| Lake
Erie Community Park |
Linda
Luthringer |
| Jan
24, 2004 10:04 PST |
Bob,
Tom,
As my ankle heals I'm starting to get more adventurous, although
I'm not ready to venture into the bottom of steep ravines to get
CBH measurements. On 1/17/04 I was able to get a few quick
measurements in an un-named steep ravined tributary into Lake
Erie. The site is Lake Erie Community Park located along Lake
Erie at the extreme west boundary of Lake City, PA.
There are a few old sugar maples, Am. beech, and N. red oak
remnants in this small maturing hardwood forest. The largest N.
reds will certainly go over 12ft CBH, but they will most likely
not break 90ft. The largest N. reds were left on the escarpment
and are poor lumber quality, which is probably why they were
left. It's probably the same reason for the large sugars being
left also.
I was impressed with the heights of the sugar maples and
tuliptrees with my earlier trip to this area just before I broke
my ankle (I didn't bring my laser-shame on me). I was able to
get a few heights on a couple of trees though last week. Here
are some preliminary results:
Species CBH Height Comments
Am. beech N/A 99.4+
sugar maple N/A 119.7 one
of the taller ones I've come across so far in PA, CBH definitely
over 10ft
tuliptree N/A 127.8+ probably
over 130
tuliptree N/A 128.3+ probably
over 130
tuliptree N/A 138.9+ probably
over 140
I'm anxious to get some CBH measurements for the large sugars in
there. There are some remnant large N. reds and sugars in
selected areas along the Lake Erie coastline terraces. I just
haven't been able to find a forest that hasn't been logged of
them yet. I'm hoping the Coho Property (Eagle's Nest) just west
of this site still has some surprises.
Dale |
| Re:
Lake Erie Community Park |
dbhg-@comcast.net |
| Jan
25, 2004 02:58 PST |
Dale:
Congratulations. It sounds like your ankle is
doing well and you've found fertile hunting ground for several
species. It is apparent that the terrain adjacent to the Great
Lakes is good tall tree territory. I wonder how many nooks and
crannies hide isolated big trees and at least small clumps of
exceptionally tall trees?
I doubt that I'll get back into the field
before late March to resume tree measuring work, but my thoughts
will be with those of you who are braving the cold and even
limping on fractured ankles. All weekends in February will be
devoted to special programs for my wife. Then early March will
be devoted to the next Forest conference, so this year will be a
late one for a return to the forest.
Bob |
| Lake
Erie Community Park update |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Mar
04, 2004 06:36 PST |
Bob,
Colby, Tom,
I had about an hour of free time yesterday, so I thought I'd
take my
'Russel', appropriately named 'Bug', and spent it checking out
another
Lake Erie ravine site in Erie County, PA called 'Lake Erie
Community
Park'. I finally got some decent readings on one of the tall
tulips and
one ancient sugar maple. There are some large CBH N. red oaks
and
sugars on the escarpment, but their heights are not significant.
There
is still a lot of work to do at this site, so I bypassed most of
the
escarpment trees. One such N. red oak went to 13.9ft CBH x
86.2ft high.
The main ravine drops about 110ft from the escarpment. The
ravine is
very steep in parts, but not cliff-like. There are some old Am.
beech
(200+), sugar maple (175+), and N. red oak (150+) in here. I
believe
the older tuliptrees in are probably approaching 120-150 years.
Some of
these tulips are starting to get some decent spooning bark
characters,
along with balding about 3' up from its base. I'm not sure what
else
I'll find as I continue to work upstream on future trips. The
stream is
composed mostly of shale with silty edges. There is recent
evidence of
small mudslides on small tributaries into the main ravine. This
is the
first site that I've found horsetails growing in abundance on
lower silt
flats. What kind of site indicator does horsetail suggest?
Sadly, the hill top near the picnic tables of this community
park has a
decent amount of garbage, ATV trails, and recent logging, but
the main
ravine has been left relatively untouched since the logging boom
went
through here in the mid 1800's. The main detractor for me though
were
the tics. This site is loaded with them. I must have pulled
about 8-10
off me from various and sundry places (none of them were
successful in
finding "the prize"), and another half dozen off 'The
Bug'. Bug didn't
seem to mind though. She was too enthralled about getting me to
play
the stick game.
The days tally as follows:
Species CBH Height Comments
Am. beech 9.5 101.7
Am. beech 10.7 103.5 gorgeous
beech, nice columnar trunk
E. hemlock N/A 79.6
E. hemlock N/A 82.9
N. red oak 13.9 86.2 escarpment
Sugar maple 11.7 122.3 2nd
tallest I've found so far in PA,
largest forest grown single stem I've found also
42
1.689N x 80 21.342W
Tuliptree 10.1 105.5
Tuliptree 8.9 120.9
Tuliptree 8.4 129.1
Tuliptree 7.6 129.8
Tuliptree 8.7 131.6
Tuliptree 8.1 140.4 I
thought this tree would go to
140. I had 138+ on a previous trip.
There are some other nice trees in here. I suspect hemlock will
go to
100' farther upstream. There are some more old sugars too, but I
don't
think they'll beat the height of the one above. Same with tulip.
