Ed and ENTS,
I came across this link,
http://www.bradfordtoday.com/news/mature-american-chestnut-trees-at-rimrock-says-the-american-chestnut-foundation-284.html
says-the-a..., while browsing the web the other day. The
article is dated
October 26 2008. Between 30 and 40 trees were analyzed and are
100%
American chestnut trees. Many of the trees are 40-70' tall and
between
25-40 years old. Several of the trees may be nut-bearing and
have no signs
of the blight. The trees are located in the Rimrock
Scenic Overlook area
which is part of the Allegheny National Forest. Ed, are these
the same
trees that Carl and you measured in September 2006?
George Fieo
George,
No this is not the same location. Both are around the
reservoir, but we visited Chestnut Ridge
http://www.nativetreesociety.org/fieldtrips/penna/chestnut_anf/chestn...
and an older campground opposite the highway from Chestnut
Ridge. The area is filled with American Chestnuts. An old
report "The Ecology and Silvics of Forest in the High
Plateaus of Pennsylvania by A.F. Hough and R. D. Forbes,
Ecological Monographs, Vol 13, No. 3, July 1943. " reports
that is some areas of the forest as much as 90% of the basal
area was chestnut. The area we visited on Chestnut Ridge,
one of the places Friends of Allegheny Wilderness (A
Citizens' Wilderness Proposal for Pennsylvania's Allegheny
National Forest:
http://www.pawild.org/exec_summary.html ) is pushing
wilderness designation, was certainly dominated by Am.
chestnut. maybe representing half the trees in many areas.
As I am sure you read most were shorter less than 20-30
feet, but the tallest was 71.3 feet tall and 2.5 feet in
girth. The ones at the former campground site were taller
in general, but we did not find any taller than the 71 foot
specimen in our brief visit. It is a neat area. James
Parton would go nuts.
Ed Frank
Ed,
Are you or any other ENTS members close enough to locate and
accurately
measure any of the Rimrock chestnuts? Some are reportedly 70'
tall. The
American Chestnut Project Spreadsheet lists six trees over 70'
so one or two
more trees would be awesome.
George Fieo
George,
Attached is a photo from Chestnut Ridge of a hiker standing
next to a
chestnut tree (on the individual's immediate right) in the fall
of 2002. I
guesstimated the tree to be at least 60' tall. It had no visible
sign of the
blight. I have not been back to see it lately so I don't know if
it's still
alive.
People can advocate with their U.S. Representative that
Chestnut Ridge (and
our other proposed ANF wilderness areas) be designated by law as
wilderness
by visiting
http://www.pawild.org and downloading the template letter in
Word format on the right-hand side of the front page. Edit the
letter as you
see fit to put it into your own words, print it out, and mail it
to your
Rep.'s district office. If you need an address, you can find it
through
http://www.house.gov
Also, the Morrison Run and Chestnut Ridge areas are not the
only places in
the ANF where chestnut tress can be found. You will run across
them on a lot
of the plateau (ridge) tops out there.
Kirk Johnson
Map of Chestnut Ridge:
http://www.pawild.org/images/maps/chestnut_ridge.jpg
Map of Morrison Run (where Rimrock is located):
http://www.pawild.org/images/maps/morrison_run.jpg