| Crull
Island: Allegheny River Islands Wilderness Area |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Sep
27, 2004 13:39 PDT |
Bob,
Bruce, Will,
Another catch up post from 9/7/04.
I took the opportunity this day to take a closer look at Crull
Island.
Crull Island is located on the Allegheny River in Warren County
and is
part of the island system of the Allegheny River Island
Wilderness Area.
Some sources said it had old river bottom trees and others a
small
acreage of old growth forest.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/allegheny/recreation/wilderness/#islands
Crull Island (96 acres) is the largest island in this wilderness
area
and the first island down-river from the Buckaloon Recreational
Area
(1.1 miles) which has an excellent boating put-in/take out area.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/allegheny/recreation/camping/buckaloons.html
The Buckaloons is also a very historic site in terms of the
history
leading up to the French & Indian War. Celeron was reported
to have
buried one of the lead plates that claimed this area for the
French in
1749 at the confluence of Brokenstraw Creek and the Allegheny
River
(Buckaloons Rec Area).
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=494
Crull Island is also just up-river and across from the touted
Anders Run
Natural Area which is home to the gigantic Cornplanter Pine.
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/oldgrowth/andersrun.aspx
The only good access to this island besides swimming/wading the
river is
by boat. With all the high water lately, I decided the best
course of
action was to access the island by canoe to try to confirm a
possible
old growth area. The trip down-river was easy and relatively
uneventful. I stopped a few times to check back coves and eddies
where
the Brokenstraw Creek delta empties into the Allegheny. There
were so
many coves and side streams on the north side of the river that
I
thought I might've passed Crull Island a number of times. As I
gazed
downstream I noticed a bald eagle which soon led my eyes to what
turned
out to be the elusive Crull Island.
I beached my canoe on the north side of the island and started
inland.
Decent sized sycamores jumped into view almost immediately. Most
ranged
from 7-9ft CBH with heights that maxed in the upper 120's. I was
also
delighted to measure my first naturally grown silver maples in
the
state. I continued downriver in the middle of the island and
soon found
a very nice sycamore (13.4ft CBH x 123.7ft high) and some
respectable
sugar maples. There was a small section of old trees showing old
growth
characters: (staghead branching, balding and deep fissured bark
characters, some large CWD). There was a slippery elm here that
had
such deep furrows that I first that it was a cottonwood. I'd put
some
of the hackberry and slippery elm here to over 100 years. Select
N. red
oak, white ash, sycamore, and sugar maples probably went over
150, They
appeared to be growing fast in such rich depositional soils.
The surprise of the day were the hackberry that were located on
the
island. It is the oddest bark character I've seen to date and
also my
first hackberry in the field since my dendrology days in
college. Will
Blozan explained it to me best as bark ridges in negative as on
photo
film. Kind of hard to explain. the warty ridged character was
quite
peculiar. I'm afraid the understory was full of
exotics or other
similar pests; loaded with poison ivy, Japanese barberry,
Japanese
"snotweed" on the edges along with multiflora rose and
stinging nettle.
Mayapple, sensitive and cinnamon fern, hawthorne, and blackberry
made up
the rest. Oh yes, don't forget the black flies and mosquitoes.
Every
time you stopped for more than 20 seconds, the black flies just
converged on you. They eventually escorted me off the island.
The trip
back home was a one mile paddle back upstream through strong
current.
Through sweat and blood donations, I was able to earn the
following
finds:
Species CBH Height Comments
Am. basswood 3.5 81.4
Am. basswood 6.6 95.5
Am. basswood 7.1 96.7
Bitternut hickory 5.4 104.2
Black cherry 7.3 84.1+
Black locust 5.2 90.1+
Common hackberry 9.8 76.7 old
Common hackberry 7 91.1
Common hackberry 6.4 99.1+ tallest
northeast?
N. red oak 10.7 101.9
Red maple 6.7 99.1+
Silver maple 6.6 78.1+
Silver maple 9.4 105.6
Slippery elm 3.2 68.3
Slippery elm 8.2 92.5 very
deeply ridged &
furrowed bark
Sugar maple 9.1 94.4
Sugar maple 7.9 102.1+
Sugar maple 8.7 108.1+
Sycamore 13.4 123.7 12x100
class (41 49.399N
x 79 16.025W)
Sycamore 8.2 124.9
Sycamore 8.7 126.1+
White ash 5.2 99.1+
White ash 10.2 107.4
Crull Island Rucker Index = 104.07
Species CBH Height
Sycamore 8.7 126.1+
Sugar maple 8.7 108.1+
White ash 10.2 107.4
Silver maple 9.4 105.6
Bitternut hickory 5.4 104.2
N. red oak 10.7 101.9
Red maple 6.7 99.1+
Common hackberry 6.4 99.1+
Am. basswood 7.1 96.7
Slippery elm 8.2 92.5
All in all. a very good day. Just don't forget your bug
repellant!
Dale |
| RE:
Crull Island: Allegheny River Islands Wilderness Area |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Sep
27, 2004 13:46 PDT |
Bob,
If we take into account the tall sycamore on Thompson Island,
next
island downstream from Crull Island and the Anders Run Natural
Area - 3
miles downstream from the Buckaloons, I get a Rucker Index of
104.99 for
the Allegheny River:
Species CBH Height
Sycamore N/A 135.3
Sugar maple 8.7 108.1+
White ash 10.2 107.4
Silver maple 9.4 105.6
Bitternut hickory 5.4 104.2
N. red oak 10.7 101.9
Red maple 6.7 99.1+
Common hackberry 6.4 99.1+
Am. basswood 7.1 96.7
Slippery elm 8.2 92.5
Dale
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