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TOPIC: Davey Woods Nature Preserve
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/8dfd06f382e74d5d?hl=en
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== 1 of 4 ==
Date: Tues, Apr 8 2008 7:02 pm
From: Randy Brown



This Nature preserve is located on the rolling tail end of the
Bellefontaine Outlier in West Central Ohio. The preserve proper is
tucked innocuously in a small side valley off the broad but steep
sided valley of Nettle Creek. Today's Nettle Creek is but a small
remnant of the glacial outwash floods which formed the valley proper.
The Old grow proper covers maybe a half dozen acres on the slopes and
valley bottom. Ridge top and outer slopes being covered with
noticeably younger growth

The ridge tops and upper slopes are covered in a mixture of Ash (Green
or White), White Oak, Chinquapin Oak, Black Cherry, Red & White Elm,
plus a few honeylocusts thrown in. While the bottoms and lower slopes
are dominated by Tulip trees, with red oaks, Beeches and Sugar Maples
being common contenders with a few basswoods here and there. An old
reverted pasture/field at the front of property contained a large
number of young Black Walnut. I didn't find a mature walnut, but a
scattering of stumps on the valley bottom made me think they met their
demise some decades in the past.

On my initial visit several years ago, I wasn't that impressed with
the site because the trees don't have the imposing mass of sites like
Goll and Dysart Woods. According to the interpretive sign out front
some of the tulip trees sprouted 'about the time of the civil war'. A
family cemetary on the property has an earliest date of 1836. So most
of the trees aren't all that old in the grand scheme of things.

So then I started measuring and realized that the 'sorta tall looking
trees' were a bit more impressive than I gave them credit for:

The 'two freaks' were mashed side by side between 120'+ Mature tulip
trees on the valley bottom and the overhang oaks, Sugar Maples and
ashes on the steep slopes right above them. The 115' beech was on a
slope nearby.

A few pictures:
The 12' cbh x 125' Red Oak:

11' 9" cbh x 133' Tulip Tree. Barely visible in this picture is a
minor lightning strike scar the tree finished healing just in the last
year or two.

== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Tues, Apr 8 2008 7:39 pm
From: James Parton


Randy,

A very nice report. 

James P

== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 9 2008 3:42 am
From: dbhguru@comcast.net


Randy,

The measurements are indeed impressive. Are they based on the sine top-sine bottom method? You record 9 species. If you had been able to get a 10th, we would have enough for a Rucker Index.

Bob

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Davey Woods Nature Preserve
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/8dfd06f382e74d5d?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 9 2008 6:55 pm
From: Randy Brown


Yes, bob I have been paying attention;) and used the sine up/down
method:

The tallest tuliptree raw measurements were:
SinUp = 51.5 yards @57.8˚ = 130.7'
SinDn = 23.5 yards @05.0˚ = 6.1
Total 136.8'

As a further sanity check I measured a downed tuliptree at Riddle with
a 100' steel tape and got ~117'. I compared this to the laser shot
against a sapling gave ~115' so I'm pretty confident I'm doing this
correctly.

I know I should have looked for another species but I was too eager to
measure all the biggest tulip trees and oaks. There are a couple of
good size basswoods that ought to go over 100' that I passed on
because it was getting late. I also need to go over the sugar maples
and beeches a little more carefully and try to find the tallest ones
(I more or less picked two at random to measure) There are also a
couple of skinny but fairly tall chinquapin oaks and bitternut
hickories that ought to be measured.

Lastly, the spice bush was at the popcorn stage in Davey and in full
bloom at Riddle. The tulip trees were not noticeably budding at
either location. Here in Columbus the catkins on the cottonwood tree
outside my office are noticeably swelling.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Davey Woods Nature Preserve
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/8dfd06f382e74d5d?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 10 2008 5:10 am
From: dbhguru@comcast.net


Randy,

Sooooper. We look forward to many more reports from Ohio. With the abundance of deep, rich soils, we've always known that the Mid-west was a potential goldmine of great trees. Maybe now with you, Beth and others fully engaged, we can tell the full story of the region.

Bob

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TOPIC: Davey Woods: The Second String
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/8dfd06f382e74d5d?hl=en
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== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 17 2008 8:21 pm
From: Randy Brown



Having let the awe of the creek bottom tuliptree's to distract me last
week I returned to finish a proper rucker index. After a week of
+60˚F weather it was interesting how much a week can change things.
The understory in the creek bottom is filled with an even mixture of
spicebush and Ohio Buckeyes (and perhaps some red buckeye, I'll have
to go back when they bloom to see if I can find any red blooms) In
one week the buckeyes went from the "popcorn stage" to what I refer to
as the "palm tree stage", where the stems have emerge and begun to
spread the still curled up leaves. There were quite a few wildflowers
greening up nicely but not a lot of blooms yet. I recognized trout
lilley and dutchman's breeches and what a think were ramps (vertical
veined leaves, smelled like onions... I kinda stink at wildflowers).

Most of the new finds this week were on a south facing slope toward
the mouth of the valley. Drawn by the tall woods in the valley
bottom I'd blithely omitted this area in my several previous trips.
In this area I found a large walnut and two tall Chinkquapin oaks and
a tall basswood. The walnut was perhaps not as tall as it could be
because a 6-8" dia terminal leader limb had broken out several years
before and lay mouldering on the ground. Also in this area are
several smallish bitternut hickories and maybe mockernut. I don't
have much experience with hickories so I'll leave at a guess.

Davey Woods Nature Preserve (take 2)

Rucker Index
8’ 4.5”   122.5’

I'll put some more photos up on the file page tomorrow.



== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Apr 18 2008 6:57 am
From: James Parton


Randy,

Cool, I see you are getting into tree measuring too! Bob, I hope to
see you at the gathering later today.

James P.