Trout brook revisit    John Eichholz
   Apr 10, 2005 06:16 PDT 

Hi All,

I had a couple of nice walks into the Trout Brook basin this week. I
didn't have much time either trip, but the weather, the thin remnant of
melting snow, the rushing waters, and the singing birds were
delightful. My goal was to revisit the white ash stand that contains
the 150' tree and look for what else is in there. The first trip I
didn't make it that far, but I did remeasure the black cherry Will B.
found during the ENTS meeting last fall. The tree is holding at 125.3',
although one side of it has white mushrooms growing out of it. This
tree is the state height champ for black cherry. I looked for the sugar
maple Will found (Also I believe (?) the state height champ now that the
great one on Todd Mountain is dying back) but somehow didn't get to
it. I did remeasure a nice white pine, 11.8'cbh. It used to fork at 8'
but now has lost one of its tops. I guess it allows a better
measurement because I got 141.6', which is 4' higher than I had before.
I also came across a beautiful OG yellow birch (10.2' cbh, 90.4' h)
along the bank of the west fork of Trout Brook. This tree has large
plates of lenticle bark on the north side and the scaly older bark on
the south. I have some photos of the tree which I will post to my
website soon. (Topica was bouncing photo attachments.)

The second trip I was accompanied by some friends, as we took our time
admiring the cascading brook and pools. I did make it to the "valley of
giants", but could only stay for a half hour. Most of the white ash top
130', and while I did scan for new 150's, I focused on other species. I
measured two trees, a red maple that could be a new state record, and a
young sugar sugar maple that may very well be a record soon. Bob, maybe
we should go back there soon.

In the age/growth rate category, I would say the sugar maple, at 4.9'cbh
is quite young and with a narrow, healthy crown could easily add height
in the coming years. The red maple has the older shaggy bark and pretty
good girth, but the branch tips are strongly upward pointing, the crown
is fairly narrow, and the previous growth increments seem quite large.
I wouldn't even be surprised too much if the red maple eventually
surpassed the height of the existing sugar maples at MTSF. The stand
overall has a mix of young and old, with many of the ash in the young
group. The oldest trees I saw were a basswood monarch about 10'cbh
(didn't measure it) and some of the larger ash. The boulder field
topography of the site and the widely spaced, open feel of the forest
are quite unique for the area, and seem to indicate something other than
second growth. The thing is, the younger trees still show exceptional
growth and growth rate, and are easily reaching the canopy. What is not
there is the scrubby, viney nature of the understory. Here, the canopy
trees are in control of the resources of the site.

Here are the readings I took:

species
height
CBH

*Black Cherry* *
* *125.3* *
* *5.5* Mass. height record (WB) remeasure

Black Cherry
115.3
5.9

Black Cherry
114.2
4.4

Black Cherry
113.9
6

Norway Spruce
120.3
5.3

*Red Maple* *
* *125.2* *
* *6.7* Mass. height record (?)

Red Maple
112.5
5.1

Sugar Maple
128.6
4.9

White Ash
119.5
5.3

White Pine
141.6
11.8

White Pine
135.5
8.6

White Pine
124.1
7.2

Yellow Birch
90.4
10.2


John
RE: Trout brook revisit   Will Blozan
  Apr 11, 2005 06:33 PDT 

Great report, John!

Looks like black cherry holds its max height over a wide latitudinal range.
So far, only 2 trees reach 140' done here, and one at Cook Forest. I am
doubtful of a 150' tree. If there is one, it will be a short-lived claim in
some second-growth somewhere, as I fear they quickly break up and loss
height.

Will you make it to Cook? When can I show you the Smokies?

Will B
Trout Brook, Elders Grove, and questions for Lee   Robert Leverett
  Apr 11, 2005 09:36 PDT 

John:

   I'm definitely ready for a Trout Brook revisit this Saturday if you
are available. Absolutely. I'm psyched.

   Yes, yes, you have a new champion red maple for New England.
Congratulations! Can you send me all the measurements so I can add the
tree to our ENTS database? How totally exciting. That's WAY COOL, you
know.

   I had a pretty successful tree measuring weekend, myself. Lots to
report on, so let's see. First, just the facts. I added the following
trees to our database.

