Pascagoula River Mgt. Area, MS  
  

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TOPIC: Pascagoula River Mgt. Area
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/22a939dc92e5a9e0?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Jan 16 2008 8:28 am
From: Larry
 

ENTS, Well I finally managed to go to my old favorite place, The
Pascagoula River Mgt. Area. Its been several years since my last
visit. This Forest is bottomland, hardwood, cypress, gum, and some
pine.

Cypress and Gum swamps.

 Located in Southeastern Ms., containing around 37,000 acres in
Jackson, and George Co., Ms. The area spans the River north and south
for 25 miles, this is one of the last remote places in Ms. Hurricane
Katrina had a huge impact on the forest, after walking around I
estimated about 30% tree loss. Not as much as I anticipated! In some
places the woods are untouched, in other places they are badly
damaged. The forest service went in and salvaged as much timber as
they could. Looks like they did a great job of only cutting what was
down or damaged, cudos to them. I spent about 6 hours looking around
in 4 different areas, 


 Willow Oak
 Water Oak

 Overcup Oak
 Overcup Oak Acorns

 Willow Oak
 Willow Oak

 Water Hickory
 Beaver Tree

I only saw a fraction of the forest, but what I
did see was impressive! I relized by looking at some stumps that most
of the trees here are around 75-80 years old. Tha'ts the hardwood and
pine, most of the gum and cypress are older, some much older. There
are countless sloughs, lakes, ponds, etc., that contain thousands of
gum and cypress. You could spend a lifetime in here and not see it
all! This is a very special place, the only undamned river in North
America. It floods everyyear just like it has for centuries! Most of
the trees here are between 90 and 100' tall, with some exceptions. 


Cypress Behemoth

Old growth Cypress, some 20' plus in CBH and over 100' tall. It was
awesome to be back in my old forest! I measured several trees to get a
Rucker, here are the results. 

  • Cypress, CBH-10' 2", Height- 102' and Spread-32' 
  • Willow Oak,      11' 4"      96'      80'
  • Water Oak,       10' 4"       93'      45'
  • Overcup Oak,      9'          93'      48'
  • Sweetgum,           5' 6"    102'      36'
  • Mockernut Hickory, 7' 4"   93'     45' 
  • Post Oak,                7'       96'     42'
  • Swamp Chestnut 
    Oak,                      6' 9"     90'    45' 
  • Water Hickory,      5' 7"     96'    36' 
  • Loblolly Pine,         7' 7"   102'    24' 
  • Spruce Pine,         4' 10"   102'   24' 

A Rucker Index of 96.8 not bad considering this forest is only around
75-80 years old! I have lots of photos mostly of Cypress. I have to go
back in a boat to measure the Giant Cypress! I wish I could core one
of these Giants! All of the Cypress in these waters are around 4' Dia,
with a few Behemoths, now and then! I'll post some photos. Larry

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Pascagoula River Mgt. Area
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/22a939dc92e5a9e0?hl=en 
==============================================================================

== 1 of 9 ==
Date: Wed, Jan 16 2008 7:46 pm
From: "Edward Frank"

Larry,

Were there any big stumps that could have bee ring counted? We aren't
likely going to get any records for the cypress (but an age for the old ones
would be good), We have no good ages for many of the other species you
mentioned. The 70-80 years old range would not be worthwhile, but scattered
examples of old trees that were downed would be worth counting. Especially
if they pushed over 200.

Ed

== 2 of 9 ==
Date: Wed, Jan 16 2008 7:58 pm
From: Larry


Ed, I'll have to go back and look some more. There are old cypress
stumps in water, but not any oak visible stumps on land. I think these
woods were clearcut in the 1930's with a few exceptions. The Behemoth
Cypress I saw are at least 300-500 years old. I posted several photos
on the file page. 

Larry

== 4 of 9 ==
Date: Wed, Jan 16 2008 8:39 pm
From: Gary Smith

Larry,

There is a book, Preserving the Pascagoula by Donald Schueler,
published in the '90s I think, that may interest you. In the photo
section, there is a shot of a great, old cypress most likely in the
600+ year range. I think it is something like 9' dbh, with not much
taper above that. Fine tree. If you wander around the Pascagoula
again, a few years I spotted some old growth cypress from the road a
mile or so after you cross the Vancleave bridge headed east. You would
need a canoe to get to them as they are in a backwater slough off the
main river.

That Pascagoula area sure looks interesting and I would like to poke
around there myself one day. Might even see an ivory-billed even
though some of the experts think that impossible. :-)

Gary S.