Hi Chuck,

The trip was very nice, weather was perfect.  Beech mortality in mature specimens is probably greater than 90%.  Beech saplings are VERY abundant, probably >95% of all regeneration.

We spent the entire day exploring the West Fork on both the west and east sides of the ROW (right of way).  We came in from the Brookston side and dropped down to West Fork and worked our way upstream towards the ROW.  It wasn't long before we were in old growth forest.  The beech were virtually all gone, but the ancient hemlock remained.  Many hemlocks were very old, but most were not impressive in size compared to the Cook Forest hemlocks.

Here's the day's stats:

Species CBH Height

black cherry 10.9 109+
black cherry      16.6(3x) 123.1+
E. hemlock 9.8 108.1
E. hemlock 10.6 108.8
E. hemlock 9.2 109.4
E. hemlock 12.8 111.5
E. hemlock 8.9 116.6
E. hemlock 10 117.5
E. hemlock 10.7 119.5
E. hemlock 10.7 121.5
E. hemlock 8.9 122.1
E. hemlock 11.3 123.6
E. hemlock 8.4 125.1
E. hemlock 9.3 125.3
E. hemlock 9.8 129.6

yellow birch 6.5 87.1

I've attached a map in word outlining our trip (~6.4miles) and old growth hemlock stands.  We ended up not going too far up the West Fork on the east side of the ROW.  After about 1/4 mile, hemlock were mostly unimpressive in terms of height & girth.  Very high beech mortality as well.  We were also getting close to our "tolerance limit" of getting smacked in the face from beech saplings at this point.

We also took some visual ring counts from hemlocks that were cut along the edge of the ROW between West Fork and that main east-west forestry access road that bisects the area:

Species Circ Distance from base of tree Ring Count

E. hemlock 7.1 ~30ft 252
E. hemlock 9.1 ~35ft 251

Both of these hemlock would've easily made it to 300 years, the 9.1circ hemlock could've made it into the 350+ age class.

Dale

P.S.  We did have one "tic casualty".  Deer keds were out in force.

December 3, 2007, Dale Luthringer

Hey Guys,

Here's the preliminary data on what I think is the new PA record E. hemlock.  It's just a tad bigger than the Camp Trail Hemlock at Cook.  I'll send pics & volume measurements when I get that far, but for now, here's the quick stats:

Tree Name CBH Height Avg Crown AF Points Date last measured

Bridle Trail Hemlock 14.1 116.8 52.6 299.2 2/16/06
Camp Trail Hemlock 13.8 125.4 52.6 304.2 11/7/07
Hearts Content Hemlock 13.9 126.4 53.1 306.7 12/3/07

It's been awhile since Carl & I have re-measured the Bridle Trail Hemlock (14.1ft CBH x ~115ft), so, Cook Forest might take take it back if we find a better view of the top like I did with the Camp Trail Hemlock... 

Dale

December 4, 2007, Dale Luthringer

Hey Folks,

Here's some recent pics of the fat hemlocks Carl & I measured at Hearts Content yesterday.

The Hearts Content Hemlock 1 series pics are of the bigger 13.9CBH x 126.4ft high state champ submission we took volume measurements for.

The Hearts Content Hemlock 2 series pics are from the smaller 13.7CBH x ~113ft high tree beside the above. We have trunk measurement intervals up to ~7ft on this tree, but didn't model the entire tree due to bad weather. The trees were swaying pretty good with occasional 30mph winds and snow squalls, so I decided not to model the smaller specimen.

Dale