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TOPIC: Dyleski Pine, Cashiers, NC 11-21-2007
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/71d682bd070f0acf?hl=en
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== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Sun, Dec 9 2007 1:07 pm
From: "Will Blozan"

ENTS,

On November 21st, as part of a family Thanksgiving holiday get together, my
wife, Heidi and I climbed the Dyleski Pine in Cashiers, NC. This climb was
truly a family event; my Mom, Dad, son, daughter, and father-in-law were
also part of the climb. This immense white pine grows on the property of
Allan and Connie Dyleski on the upper reaches of the Horsepasture River in
deep shelter on the south slope of Sheep Cliff Mountain. The tree is in a
flat-based bowl surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs and ridges. My Dad
met the Dyleski's through his hiking club. Somehow big trees came up
(imagine that?) and Allan invited my Dad to check out the big pine on his
property (within walking distance of my parents house). Since my Dad knew
what I was looking for regarding big trees he emailed me about it right
away. Over 14' in girth! I knew immediately this was a big one based on his
description, and during the next trip up there I got to see the tree. I took
some quick measurements with the reticle and determined it had a solid
chance of being one of the few, rare 1000 cubic foot white pines. Mr.
Dyleski extended his gracious invitation to climb the tree at anytime.



The entire community of Cedar Creek (where the Dyleski's live) has very
impressive white pines. I have known of the groves in there for 10 years and
measured a few specimens over the years (still more tall ones in there to
measure, too). However, most are privately owned and next to houses thus the
trespass factor is high if the owners are not home. Within this community
the current NC State Champion white pine grows, with one of similar
dimensions across the street. Equally impressive ancient pines grow among
these more superlative trees, and "old-growth forests" (with houses) abound
in this community. The Cedar Creek community contains one of the finest
collections of old white pines that I know of in the southern Appalachians.
The community has also apparently undertaken some timely treatments for
hemlock woolly adelgid and very nice, healthy ancient trees abound. Although
rich in old-growth forest most trees in Cedar Creek are not exceptionally
large. The soils are sandy and rather poor, hence the predominance of white
pine. In spite of the poor soils the white pines still manage to steal the
show, with two trees in the community known over 160' (the tallest, 167',
snapped in Hurricane Ivan). One of these is the aforementioned NC Champion.
I was recently given permission to visit and measure some of the larger
pines in Cedar Creek. Here are descriptions of two big pines.



The Holmes Pine

This is the current NC State Champion. This tree was so perfect, young and
vigorous- one of the finest specimens I have seen. As expected the height
was overstated. In 1984 the tree was measured to 162' tall. In 2005 it was
measured to 180' tall. In 2007 it was measured by me to 161.2 feet tall from
two different angles (not even a 0.1' diff in the different laser shots).
The girth was a hefty 12'9" but being a young tree the trunk was nearly
conical. I was hoping it would be a big pine (800 ft3+) but not yet; it will
be if all goes well for it. It is in a great location and well loved. The
"Driveway Pine" was a chunky tree ~11' cbh and 135' tall (below right)
overhanging the driveway.





The Cunningham Pine

Across the street was another super-fine pine of similar dimensions. A house
was literally constructed over this tree's root system but was done so on
carefully placed piers. In fact, the whole yard was old-growth white
pine/hemlock with an incredible basal area of both species. I measured the
pine to 11'8" and 158.8 feet tall. An immediately adjacent pine was even
larger in girth (12'2" cbh) but the top was broken, and a nearby hemlock
(treated and thriving) was easily 13.5' X 130+. I was very impressed with
the low-impact construction and tree preservation in this exquisite forest.









OK, back to the Dyleski Pine.







Heidi and I spent 3.5 hours in the tree measuring the beast. It was a really
gnarly tree with six large reiterations to measure. One of these was over 70
feet long, had a diameter at origination of 27.7 inches and contained 76.8
cubic feet of wood. It was literally a tree stuck to the side of a tree, and
although it was the lowest reiteration (starting at 44.3' up) it was nearly
the tallest part of the tree! I held my camera out as far as I could from
the highest reiteration to get a shot down into the broken top. Decay
resistant branch stubs were still intact even though the trunk wood has long
since rotted away. In the first picture below my rope is set at ~97 feet.
HUGE!!! This tree is WAY bigger than it would be without the reiterations
and an intact top. Here are the stats:



Absolute height 120.1'

CBH at 4.5 feet 14.1'

Circ at 100 feet 5.95'

Trunk break at 102.3'

Trunk volume 908 cubic feet

Reiteration vol 188 cubic feet

Total tree volume 1096 cubes- NEW RECORD!

So, as far as ENTS knows, the Dyleski Pine is the ONLY living eastern white
pine over 1000 cubic feet in volume, the second largest we have yet
documented and one of only three pines confirmed over 1000 ft3. It also has
the largest amount of reiterations on a conifer ENTS has yet measured and
also has the largest and longest individual reiteration. Maybe we should
name it the "Superlative Pine"! This tree also has the distinction of being
privately owned, loved, and nurtured. Long may it live!

Many thanks to the Dyleski's for their permission to climb this wonderful
tree and to my parents and father-in-law for some of the photos below.
Enjoy!

Will

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Sun, Dec 9 2007 5:57 pm
From: James Parton


Will,

This was a killer outing dude! I would have loved to have been
present on this one. It is reports like this that shows what ENTS are
made of.

James Parton