| Snyder-Middleswarth
Natural Area |
Darian
Copiz |
| Jun
18, 2006 15:26 PDT |
ENTS,
I visited Snyder-Middleswarth Natural Area this past Friday. To
curb any interest that may be piqued, I measured only two or
three trees. However, I figure additional observations
(particularly adelgid) of the area could be useful. The tallest
hemlock I measured (quick measurment) was 132' which is well
short of the tallest measured in the area. I entered from Tall
Timbers Natural Area by crossing over an adjacent ridgeline.
Although the Bald Eagle State Forest map shows trails, it may
only mean there is something vaguely reminiscent of a trail.
Once in the Swift Run stream valley it meant bush-wacking along
the creek. I was impressed by some large gray birch and
rhododendrons in the Tall Timbers area, but not by much else. I
would estimate some of the gray birch to be about 10" dbh
and 50' high - the largest I have seen. The rest of the canopy
in Tall Timbers seemed relatively low, but I did not explore
extensively. The hemlocks in Snyder-Middleswarth are dominant,
with many very nice ones. There were also quite a few very large
ones that had fallen in the somewhat recent past. A portion
toward the upper end, which is probably one of the nicer
portions was flagged, which I expect was for some type of
adelgid treatment. The condition of the hemlocks got worse
further down Swift Run with more adelgid and more dead trees,
but overall I would say there are far more live trees than dead
trees with most of the trees in the vicinity looking healthy
enough. The area is definitely still worth seeing.
The following day I visited Moshannon State Forest. In visiting
both Bald Eagle and Moshannon State Forests as well as some
other nearby forests I was somewhat disappointed. Almost
everything I saw appeared to be intensively logged with few
trees that looked over 30 years old. Is this part of
Pennsylvania logged more aggresively than elsewhere? Maybe I'm
not too used to hard-"working" forest, but most of the
forest looked kind of crappy.
Darian
|
|