140ft
is probably the max, 145 would be a big surprise. I just don't
think
this ravine is deep enough to get much more than that. Sure
would be
nice to find a cucumber or elm in here.
Dale
|
| Lake
Erie Community Park update |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Mar
22, 2004 13:27 PST |
Bob,
Will, Colby,
I recently worked off some of my ‘Forest Summit
Cancellation’
frustration by further cataloguing the forests of the
Pennsylvania Lake
Erie gorge systems. I spent a good bit of time scouring the
ridges and
drainage of Lake Erie Community Park. As described before, this
ravine
system has very steep valley walls with mostly silt/shale
substrate.
There are a number of scattered trees of age at this site. I
think the
most impressive species in terms of age would be the sugar maple
which
are located on the Lake Erie Escarpment and on steep fingers
located
farther back in the drainage. I would bet that these trees were
left in
place during the 1800’s logging era due to their poor form,
even back
then. The escarpment sugars are especially gnarly. Their twisted
tops
and root systems, burl ridden trunks, balding bark, and stunted
stature
are excellent evidence of advanced age. Sugars in the 225+ range
are
probably an understatement here. There are a number of Am. beech
that
will go 200+, with a select few E. hemlocks that I may go even a
bit
higher. N. red oak even made a nice show to probably 175-200
also. The
oldest tuliptrees are probably approaching 100-125, possibly
150,
depending on when the logging occurred, with balding that’ll
reach about
1-3ft up the trunk from its base. Am. chestnut stumps are
evident. I
suspect small portions of this area might be categorized as
secondary
old growth by certain ENTS members, but I’m so spoiled at Cook
that if
it’s not pristine, I have a hard time calling it old growth.
It is the best example of intact old trees that I’ve been able
to
observe along the Lake Erie Escarpment. I was able to come up
with a
new personal single stem sugar maple CBH record, and an
absolutely drop
dead gorgeous N. red oak. The new PA Am. beech height champ
though, was
just icing on the cake. Most of the day was spent being
serenaded by a
mob of 30+ crows on two great horned owls, and wading through
waist deep
leeward escarpment snowdrifts. Bob, tack on two more trees for
our
12x100 list…
The day’s tally as follows:
Species CBH Height
Comments
Coordinates
Am. beech N/A 106.9
Am. beech 8.6 107.9
Am. beech N/A 110
Am. beech N/A 110.4
Am. beech 10.3 125.8 new
PA height record
42 1.670N x 80 21.273W
Black cherry 6.7 97.1
Black cherry 5.4 106.6
Cucumbertree 2.5 74.9
E. hemlock N/A 104.1
E. hemlock N/A 105.3
E. hemlock 7.6 107.5
E. hemlock N/A 111
E. hemlock 8.4 122.3
E. hophornbeam 2.1 63.1+
N. red oak 12.1 98.4+ couldn’t
quite confirm
to 100ft 42
1.705N x 80 21.251W
N. red oak N/A 101.6
N. red oak 14.9 115.9 gorgeous
red oak,
1/2way up leeward slope 42 1.696N x 80 21.113W
N. red oak 7.7 116.3
Red maple 8.6 105.1+
Sugar maple 10 84.4 escarpment
tree, very
old
Sugar maple 12 90 escarpment
tree, very
old
Sugar maple N/A 99.1
Sugar maple N/A 107.9
Sugar maple 13.4 109.1+
personal largest single
stem find 42
1.687N x 80 21.340W
Tuliptree 7.1 128
White ash 10.4 84.1+ escarpment
tree
White ash N/A 112
White ash 7.8 121.1
White oak 5.2 89.8 only
one found at
this site, upper part of drainage
Yellow birch 3.2 72.1+
Yellow birch 4.8 83.4
Yellow birch 5.2 86
The current Rucker Index for Lake Erie Community Park as
follows:
Species CBH Height
Comments Rucker
Index
Tuliptree 8.1 140.4
113.57
Am. beech 10.3 125.8 PA
height record
Sugar maple 11.7 122.3
E. hemlock 8.4 122.3
White ash 7.8 121.1
N. red oak 7.7 116.3
Black cherry 5.4 106.6
Red maple 8.6 105.1+
White oak 5.2 89.8
Yellow birch 5.2 86
This site easily tops the nearly adjacent Coho Property (RI =
109.59),
soon to be ‘Presque Isle State Park West’, in terms of tree
height.
This ravine is also about 50ft deeper than Coho and much smaller
in
size. I found evidence of an old 1800’s bracket dam/lumber
mill about ½
mile upstream from its confluence into Lake Erie. The stream is
not
considerable in size, maybe 10-20ft wide by 0.5-1ft deep with
mostly a
silty substrate. Horsetails abound in certain areas. This site
should
be nice for wildflowers come spring.
Dale
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