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TOPIC: Lake Julian Park, Arden/Skyland NC
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/t/1c31d7caa8fb9672?hl=en
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== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Nov 17 2008 4:05 pm
From: James Parton
ENTS,
I have just completed one of the largest measuring outings I have
done for ENTS. It took 5 individual trips and is of the woods
surrounding Lake Julian on the outskirts of Asheville NC in the
Arden/Skyland area.
Lake Julian is a decent sized lake of about 300 acres or so and
was created to cool the Progress Energy ( Then CP&L ) coal
powerplant that is located on one shore of the lake. The lake was
created in 1963. Progress Energy leases land on the lake to the Buncombe
County Parks & Recreation for entertainment purposes.
http://www.buncombecounty.org/common/parks/LakeJulianBrochure.pdf
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/esb/documents/FRENCHBROADRIVERBASIN2007.pdf
http://www.buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/Parks/facilities/parks/LakeJulian.htm
The lake has been a favorite fishing spot of mine since the
early 1980s and I have spent many hours on the shore and in boats
fishing. I had never really thought about checking out the woods
near the lake until after I moved close by. These are about as close
as " home woods " as I can get.
I explored 4 sections of forest near the lake ( See
satillite image ). Section one is on the hothole side of the lake near
Heywood rd. Section two is the old lake Julian campground. Section 3
is on the main side of the lake on the right just past the trestle
bridge. Section four is the main part of the park itself on the
other side of the lake along Old Shoals rd. The white arrows
mark these areas. Dark blue arrows on the map mark future areas
I would like to explore. The dark green one marks my home.
I will now discribe the outings, section at a time.
Section one.
Located along the back section of the lake near Heywood Rd
& Old Shoals Rd. This is a mixed forest of hardwoods &
conifers. Various oaks & tuliptrees dominate along with white
pine and pitch pine. Maples, sourwood and Virginia pine are
present also. American holly is common in the understory but
slightly less common than in the other three sections.
Compared to the other sections it had the tallest tree measured. A
135.64ft White Pine. I found no tree reaching 10 feet in girth.
This section was measured last August.
White Pine 7' 6" cbh
100.25ft.
Pitch Pine 5' 3/4" cbh
95.06ft
White Pine 8' 1 1/2" cbh 98.81ft
White Pine 9' 1/2" cbh
135.64ft!
Pitch Pine 4' 5" cbh
76.41ft
Tuliptree 7' 2" cbh
96.00ft
Section 2.
The campground picnic area.
12ft 4 in White Oak
I really did not expect to find much in the way of large trees here
but I was pleasantly surprised. The oaks, which lost out in size to
the white pines in section 1 really competed here. One specimen
measured over 13 feet in girth and another over 100 feet tall! The
white pines also were outstanding here, one reaching over 120 feet tall.
I found several large white pine stumps and was able to get a
ring count from one of them. These trees have been cut down in the
last two years. The ring count was 84 years in a stump just over a
yard in diameter. The oldest trees here may date between
100-110 years judging by the this ring count, that is if they
grew at a similar rate. Holly is common on the lakeshore.
White Oak 13' 4" cbh
101.54ft!
White Oak 11' 9" cbh
97.38ft
White Pine 10' 8 1/2" cbh 98.78ft.
Massive reiteration and large branch stubs.
Larch? 5'
6" cbh
50.90ft
White Oak 12' 4" cbh
90.03ft
White Pine 10' 8" cbh 123.51ft!
White Pine 11' 0" cbh 115.60ft!
White Pine 9' 5" cbh
Larch
Section 3.
Past trestle bridge on right.
Section 3
The forest here is similar to section one but the trees are a bit
bigger overall. Tuliptree is a bit more numerous. Black cherry and
some decent hickories are present in addition to other hardwoods
such as oak. American Holly is a very common understory tree. Some
with bright red berries. I thought at first I might have found a
near-record pitch pine but it came up short. But still it came up a
nice tree. A tall Virginia pine leaning up close to it plus the
pines rounded top made finding the highest point difficult but I
think I got at least close. The tree was just over 96 feet tall.
Section 3 had more trees over 100 feet than any of the other
sections I measured.
Tuliptree
6' 5 1/2" cbh
112.14ft
Tuliptree
10' 11" cbh ( MT )
White Pine 6' 6" cbh 100.52ft
Pitch Pine 7'
6" 1/2" cbh 96..17ft!
