ENTS,

This morning I made a trip to measure some trees at the Sand Hills State Forest. SHSF is a 46,000 acre area in Chesterfield and Darlington counties in South Carolina. The habitat consists of rolling sand hills with longleaf pine of various ages as well as swamps and streams. The first place that I went was Sugarloaf Mountain. It rises to over a hundred feet tall over the surrounding area and is covered in longleaf pine, virginia pine, and mountain laurel. In 2007, the area had a record drought followed by pine beetles. Some of the longleaf pines had been killed by this and were cut out of the trails. One stump  10" in diameter had around 100-110 rings.

View from top of Sugarloaf Mountain

Next, I followed a trail that went through a forest dominated by southern red oak and loblolly pine. This area had the understory removed a few years ago as well as a controlled burn.

Southern Red Oak
84.9'
94.2'
111'

Mockernut Hickory
102.6'

Loblolly Pine
105.9'
108.9
111'
123' dead from lightning strike

Shortleaf Pine
114'

Sweetgum
109.8'

Diameters ranged from 1 to 2 1/2'. There are several more trees to measure as well.

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Colony

On the way out I stopped by a grove of longleaf pine with red-cockaded woodpecker cavities in them. I saw one bird leave but could not get a picture of it. These birds seem to be making a comeback in the southeast. I measured one of the nest trees and got 64.8', the nest measured 18' above the ground.

Tyler