| Erie
Bluffs State Park, PA |
Kirk
Johnson |
| Aug
29, 2005 20:58 PDT |
Dale,
Bob, Scott,
I understand there is some old-growth in the newly
established Erie Bluffs State Park toward the west end of the
park in the
Duck Run ravine. I've walked to the shoreline at the east end of
the park
near Elk Creek, and saw some large oaks, but I understand the
biggest trees
can be found along Duck Run.
Kirk
|
| RE:
Erie Bluffs State Park, PA |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Aug
30, 2005 18:02 PDT |
Kirk,
I’ve been all over that sight and haven’t found anything
that I’m
willing to risk my reputation on as old growth unless we’re
talking
early successional climax communities. The tallest section of
trees is
located in the Duck Run ravine. A few tuliptrees here are in the
upper
130ft class and one or two lower 140ft class, with one 120ft
class N.
red oak. It can be argued that the entire bluffs region is a
type of
young age climax community. The banks are continually sloughing
off
resulting in dominance by early successional species.
There are a few select trees of age along the escarpment, but
virtually
anything that is accessible (not on/over the escarpment) has
been logged
within the last 70 years, some within the last 5-30 years before
the
site was handed over to the state. A very small area (<5
acres) may
have been logged last around 120 years ago. The oldest core I
was able
to obtain on that site was on a small stature hemlock near the
escarpment to ~170 years. The oldest oaks, tulips, and sugar
maples on
the edge that I cored approached ~120 years max. There are some
select
large oaks and tulips here, but the best was removed a long time
ago.
I believe a better example of an older age stand would be the
first
ravine system east of Elk Creek in the Lake Erie Community Park.
There
are a number of old sugar maple, Am. beech, and N. red oaks
along the
escarpment in this area. Probably the best example of old growth
Lake
Erie escarpment community in Erie County, PA would be in the
vicinity of
Scott Community Park east of the entrance to Presque Isle State
Park.
There are some ancient cucumbertrees here, probably surpassing
250 years
old, if not 300. I’ve never seen so many large and old cukes’
in one
place before in PA.
There are some unique plants and other fauna that utilize the
Coho site
(re-named Erie Bluffs). The bank swallows are quite impressive
here.
It would be difficult to find a more substantial bank swallow
community
in the entire state.
Here’s what we have for the Rucker Index for this site:
Coho Property Rucker
Index 115.75
Species CBH Height Status
Tuliptree 8.4 140.3
Cottonwood 8.5 125.4 tallest
recorded PA
N. red oak 9.7 123.4
White ash 7.4 120.5
Sugar maple 9.3 117.1
E. hemlock N/A 109.3
Am. beech 6.4 108.3
Black cherry 7.6 105.1
Butternut 5.7 104.6 tallest
recorded PA
Pignut hickory 5 103.4
Sure would’ve been impressive to see this site before the last
“whacking”. If you do ever get to visit the Erie Bluffs site
again,
look to right (north) just after you cross Elk Creek on RT5.
There is a
dandy sycamore, and even larger black walnut (~14-15ft CBH) that
has
fallen over the years. I think if we wanted a picture of what
old
growth used to look like at this site, imagine the size of those
two
trees being proliferated across much of this entire site.
Dale
|
| Coho
Property update 9/8/06 |
djluth-@pennswoods.net |
| Sep
08, 2006 14:37 PDT |
ENTS,
Just a quick update on what I've described earlier as the 'Coho
Property'. It
has recently been designated 'Erie Bluffs State Park'. It is the
newest state
park in Pennsylvania.
In late May I had a training opportunity on site where I was
able to take a
little time measuring/re-measuring specific trees.
A re-measure of the tall cottonwood on site, tallest known in
the state, from
directly underneath put the tree now at 8.5ft CBH x 126.1+ft
high.
I was also able to find a new taller E. hemlock and Am. beech on
site which also
raised the site Rucker Index to 116.28, which makes it 10th out
of 29 for PA
sites surveyed:
Species CBH Height
Comments
tuliptree 8.4 140.3
cottonwood 8.5 126.1 tallest PA
N. red oak 9.7 123.4
white ash 7.4 120.5
sugar maple 9.3 117.1
E. hemlock N/A 111.3
Am. Beech 6.3 111
black cherry 7.6 105.1
butternut 5.8 104.6 2nd tallest PA
pignut hickory 5 103.4
Best Regards,
Dale |
|