Skiffley Creek and Dry Branch   Jess Riddle   Nov 18, 2006 19:31 PST  Ents, Skiffley Creek, Dry Branch, Groundhog Creek, Rube Rock Branch, and Tom Hall Branch all radiate out from Big Bend in the Pigeon River Gorge. The gorge lies in North Carolina just east of Great Smokies Mountain National Park, and the mouth of Skiffley Creek is less than five miles from the mouth of Baxter Creek and its fantastic forests. Skiffley Creek was identified as an exceptional high basal area site by W. W. Ashe during his extensive surveys of the eastern forests during the early 1900's. More recently, Josh Kelly visited the stream, and found that while the original forest had been cut during the intervening decades, the second growth still reflected the site's original high productivity. The steep, rhododendron covered slopes and low ridges of lower Skiffley Creek made a much less promising introduction to the stream itself. However, a short distance upstream, the ridge to the west enlarges and provides more shelter and the slopes moderate. On that slope, the rhododendron gives way to striped maples and small hemlocks in the understory, and tuliptree takes over the canopy with scattered northern red oaks, white oaks, pignut hickory, and a few white pines on the lower slopes. Above that section, the slopes steepen and rhododendron again takes over the understory, but tuliptrees still dominant. That steep section abruptly gives way to broad flats well watered by multiple forks of Skiffley Creek. Looking at maps beforehand, that area appeared the most promising for exceptional forests, but rock cairns at the site clearly identified the area as an old farm. The tuliptrees growing on the old fields were consistently slender, but scattered white pine still reached 11'+ cbh and 140'+ tall. The still productive areas of the watershed apparently lie farther upstream. Only a low ridge separates the farmed flats from a moderately steep, southeast facing cove that leads down to Dry Branch. Chestnut oak and other oaks form most of the overstory in the upper part of the cove, and white pines are invading sections of the understory not already dominated by mountain laurel. However, one small umbrella magnolia, more typically seen on moist acidic sites, also survives in the understory. Farther down, the cove becomes moister with tuliptrees assuming dominance and scattered northern red oaks and ash* also present in the canopy, and striped maple and dogwood in the understory. The mouth of the cove, 600' below the top, appears more acidic with a hemlock canopy. Species                       Cbh     Height    Stream Ash, Biltmore               5'11"   138.7'     Dry Branch Ash, Biltmore                6'10"   143.4'     Dry Branch Ash, Biltmore                7'9"     147.2'     Dry Branch Ash, Biltmore                6'3"     150.7'     Dry Branch Basswood, White      6'4.5" 135.2'     Skiffley Creek Birch, Black              4'0"     113.9'     Dry Branch Hickory, Mockernut 5'10"   120.2'     Skiffley Creek Hickory, Mockernut 5'2"     127.2'     Dry Branch Hickory, Mockernut 5'9"     129.7'     Dry Branch Hickory, Pignut        5'3.5"   140.9'     Dry Branch Oak, Chestnut          10'7"    125.9'     Skiffley Creek Oak, Northern Red   13.4"    126.6'     Skiffley Creek Oak, Saul's                8'10"   136.2'     Dry Branch Oak, White                9'0.5" 126.0'     Skiffley Creek Oak, White                7'8"     128.6'     Skiffley Creek Oak, White                8'6"     128.9'     Dry Branch Oak, White                7'3"     134.8'     Dry Branch Pine, Eastern White   9'8"     151.6'     Skiffley Creek Pine, Eastern White   7'10"   158.3'     Dry Branch Tuliptree                    9'0"     155.6'     Dry Branch Tuliptree                    NA      156.9'     Dry Branch Tuliptree                    6'10"   164.1'     Dry Branch *The ashes are the same species that has previously been called green ash at Wadakoe Mountain, lower Big Creek in the Smokies, and elsewhere. Fruit characteristics clearly key them to white ash, but twig characteristics, the other feature commonly used for separating green and white ash, do not match white ash. They also differ markedly in appearance from the white ash that grow near them at Big Creek. Their features could, and may, be an entire separate post. The 150.7' is the second tallest for ash with these characteristics. The 129.7' mockernut hickory is the second tallest confirmed in NC. The saul's oak, a fairly common hybrid between white and chestnut, is the tallest known. The tuliptrees all appear young and many are still rapidly growing upward. The tall hardwoods and close proximity make comparisons between the Dry Branch cove and lower Big Creek natural, but the forests bare little resemblance beyond basic structure. Both areas have abundant tuliptrees, but the typical mixed mesophytic species that play a major role at Big Creek, basswood, silverbell, sugar maple, and buckeye at Dry Branch are scarce, only in the understory, absent, and absent respectively. Instead, Dry Branch has scattered hickories and white oak. Much of that compositional difference may result from Dry Branch being dryer and warmer even though it is slightly higher (up to 2500' elevation). The Dry Branch site lacks large surrounding mountains, so no cool air drains through the site. Conversely, cool air could drain down to Big Creek from over 5000' from multiple directions. The steep slopes of Mount Sterling to the south also shade all of lower Big Creek. The cove on Dry Branch faces southeast with only a low, gentle ridge on the opposite side of Dry Branch, and hence receives much more solar radiation. Those features give the Dry Branch Cove much more in common with tall tree sites in South Carolina. They lack the striped maple in the understory, but also have hickories and the same variety of ash as major canopy components. The SC sites may also high higher soil pH since they include scattered black walnuts, and white pine grows poorly in them. Jess Riddle Re: Skiffley Creek and Dry Branch   Jess Riddle   Nov 21, 2006 09:53 PST  Ents, The ash of uncertain species on Dry Branch turned out to be a named variety of white ash, Biltmore ash (Fraxinus americana var. biltmoreana). Trees referred to as green ash in previous posts about Big Creek NC, Savage Gulf TN, Fall Creek Falls SP TN, Panther Creek GA, Tamassee Knob SC, Station Cove SC, and Wadakoe Mountain SC are also biltmore ash. Jess Re: Skiffley Creek and Dry Branch   Joshua Kelly   Nov 21, 2006 14:00 PST  Nice work Jess (yeah, I know, more like play!), Your recent outing to Skiffley Creek has put up another site in the Bald Mountains with a 140+ Rucker index. The Bald Mountains are broadly defined as the mountain range(s) along the NC-TN border between the Pigeon and Nolichucky River Gorges, with a natural division into northern and southern ranges at the French Broad River. As in other areas of the Southern Blue Ridge, complex geology is the rule: the Hot Springs Window, areas of Granitic Rock (Max Patch and Cranberry) and the Medisedimentary Ridges around Rich Mountain and Camp Creek Bald are all quite unique. With only 3 sites even prospected so far (Shelton Laurel as one site), the potential productivity of this area is promising! Below is a complete Rucker Index of the Bald Mountains, with the site of each tree and the person who measured it listed. MD- Michael Davie JK- Josh Kelly JR- Jess Riddle 1) Tulip Poplar 164.1' Dry Branch JR 2) White Pine 158.3' Dry Branch JR 3) Hemlock 153' Spring Creek Gorge JR 4) Biltmore Ash 150.7' Dry Branch JR 5) N. Red Oak 143.3' Green Ridge MD 6) Buckeye 142.9' Green Ridge JK 7) Pignut Hickory 140.9' Skiffley Creek JR 8) White Basswood 138' Dry Creek MD 9) Black Cherry 137.9' Black Cherry MD 10) Sycamore 137.5' Big Creek MD RI - 146.6   Home