Anders Run Natural Area   NR, Cook Forest   Oct 23, 2002 17:35 PDT  Bob, Will, Colby, et. al, Finally took the opportunity to make a run up to Anders Run Natural Area near Warren, PA yesterday to see if it was worth a special trip with the spring ENTS event on 4/26-27/03. Had a couple of nice trees, a number of personal records and some new height records for PA. The PA height record list is always changing as we get new data, but it's nice to see how things have progressed since I really started getting serious about documenting PA's old growth forests since last fall. This site is located about 1 mile from Irvine, PA virtually adjacent to the Allegheny National Forest. This natural area is actually state forest land that has been "managed". I'd estimate that there is no more than 5-10 acres of old growth in this 35-50 acre natural area. Recent logging borders the old growth site and it looks as if many of the largest pines were removed due to "thinning" years ago. I say this because there is one massive pine at the top of the steep hillslope that towered 163.8ft (which I've dubbed 'The General Irvine Pine' - local general during the Revolutionary War who had a plantation nearby) above Ander's Run. I wasn't able to get any of the pine in the valley to go over 157.3ft. Ander's Run empties into the Allegheny River about 1 mile from this site. Substrate is mostly sandstone and conglomerate with some shale. The 163.8ft pine was a tough one to measure. The only good vantage point of the top I could get placed the base out of view below the bank, so I had to use multiple plane sin triangles to get to a point where I could see the base. This tree isn't only tall, it's massive. This is the second fattest pine that I've ever found with a CBH of 12.9ft! So there you go, Bob, another pine in the '150 x 12.0' club! I also found a new American basswood , shagbark hickory, and black gum state height record. I should be able to beat the shagbark and black gum, but I believe the basswood record will stand for awhile. The basswood was adjacent to the stream so it had plenty of water and shelter from the adjacent hillside. Bob, do you remember that fat pine or the basswood on your last trip there? The pines in the valley didn't really have the knarled tops that Cook Forest has. There were one or two exceptions, especially the 157.3 and 163.8 pines. There was really only one hemlock that had some of Will's "knarl factor". All measurements were taken on 10/22/02 in Warren County, PA using laser-clinometer measurements. The days tally as follows: Specie CBH Height Description E. white pine 12.9 163.8 General Irvine Pine E. white pine 11.2 157.3 E. white pine 7.7 153.8 E. white pine 11.9 151.2 E. white pine 12.1 148.4 E. white pine 9.9 147.9 E. white pine 7.6 146.1 E. white pine 11.3 143 E. white pine 9.7 142.9 E. white pine 12.6 142.3 E. white pine 11.0 142.3 Burl Queen (a bigger burl pine at Cook - Burl King at 11.1 x 158.5) E. white pine 10.9 138.6 E. white pine 11.7 137.9 E. white pine 9.6 134.7 E. white pine 10.0 133 E. white pine 9.1 132.1 white oak 6.9 105.7 white oak 7.2 100.4 N. red oak 5.8 104.8 black oak 4.7 99.1+ shagbark hickory 5.3 111 new PA height record shagbark hickory 4.0 100.7 red maple 4.4 116 red maple 5.4 111.7 red maple 107.8 red maple 5.3 103.8 Am basswood 8.1 120.7 new PA height record Am basswood 6.3 110.3 E. hemlock 7.5 125.4 E. hemlock 10.7 119.1 E. hemlock 116.1 white ash 7.2 116.9 white ash 4.0 111.6 white ash 4.3 101.3 black cherry 6.6 121.8 black birch 5.9 99.1+ yellow birch 3.4 88.8 Am beech 4.3 100.4+ Am beech 4.7 95.8 black gum 5.5 97.7 new PA height record In all that's 10 species over 100ft and 4 species over 120ft giving a Rucker Index of 118.65... not bad for a day's work. (I'm sorry Will, I was plain tuckered out the second day on our trip to Big Creek.) The pines alone average about 144.7ft. There are still a couple that I haven't measured but don't think any more will go over 150. I figure we could find a beech in there close to 110, maybe close to a 130ft on the hemlock and just over 100 for black birch and black oak with a top Rucker Index close to 120.1.   Dale NW PA old growth site comparisons   NR, Cook Forest   Nov 01, 2002 13:17 PST  Ander's Run Natural Area (10/22/02 Warren County) Ander's Run is located about 10 minutes from Warren in Irvine, PA. Ander's Run is a small stream valley with a steep east facing slope. A dirt road runs directly through the middle of it with almost all old growth on the west side. The natural area encompasses more than 20 acres. Actual old growth in this area may constitute 5-10 acres max. This area is maintained by the Bureau of Forestry who has managed this stand in the past. It is now home to two PA tree height records which include American basswood at 120.7ft and shagbark hickory at 111ft. It has a number of nice white pine (3 in the 150ft class, many in the 130-149ft class), some of which have been aged to 220+ years old, and sports one pine at 163.8ft x 12.9ft! Bob, there's another one for your 150x12 club! I noted 13 tree species with 4 over 120ft and 10, possibly 11 if we include black birch, to over 100ft with a Rucker Index of 118.65. I was able to saturate this area for white pine. There may be a taller hemlock, black cherry, or American beech available without having to go into the 2nd growth to find a taller tree. A previous e-mail listed the finds of the day. Definitely a nice trip if one has the time for a day hike excursion. Ander's Run white pine   NR, Cook Forest   Apr 17, 2003 10:42 PDT  Bob, Stopped for a quick excursion at Ander's Run Natural Area yesterday also. Measured a couple of decent white pines by the main parking area that I hadn't had time to measure on my last trip through the area. One tree in particular made my heart do a little skip... Specie CBH Height Coord WP 9.8 144.9 WP 8.6 145.6 WP 11.1 158.1 41 49.547N x 79 16.628W Here's what I've come up with so far for white pine at Ander's Run: Height Class # trees 110 1 120 1 130 6 140 9 150 4 160 1 Remember also that Ander's Run has the 2nd tallest tree that we've found outside of Cook Forest in the state. It's a monster white pine at 12.9ft CBH x 163.8ft high. Also did some 60mph white pine cruising on my way back to Cook Forest along the Allegheny River... there may be a surprise or two in store along the ravines and valleys into the river system... so little time, so many trees... Dale   Home