Poland
Woods OH |
Thomas
Diggins |
Mar
25, 2004 14:50 PST |
Hello ENTS,
Here's a report from another respectable public site in the
Y-town area. Poland
Woods is a town park in an old village that has been swallowed
up by the
'burbs. Nice floodplain woodland, with some areas of high and
dry beech-maple.
The sycamores here are among the largest trees in NE Ohio. Not
as obvious a
pristine core as Kyle Woods, but enough old-growth character to
impress. Uneven
size distribution, good canopy diversity, plenty of snags and
logs... But,
definitely some areas that are a bit young, and could indicate
development last
century. Some disturbed areas might also be the result of the
stream's
activities - this creek really floods. Given its accessibility,
it would be
safe to presume the whole site was subject to disturbance
pre-1900. Equally
likely, though, is that much of it has been continuously
forested. Highlights,
with trees contributing to Rucker Index numbered:
1) Tulip 128.5
x 8' 2"
Tulip 123.2
x 11' 0"
Tulip 126.6
x 9' 3"
Tulip 112.7
x 6' 3" young
The biggest tulips have only a little balding, so they may be
only 100-150
years. A much larger one (13'?) had lost most of its crown -
heights limited by
wind damage?
2) Sycamore 121.6
x 18' 6"
Sycamore 114.2
x 16' 6"
Sycamore 113.1
x 16' 0"
These were the largest single stems, each with a nice section of
clear trunk.
The 18-footer has about 40' of clear trunk at >5' diameter.
Very handsome tree.
There are several huge multi-stemmed trees, and some may
approach 30' "CBH".
3) American beech 111.7 x 8'
8"
4) Coffee tree 110.8
x 7' 2"
A nice group of obviously forest-grown coffee trees. Peterson
field guide
indicates this part of OH is outside range, but this tree has a
very disjunct
distribution. Any thoughts? Currently will be tallest one listed
with ENTS.
5) Scarlett oak 110.5
x 9' 11"
6) Shagbark 109.8
x 6' 1"
7) White ash 109.0
across river
8) Bitternut 107.9
x 6' 4"
9) Red maple 107.6
x 11' 11"
10) Sugar maple 106.2
x 8' 3"
Black tupelo 103.9
x 9' 1"
Rucker Index = 112.36'
Not bad for a relatively unprotected site. A pattern is starting
to emerge from
these good quality NE OH sites. Diversity over 100' is very
good, but there's
not much that's really tall. Trees over 140 may be uncommon
outside of deep
gorges. I'll be checking out some tall sycamores in the
Ashtabula Gorge in the
next few days. I don't expect any old growth forest, but I
believe there may be
some impressive bottomland hardwoods. BTW, that's only a few
dozen miles west
of the PA gorges Dale has been exploring. More to come.
Tom |
RE:
Poland Woods OH |
edward
coyle |
Mar
25, 2004 17:22 PST |
Hey Thom,
Very nice coffee tree. According to Preston and Braham, it is
within the
range. They wrote,"Range from extreme southern Ontario to
extreme eastern
Nebraska, and south to northern Kentucky and Oklahoma; disjuncts
in New
York, PA, WV,VA, TN, WI, MN,...".
There are taller ones listed for NC, maybe Will has seen them,
but those
are some great finds in the middle of all that developement.
Ed
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