Davidson Creek flows at the bottom of a gorge in the Brevard
Fault Zone
in northeast Georgia. The Northwest side of the gorge is
dissected by
several small branches and supports primarily dry oak forest.
The steeper
southeast side, which is still largely soil covered, is cloaked
in eastern
hemlock and white pine. While most of the gorge appears fairly
acidic,
small areas of marble substrate give rise to the small,
circumneutral
stream flats. Consequently, the area supports high tree species
diversity; In slightly less than two miles of the stream that
varied from
just over 800' elevation to a little over 1000' elevation, I saw
47 tree
species. Unfortunately, no old forest remains on the lower
slopes. The
forest in the lower, more acidic section may be 60 to 70 years
old, and 50
years is probably about the maximum in the rich stream flats,
which
already support sycamore to around 110'. 15 year old sycamore
farther
down stream looked to be 40+ feet tall.
Species
Cbh Height Comment
Hemlock, Eastern NA
109.8' Representative of area
Hickory, Mockernut 7'6"
134.3' Tallest known in GA?
Hornbeam, American 3'8"
49.9'
Oak, White
11'4" 130+
Tallest known in GA?
Pine, Shortleaf
3'7" 115.4'
H:D 101:1
Pine, Shortleaf
4'4" 116.3'
Pine, White
NA 133.4' Representative of area
Redbud, Eastern 1'10"
~51.2'
Redbud, Eastern
2'1" 52.2'
Redcedar, Eastern 3'4"
61.8'
Walnut, White
NA ~79.6'
[ed note RI5
= 124.8]
The mockernut is growing in an area that does not appear very
rich, but
may be somewhat older than the trees in the surrounding area. I
have not
noticed any other trees of the species in north GA that approach
130'.
The white oak is a straight tree that was simply left when the
forest in
the area was cut. The shortleaf pines are representative a small
grove on
a tributary that was larger primary to pine bark beetle
infestation. The
white walnut was growing on the opposite side of the creek, but
had a
large, healthy crown.
Jess Riddle
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