White Pine 7' 5" cbh
115.11ft
American Holly 2' 3" /2" cbh
34.17ft
White Pine 8' 2" cbh 108.58ft
Broken Top.
Hickory
5' 5" cbh 101.76ft
Section 4
Lake Julian Park. Long Shoals
Over the years this area has been thinned of a lot of trees. Oaks
and white pine dominate. Most of the whites are rather small in
size but some are pretty tall for their girths. Two hemlocks
were found. Both were healthy. I suspect they have been treated.
Will maybe? Holly is everywhere. Some very laden and very red with
berries. The park officials really must love hollies. So do I!
American Holly
Of the trees I measured, only one topped 100ft. A tuliptree. One
of the numerous oaks may top 100 also.
White Oak
8' 10 3/4" cbh 87.74ft
Shortleaf Pine 6' 0" cbh 82.89ft
American Holly 2' 10" cbh 38.76ft
White Pine
4' 9 1/2" cbh 95..00ft
Eastern Hemlock 2' 2" cbh 44.58ft
Healthy!
White Pine
4' 7" cbh
89.91ft
White Oak 7'
8" cbh ( MT )
Tuliptree
6' 6 1/4" cbh 104.57ft
American Holly 2' 9" cbh
40.03ft
Sections two through four were done in the last two weekends.
Section one was done last August. It seemed odd doing anything else
at Lake Julian besides fishing!
James Parton
== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Nov 17 2008 6:05 pm
From: "Will Blozan"
James,
Nice work! I remember dropping a huge white pine at Lake Julian back
in
1992. I "tape dropped" it to 125 feet with a tree climbing
rope. Diameter
was 44" and I stripped the limbs and topped the tree before
felling the
trunk. The stub was felled whole and stood ~ 95 feet tall. It had
rained
heavy for several days and the ground was saturated so when the
trunk hit
the ground a shock wave of saturated soil passed through the ground
and
"bumped" me through the ground. It was the weirdest sight
to see a wave move
through the soil. This was the second time this happened to me. Once
in
Maryland while taking town a huge tuliptree, I flipped a huge chunk
out of
the tree which landed flat as a pancake. From my aerial perspective
I saw
the shockwaves radiate outwards through the soil and shake the
surrounding
vegetation. The ground crew commented on the jolt they felt through
the
earth. The log was winched out of the ground as it had sunk about
40% of the
diameter. We had a heck of a time fixing the crater.
If you are in Arden I suggest you spend some time on the walking
trials at
Biltmore Park. I was cruising thru there looking for hemlocks to
treat and
spotted some really nice VA pines and shortleaf. The tallest Trident
maple I
have seen was in there and roughed out over 110'. Nice stuff
deserving of a
look now that leaves are off.
Will F. Blozan
President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.
== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Tues, Nov 18 2008 1:15 am
From: James Parton
Will,
Where did you drop that pine? I would guess that it was at the
campground area. Several big stumps are there testifying of the
trees
lost. I did not realize that some of them had been gone that long
though. What was the reason they had them cut down. The area was
prettier with them.
Over the years the lake has lost a lot of trees. Development on the
shoreline opposite the powerplant really shows this. Part of the
campground was once located there and now it is businesses that are
located there. The main part of the park itself on Long Shoals as
also
had a high percentage of trees cut. I just don't understand it. The
whole Arden/Skyland area has really been developed over the last 20
years. Depressingly so. Long Shoals rd should be called Long Shoals
Highway! Not only has the trees been hurt along the lake but the
available land to fish from around the lake has been reduced about
50
percent. Catfish had no keeper limit but due to more people fishing
the lake the limit is now six fish. Times change.
I know what one of those shockwaves feel like. A big tuliptree was
cut
down about 400 feet from my old home in Dana. It shook the whole
house
when it hit the ground.
Where is Biltmore Park?
James P.
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TOPIC: Lake Julian Park, Arden/Skyland NC
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/t/1c31d7caa8fb9672?hl=en
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== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Nov 24 2008 5:18 pm
From: "Will Blozan"
James
Yep, the tree was felled near a shelter or something like it.
Will F. Blozan
President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Tues, Nov 25 2008 1:07 am
From: James Parton
Will,
There is a big pine stump near the bathroom building. I remember
that
tree. It was quite large. Did you record the circumference or
diameter?
James P.
== 2 of 6 ==
Date: Tues, Nov 25 2008 3:26 am
From: "Will Blozan"
"...Diameter was 44" and I stripped..."
Will F. Blozan
President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.
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