Jakey Hollow Natural Area, PA   Ernie Ostuno   Jul 27, 2004 02:17 PDT  Jakey Hollow Natural Area is located in Columbia County, PA and is technically a part of the Wyoming State Forest, although it is an isolated parcel of the forest, well removed from other forest lands, and surrounded by farms. I visited here on 9/20/99. Here are my notes: Located on the southern slope of a stream valley, this area is remarkable in that it borders open farm land yet contains several dozen large white pine, including about a dozen with dbhs in excess of 35 inches and heights in excess of 100 feet. It is one of the very few places in Pennsylvania I've visited where large decomposing white pine logs can be found. Unfortunately, the southern side of the natural area is an open field and the wooded surroundings are privately owned, with evidence of some recent cutting. The Natural Area may not be virgin timber since faint evidence of large stumps can be found. This, along with the fact that there are no very large white pine or hemlock indicate that selective cutting may have occurred at some point. Total size of the natural area is just under 60 acres, with roughly half of that containing old growth. The biggest trees occur in an area of about eight to ten acres and old growth hardwoods here include sugar maple and white oak. There are a lot of young maple trees in the understory and some younger white pine. Distribution of pine, hemlock and hardwoods is fairly uniform, but white pine is most numerous.     Home