Location                Species      Height          Circumference

Monica's Woods          Red maple    100.1            4.7
(competing with Monica's tuliptrees and white pines)

Monica's Woods          Hemlock       100.2            7.5
(young, vigorous, can grow and 10 to 15 feet in hgt)

Monica's Woods          White Pine    123.5            6.7
Monica's Woods          White Pine    129.5            7.6
(tallest in general area. So far, nothing rivals it. Will break 130 this
season)


MTSF-Indian Springs      N. Red Oak     97.9          10.5
(possibly makes 100, but couldn't find a higher twig)

MTSF-Cold River          Green Ash(?)   98.2           8.4
(If true, new species for MTSF. No reason there shouldn't be green ash)

MTSF-Elders Grove      Red Maple     112.0           7.4
(little bugger was hiding)

MTSF-Elders Grove      Red Maple     111.9           8.2
(remeasured from a year ago. Was 111.2 then)

MTSF-Elders Grove      White Pine     154.5          9.0
(Yeah, Baby - #72 for MTSF white pines over 150 and #73 150s over all)

MTSF-Elders Grove      Sugar Maple   120.4           7.7
(neat tree - named Cutie Pie)

MTSF-Elders Grove      A. Basswood 102.0            7.4
(broken top, probably was once 10 feet taller)

MTSF-Elders Grove      White ash      130.4           7.5
(just another of Mohawk's splendid white ash trees)

   I remeasured all the 150s in the Elders Grove except Saheda and
Tecumseh. There is a total of seven 150s in the Grove. I also measured
several white pines in the Pocumtuck Grove, but nothing unusual there.
But their rapid growth makes these pines something to watch.

   On the Saturday outing, Susan Scott was with me. We checked our
measurements for two trees that we independently measured - the green
ash and the northern red oak. Ents, please check out the measurements
below.

Species      Measurer   Height

N. red oak     RTL           97.94
N. red oak     SS            97.98
G. ash           RTL           98.2
G. ash           SS            98.1

   Our measurements were completely independent. Susan Scott IS the
female champion ENTS measurer. She is ready to work independently as she
chooses. Way cool.

   On Sunday, my lady friend Monica Jakuc and I visited the Elders
Grove, and while Monica communed with the trees, I measured. Confirming
#7 was sooo sweet. An interesting observation about the area of the
Elders Grove is that red maple and sugar maple reach about the same
dimensions - girth and height. However, farther upstream, in the boulder
field, the sugar maples clearly surpass the red maples. In the Elders
Grove, both species can reach 105 to 115 feet, with an isolated tree or
two into the 120s. In the boulder field, a number of sugar maples
surpass 120 feet and two or three exceed 130. I have no idea what
advantage the sugar maple gains over the red maple in the boulder field.
I can make some guesses, but that's all they are. Lee?

    I was especially pleased to confirm Monica's tall pine to 129.5.
That seems to be close to the limit of what the general area of
Fitzgerald lake can grow. There are plenty of white pines around across
a fairly broad age range to measure, and pines reaching 100 feet are
everywhere, but then they seem to struggle to go over 115 feet.
Monica's pines are exceptions. 

Bob

Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
Re: Trout Brook, Elders Grove, and questions for Lee   Lee E. Frelich
  Apr 11, 2005 11:27 PDT 

Bob:

I suppose the sugar maples can grow taller when they are freed from
droughts, as they would be in a boulder field as compared to the elders
grove. Sugar maple also responds positively to calcium and magnesium, but
at this point who knows if that is contributing to their growth in this
particular boulder field.

Lee
Trout Brook Revisit II   John Eichholz
  Apr 12, 2005 14:17 PDT 

I had more time to revisit Trout Brook. Today I skirted above the main
terrace/lower slope of the high growth area on the south fork of Trout
Brook, to see what was up there. The boulder field continues and the
soil is quite thin, but there are no crevasses like there are on Todd
mountain, nor are there bear caves in evidence. In some places water is
seeping to the surface, but there is no running water. The understory
is very light, consisting mostly of ferns and fallen branches. Once
passing more than a 200' above the brook, sugar maple becomes dominant,
and there are many nice specimens of late second growth age, and some
that pass into old age. Secondary species are white ash, yellow and
black birch and red oak, and an occasional American basswood. There are
no pines or hemlocks in this area. On the lower slope, white ash mixes
and becomes dominant, with sugar maple next most common. On this site
white ash reaches, and sugar maples nearly reach their regional height
maxima. Downstream from this area is a swampy area that has other
species, such as cherry and red maple.

