ENTS,
On 3/14/09, my son and I stopped by the Cedar Hollow Preserve
located in
Tredyffrin Township, Chester Co., Pa. The preserve has a total
of 67 acres
containing open fields, flood plain, and wooded areas on steep
slopes
overlooking two streams, Cedar Hollow Run and Valley Creek.
This site has
lots of invasives with the slopes and ridges having little to
none. The
preserve was once a farm site and the old fields are full of
honey locust.
Church Rd. runs through the preserve dividing it into two
sections, east and
west. The east side is mostly open field and flood plain while
the west
side is completely wooded.
Sycamore. 19+ feet girth
Sycamore, 19+ feet girth
The first tree we measured was a huge
sycamore just south of the parking
lot. It is the largest tree on the preserve at 19'5" x 107.2 x
119.5.
This is the largest sycamore of four that had a 14'+ cbh. We
then crossed
Church Rd. and headed into the west side of the preserve. Tulip
poplars
dominate the canopy along with ash(green or white), red oak,
sugar maple,
and fewer bitternut hickory. Halfway up the north slope was a
large fallen
red oak with a 15'+ cbh. From here we walked the top of the
ridge to the
southwest corner of the preserve where we found an eastern red
cedar. From
where I stood the tree looked dead but it's top was green. A
closer look
revealed that one side of the trunk had no bark but the back
side did. It
reminds me of a bristle cone pine. The cedar measured 6'1" x
48. Then we
headed back, northeast along the ridge, and came across a small
flat that
had a few chinkapin oaks. Just below the flat was a fat
bitternut hickory
that measured 8'2" x 99.9. We were now on the south facing
slope and found
some more bitternut hickories and the tallest was 6'9" x 114.4.
We measured
a few more trees before crossing back over Church Rd. and into
the east side
of the preserve.
Hackberry 114.2 foot tall
The east side is dominated by honey
locust along with boxelder, black
walnut, sycamore, and ash except for a small ridge in the
northeast corner
that has the same forest type as the west side of the preserve.
Here we
came across some short but fat honey locust. The largest cbh
was 10'8". We
followed the stream, measuring a couple of fat sycamores along
the way,
crossing the creek and up into the small ridge. Along this
ridge is a huge
common hackberry( I made an earlier post about this tree). It
measures
12'3" x 114.2 which makes it a new northeast height record. I
measured one
or two more trees before getting back to the truck. Another
great day in
the woods!
15' Deadfall
Here are the measurements for Cedar Hollow Preserve.
Site Index
Species
CBH Height
A Beech
2'11" 80.7
Bitternut Hickory
8'2" 99.9
Bitternut Hickory
6'9" 114.4
Black Locust
7'10" 91.7
Black Locust
4'8" 101.5
Black Walnut
5'6" 106.4
Chinkapin Oak
7'1" 87.8
Common Hackberry 12'3"
114.2
Crack Willow(3x)
15'8" 68.9
E Red Cedar
6'1" 48.0
Green Ash?
6'5" 109.9
Honey Locust
5'1" 90.5
N Red Oak
10'11" 100.5
N Red Oak
6'5" 110.4
Norway Maple
3'8" 94.9
Sugar Maple
5'6" 96.3
Sweet Cherry
4'5" 82.0
Sycamore
9'3" 121.9
Tulip Poplar
10'8" 124.5
Tulip Poplar
9'8" 134.0
White Oak
N/A 91.4
Rucker Index
Species
CBH Height
Tulip Poplar
9'8" 134.0
Sycamore
9'3" 121.9
Bitternut Hickory
6'9" 114.4
Common Hackberry 12'3"
114.2
N Red Oak
6'5" 110.4
Green Ash?
6'5" 109.9
Black Walnut
5'6" 106.4
Black Locust
4'8" 101.5
Sugar Maple
5'6" 96.3
Norway Maple
3'8" 94.9
RI
110.39
Here is a list of 12 x 100's for the site.
Species
CBH Height
Common Hackberry 12'3"
114.2
Sycamore
14'1" 102.6
Sycamore
19'5" 107.2
Sycamore
14'2" 121.5
The other sycamore to measure more than 14' and just shy of
100' is 17'2" x
98.4.
George
