons of management of the Department of Recreation, and more specifically, the State Bureau of Forestry were largely oblivious to: (1) the historical significance of the historic Mohawk Trail within the boundaries of MTSF, (2) the surprising status and uniqueness of the Mohawk pines, (3) the growth performance of the pines (an unusual situation for a forestry department), and (4) the wealth of opportunities to turn Mohawk Trail State Forest into the Commonwealth’s forest icon and a source of pride for the citizens of the bay state. I can’t say that the mindset of DCR has changed completely, but most of the key players are very cautious when dealing with MTSF and managers seem to understand that Mohawk has some kind of forest significance beyond that possessed by other DCR properties and they turn to FMTSF and ENTS to provide the interpretation. Bob          Robert T. Leverett Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society   Home