| Davies
black cherry |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Oct
21, 2003 17:15 PDT |
Bob,
Although I never had the pleasure of meeting Karl, I think
you'll find
the following post a sincere tribute to a fallen 'Ent'.
I had a spare couple of hours today and thought that I'd try and
re-measure our tallest cucumbertree (last measured Oct 2001 at
7.3ft CBH
x 122.9ft high) in the park. recently bumped out of its tall NE
tall tree
status by another whopper in the Wintergreen Gorge (8.6ft CBH x
123.1+).
The first time I measured this tree I had to use tangent to
include the
obstructed eye-base measurement. The same tangent method today
yielded
a height almost to 124ft. I shot again from downhill using
[(sintop)-(sinbottom)+pole] and was able to put it to 123.1ft
which
currently ties the Wintergreen cuke' (42 7.248N x 79 59.675W).
It took
me awhile to find this tree, but now I've got coordinates via
GPS (41
20.317N x 79 12.891W). It is in the vicinity of the tall black
cherry
stand between Ridge Trail and Forest Road.
There are some nice hemlocks in here also. I only measured two
hemlocks
and easily came up with 11.7 x 128.2 and 9.1 x 133.3.
Found another 150 class white pine too about 2/3 of the way up
the ridge
at 9.9ft CBH x 153.7ft high. It was a pleasure to measure. I had
a
great view of the canopy, base was tough but had two really
close shots
averaging to the above height.
There are some impressive black cherry in here. The last tree of
the
day was a dandy which I left a note to myself to measure back in
October
2001. needless to say, I forgot about it. This tree is very
tough to
measure. Interlocking crowns spreading from 2 main beams ~90ft
up made
my work very difficult. From underneath I repeatedly hit 137+! I
was
able to get a couple of shots from up hill to very close to 140,
but the
canopy was very dense. My best at click-over was right on 140,
and I
still couldn't get what I believe is a slightly taller sprig
(1-2ft)!
So for now, I'm sticking with a good solid 140. I thought we
were never
going to reach 140 for black cherry, but it seems that
persistence pays
off. Oh yeh, they CBH isn't bad also at 11.4ft. I decided to
name it
the 'Davies Black Cherry'. I believe this is now the 2nd tallest
black
cherry we've documented in the entire E. U.S. The next closest
would be
the 6.8 x 139.2 black cherry measured by the Riddles in Georgia
along
the South Fork of the Jacks River. Although a more recent
measurement
of the Riddle' black cherry may prove higher today, the 'Davies
Black
Cherry' is solid NE record. and a fine one too considering its
girth.
The day's tally as follows:
Species CBH Height
Black cherry 10 125.6
Black cherry 11.4 140
Cucumbertree 7.5 123.1
E. hemlock 11.7 128.2
E. hemlock 9.1 133.3
E. white pine 9.2 137.5
E. white pine 9.9 153.7
Cook Forest's current Rucker Index = 135.27!:
Species CBH Height Comments
E. white pine 11.1 181.3 tied
3rd tallest E. U.S.
E. hemlock 11.8 145.3 tied
for tallest NE
Black cherry 11.4 140 2nd
tallest E. U.S.
Tuliptree 8.2 136.6
White ash 7.6 128.3
Red maple 9 126
White oak 10.6 124.8 tallest
NE
Am. beech 7.9 124.4 tallest
PA
Cucumbertree 7.5 123.1 tied
for tallest NE
N. red oak 9.5 122.9
9.46 135.27
Cook now has
4 species >= 140
5 species >= 130
10 species >= 120
13 species >= 110
20 species >= 100
Right when I think I've reached Cook's limit, we go and find
another. I
hope to think that Karl would've loved Cook Forest. It is
definitely a
place of surprises and shouts God's majesty.
Dale
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