| Fire
Tower Road findings |
Dale
Luthringer |
| Jan
25, 2007 17:24 PST |
Bob,
Carl, Tony, Ed,
Spent a good portion of the day investigating the old growth on
the flat
around Fire Tower Road, Mohawk & Deer Park trails. I've
driven round
that 3 mile road countless times over the years, but rarely get
a chance
to get out of the vehicle and explore. Found a couple of
whoppers
amidst the arriving Lake Effect snows we're getting. Had a good
~30mph
wind move through at one point which knocked all the snow off
the
surrounding trees. thought a couple of the trees were going to
come
down, should have heard all those cracks & groans.
Visibility at one
point was down to no more than 10ft! Never had that happen to me
before
out in the woods. Driving through white out conditions at 30mph
is one
thing, I expect to go to NO visibility, but out in the woods
standing
still with NO visibility, that was a chilling experience. Went
from
heavy snow to open skies & sunlight a couple of times. Sure
was an
interesting weather day.
The Fire Tower Road area is heavily dominated by ancient
hemlocks.
Hemlocks in the 10-11.5ft CBH range were common. Passed many of
these
up to concentrate on finding the big ones. Ancient white, N.
red, and
chestnut oaks, as well as red maple, black birch, and black gum
are
scattered throughout the site. Found one white oak that was cut
off a
gas line with a diameter of 1.9ft at ~20ft off the ground with
~210
rings. I re-read Orwig & Abrams' paper that was in Mary Byrd
Davis' 1st
old growth book a couple of weeks ago. If I remember correctly,
I
believe they sited a white oak somewhere in the vicinity of Fire
Tower
Road to ~350 years! That ~350 year date is interesting, since we
have a
cross section of a white oak recently felled at the campground
to ~330
to a hollow center ~10ft up from the base.
Found a number of new 12x100 hemlocks as well as two more 150ft
class
white pines! I thought we were totally out of them, but then
again,
Cook Forest pulls out another surprise. There were a few 140's
in the
mix as well. They were growing in a shallow drainage on the hill
top.
As you exit Fire Tower Road, there is a "dip" you go
down into before
coming back up on the rise again. They're about 100-150 yards up
the
drainage from this "dip" in the road. I've been
wanting to check this
site for years, but never dreamed they'd go to 140, let alone
150.
Closer to the road they're not impressive, barely breaking
125ft, but
further in there's a nice little batch of white pine &
hemlock.
Noted at least 3 other hemlocks that would've broken 12ft CBH
easy, but
had died within the last few years. Also had a massive snag Am.
Beech
at 12.4ft CBH! It probably went down this last year. Would've
creamed
the old park record of 11.5ft CBH! Awesome tree!
The day's tally follows:
Species CBH Height Comments
Am. Beech 10.2 111.2
Black birch 7.7 87.1+ burled
mass loaded with moss
Chestnut oak 7.2 102.1+
E. hemlock 10.2 128.6
E. hemlock 12.2 113.6
E. hemlock 12.5 122.1
E. hemlock 12.9 122.7
E. hemlock 16.9(2x)
126.4
N. red oak 12.2 103.8+
Pitch pine 5.6 90.7 beginning
of Fire Tower Road,
re-measure
Red maple 8.9 102.1+
burled mass of a tree
Red maple 10.2 112.4 re-measure,
extremely long shags
White oak 10.6 96.1+
White oak 8.7 102.1+
White pine 9.3 141.1
White pine 11 142.6
White pine 11.5 146.7
White pine 11.3 148.9
White pine 10.1 150.8
White pine 10.2 150.8
What a day.
Dale |
| Re:
Back to Dale |
djluth-@pennswoods.net |
| Jan
26, 2007 05:32 PST |
Bob,
I've still got a backlog of data to put in, at least I'm up to
November 06 now,
but it appears we've got the following:
Height Class # trees
150 79
160 26
170 3
180 1
That's 119 trees 150ft or higher.
Dale
| |
Dale,
So what' the count of 150s now in
Cook? It must be around 110.
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