National Lands Trust 
WAWA Preserve		   wad-@comcast.net
  Dec 14, 2005 17:37 PST 
ENTS

Today I visited several National champion trees to report to American forests for the new publication. ...


My day continued with a visit to a Natural Lands Trust property called the Wawa preserve. http://www.natlands.org/preserves/preserve.asp?fldPreserveId=60 Wawa is the native american name for the canadian goose. Wawaset is the area where the corporation Wawa has there headquarters. They operate the nicest convenience/gas stores in the area. Rocky Run Creek runs through the 77 acre property, surrounded by a mature forest of beech, red oak, sycamore, poplar, gum, and walnut. This forest and the tall-grass meadows that are also present on the preserve support deer, fox, small mammals and a variety of grassland and interior-nesting birds, while the stream provides important aquatic habitat. I did not find many species worth measuring. The larger trees grow on the steep banks of Rocky Run. The overstory consisted mainly of Tulip poplar with white ash, beech, hickory, and red oak mixed in very sparsely. The understory consisted of juveniles of the same species, with red maple, dogwood, and spicebush pitching in. The deer have browsed heavily in this area, and invasive plants have a secure foothold on the property. I did see a pair of great horned owls and several whitetail deer while measuring. Barring the 20 degree temps, I came up with the following list of trees.

Beech          107.2 x 11.4
Beech          110.1 x 12.1
Mockernut   109.5 x 6.3
Red oak       111.7 x 11.1
Red oak       114.5 x 12.9
White oak    101.7 x 11.5
White ash     109.1 x 9.0
White ash     108.9 x 10.4
Tulip             111.3 x 8.9
Tulip             132.3 x 12.4
Tulip             137.4 x 13.1
Tulip             97 x 10.5
Tulip             129 x 10.2
Tulip             137.4 x 12.6
Tulip             134.1 x 10.9
Tulip             120.6 x 10.5
Tulip             132.0 x 12.4
Tulip             117.2 x 12.2

rucker index for six species is 113.7'

This patch of forest was not very diverse. I saw no black walnut, sour gum, or other hickories as mentioned on the website. There was only one Mockernut that I could find to measure. There were alot of tiny hickories coming up, so someone must have removed the larger hardwoods at some point. Tulip poplar dominated the woods with about 70-80% of the trees being this species. It was nice to be in the woods in the cold with a full moon overhead. A great day off from work.

Scott
Wawa preserve/rocky run revisited   wad-@comcast.net
  Feb 05, 2006 14:08 PST 
ENTS

Today I returned to the wawa preserve, but I think I called it Rocky Run last time. Rocky run is the name of the creek, whereas Wawa is the name that the Natural Lands trust has given it. For those of you interested in native American things, Wawa is the name of the goose in the Lenni Lenape language. There is a convenience store chain around here called Wawa, with their headquarters in Wawaset, Pa.

wawa_black_birch.jpg (156843 bytes) Black Birch

I returned to see if I could find enough species for a full rucker. In my previous visit I was able to find six species with a rucker of 113.7. Today I found three more species, but the elusive tenth could not be found. I found the following today:

Black birch            102.6x8.5
Pecan hickory    114x5.6   (I believe this is the correct species, if it is it is a state champ)
red maple                93x4.7
mockernut hickory 115.9x10 new PA state champion! 248 points
mockernut hickory 113.1x9.1
red oak                   106.4x8

I was hoping to find a black cherry or a sycamore in there somewhere, but to no avail.

carya_tomentosa.jpg (155980 bytes) The new champion mockernut hickory

This brings the rucker to 110.9 for nine species. I will go back and look for a tenth, and I think I may be able to find taller white and red oaks in there.

Scott
RE: wawa preserve/rocky run revisited   wad-@comcast.net
  Feb 06, 2006 14:34 PST 
ENTS, Bob, Dale (full rucker for wawa)

I was annoyed that I couldn't find another species, so I went back again today. Apparently "I couldn't see the trees for the forest" Today I found:

Bitternut hickory 99.5 x 6.7
Bitternut hickory 104.7 x 7.7
Shagbark hickory 101.7 x 5.7

the hickory that I thought was a pecan, isn't. I am kinda stumped on this one. The bark looked like mockernut, but the nut looks more like a pecan. I visited some real pecans today too, and the nuts are very different. The nuts ae the same length as the pecan, but more pointed on both ends. The husk is thin. I am 99% sure it is a Bitternut like the others I found, but the nut is throwing me off.

Using the same set of trees and adding the tenth, Shagbark hickory, the rucker comes to 110.0 even. I will now make a reort for the Natural lands trust on what I found there as that was our deal!

Scott