Fisherville Brook & Prudence Island, Rhode Island   Matt Largess   Feb 22, 2007 11:58 PST  Hello Everyone, The Red Maple controversy is really great. I feel very close to (acer rubrum) its the state tree of Rhode Island and a big part of our states native forest. I feel sad when people call it invasive. Yesterday I went on a seven mile walk in Fisherville Brook an Audubon refuge of nine hundred acres in Exeter Rhode Island. Red Maples in Rhode Island grow in swamp lands with black tupelo, American holly, Atlantic white cedar, mountain laurel, yellow birch, and white ash. Next to the swamp there is a lot of nice second growth white pine and above them on the hills is oak. I believe we have the best examples of Red Maple in New England. I recently lead a walk on Prudence Island and measured trees over fourteen feet around circumference. Some look very ancient, with years of broken tops, and trunks full of wildlife cavities. The great wildlife condos. I look at forests so different then most people but I also spend more time in them then most. We have so much to learn about their secret systems. I think the conference on Red Maple is a great idea, and Bob Leverett is a living forest legend, and his desire for discussion and study is what legends are made of. I leave tomorrow on a forest journey to Florida's bottom land hardwood forest it also has Red Maple. This trees range is incredible and of course her fall red color is beautiful.  P.S. Tsuga Talk eastern Hemlock and Will's desire to save them in the Smokies is inspiring. I have been working saving Hemlock's in Rhode Island with Merit for years with great success. The wooly adelige has put this species at risk of extinction. Robinson State Park has some beautiful old Hemlock's some over ten feet in circumference. On walks there this summer I had people tell me that Hemlocks should be cut down because they were dying anyway. Our forest deserve better and feel that the Tsuga Project should include more then just the smoky mountains. I just finished a study of the Northwest camp AMC lands in northwest Connecticut and studied Hemlock tree rings of small trees that grew in suppression. One tree was seven inches in circumference and over 100 years old. There ability to grow in suppression like American Beech, makes them well worth preserving. And their symbiotic relationship with black bears, fisher, porcupine, and countless bird species all makes their preservation urgent.  Sincerely, Matt "Twig" Largess Certified Arborist NE 0802 Voice of the Forest   Home