Here is a list of today's trees:

Species Height CBH Comment

White Pine 138.5 nt On road on the way in.
A. Basswood 121.3 nt Confirming a previous find, lower Trout Brook
White Pine 138.2 nt Near the site

Sugar Maple 119.6 6.1 Upper area
Sugar Maple 123.6 6.2 "
Sugar Maple 111.8 nt "
Sugar Maple 121.8 nt "
Sugar Maple 128.1 5.4 Lower area
Sugar Maple 128.9 6.0 "
A. Basswood 122.2 7.8 Nice old tree
Sugar Maple 126.7 5.7 Lower area
Sugar Maple 130.8 5.0 " remeasured from last report -- found higher top

I remeasured the last maple a few times. The number here is on the low
side. I got as high as 132'+ once. Bob, we'll need to confirm this one
Saturday.

There may be a couple taller maples hiding there, but the maple canopy
is pretty well established at 120' above and 125' below. There were
several more maples I roughed out in those ranges.

John
Trout Brook III   John Eichholz
  Apr 16, 2005 17:41 PDT 

Hi,

A few of us went back to Trout Brook. What a glorious day. I even got a
sunburn on my bald spot. Anyway the whole crowd left at 1pm and I
stayed on, so I'll report on the latter part of the trip. I found the
tall ash tree, which we had trouble finding. It is not that
conspicuous, not being one of the wider trees at 6.2' cbh. It is also
higher up the bank than we were remembering. I was able to confirm
151.5' and several other tops above 149' I got 152.0' once but I am
throwing that measurement out since there was no one else to confirm
it. I looked around the main area and then continued upstream past
where we had been, to see if I could find anything else notable. I
found several white ash in the 130's, some nice black cherries, black
and yellow birch and basswood. Across the river was a whole area of
very nice red maple. Nothing to top the 125' record tree, but close.
That area needs some good searching though, as anything 126 or over
would add to the MTSF Rucker index. It is a sport, you know. The brook
forks into several streams above the hot spot, with sugar maple
continuing to hit above 120' regularly. The high growth area for sugar
maple continues up towards the high point of the drainage. Above the
(second) point of branching, black cherry reappears sporadically, and
the forest composition becomes more diverse. Birches, cherry, red
maple, beech and basswood form minor components with sugar maple and ash
the dominant species. There is a lone hemlock, but no white pine.
Paper birch and bigtooth aspen show up across the brook, where the red
maple mixes with oak, beech and hemlock in a distinctly different forest
type. The ash does not do as well, or perhaps it is just younger.

Here is a list of the trees I measured in the latter part of the day.

In the main area:
White ash "22"      151.5'    6.2'    Confirming the regional height
record   
White ash "21"      144.1'    7.3     My records show 145.9' last fall
White ash            133.3    nt
White ash            137.8'    5.2'    One stem of a twin
White ash            134.1    5.2'
Sugar maple        124.1'    7.1'
Red maple            118.6'    5.2'
A. basswood        119.3'    4.6'
A. basswood        123.2'    5.7'    Tree is in great shape, still growing

Higher upstream:
Black cherry         119.2'    6.4'    Nice clean tree
Black cherry         119.7'   4.9'
Black cherry         110'      5.6'
White Ash            115.3'   5.4'
Black birch         104.2'   4.3'
Black birch         104.9'   5.7'
Yellow birch         93.1'   3.1'
Several sugar maples in the 120's

Across the brook:
Red maple         117.3'   5.8'
Red maple         121.5'   4.9'

I also reconfirmed the 150' white pine near the road. I got 150.3' this
time.

Bob, I will send you the readings, but I may not get to it this week.

John
Re: Trout Brook III and more   dbhg-@comcast.net
  Apr 17, 2005 16:01 PDT 
John:
Thanks. I look forward to the results.
ENTS:
John Eichholz and I measured two special trees on Saturday. A suger maple to (133.8, 5.0) feet and a red maple to 126.1, 6.2) . Both are trees that John had measured bwefore, but he wanted confirmations from a second source. These are both new records for their species in New England and pysh MTSF Rucker index to 135.3. Yeah Baby!
Bob