| Greenville
Watershed. |
James
Smith |
| Feb
28, 2006 13:40 PST |
The Greenville Watershed is now open to the public. There are
still
apparently some restrictions, but soon there will be fewer. Jess
and
Will and Bob and the rest of you professionals should likely
look in to
heading in there to see what's there in the way of old growth or
champion trees. There has to be something in there of interest
considering how long it had been off limits and uncut. In
addition, I've
heard that there as some coves tucked away that may never have
been
leveled.
What have you heard? |
| Re:
Greenville Watershed. |
Jess
Riddle |
| Feb
28, 2006 17:59 PST |
James,
That's great news! I had not heard the area had been opened.
Thanks
for passing along the info!
Last year I tried to set up a project to study their hemlock
forests;
I struggled to get the watershed authorities to so much as
respond to
my e-mails. Ultimately, I was denied access to the property, but
never given a reason why.
The watershed property, especially the Table Rock Reservoir, has
great
potential as a significant old-growth and big tree site. An
adjacent
state park includes about 500 acres of old-growth, and I now of
one
other old-growth tract on the edge of the property. Looking into
the
property from adjacent mountain-tops, large rock outcrops and
cliffs
are visible that are almost certainly surrounded by old-growth.
I've
also seen high resolution aerial photographs of the property
that
clearly show old-growth hemlock dominated forest lining one of
the
larger streams. The property contains one of only two
occurrences of
yellowwood that I know of in SC; the other site is Wadakoe
mountain
which has a 144' Rucker Index.
Where did you hear this information? I'd like to read all the
details
and begin setting up a trip to the watershed.
Jess
|
| RE:
Greenville Watershed. |
Robert
Leverett |
| Mar
01, 2006 04:19 PST |
James.
That's exciting. Thanks for the heads up.
Given what Jess has
confirmed in northwestern S.C., we could be in for some real
treats. As
it now stands, S.C. has two sites/regions with Rucker indices of
150+.
So far only the GSMNP supports indices at or above 150. So in
the big
tree contest, S.C. takes a back seat to no place.
Bob
|
| RE:
Greenville Watershed. |
James
Smith |
| Mar
02, 2006 15:53 PST |
Jess.
Get in touch with the Palmetto Conservation Foundation. They
have a hike
planned into the watershed. Just now, I believe, you have to be
a member
of the Foundation to get in. Not sure. Talk to them and find
out.
They have a website: http://www.palmettoconservation.org/
I've been told by a member that soon the watershed will be open
to
general hiking. I don't know any details.
First time I noticed the Greenville Watershed was on a hike to
the
summits of Table Rock and Pinnacle Mountains. All of the forests
along
the trail to the north were posted "No Trespassing".
But the forests
that I could see were impressive down in the coves, and I dearly
wanted
to hike in and take a closer look. But being a native Georgian,
I know
not to set foot where land has been posted. |
| Greenville
Watershed update. |
James
Smith |
| Mar
05, 2006 14:52 PST |
Apparently the only opening for moving about in the Greenville
Watershed
is the proposed route of the Palmetto Trail. It will follow only
the
very northern boundary of the watershed. No other plans are
afoot to
allow access into the watershed. I talked to a fellow who was on
the
hike of the proposed route and it goes through unimpressive
forests and
even uses an existing roadbed for part of the route. No big
trees to be
seen there. Alas.
|
| Greenville
Watershed |
James
Smith |
| Dec
17, 2006 18:45 PST |
One of my friends hiked the Palmetto Trail section that now runs
through
the Greenville Watershed that was previously completely off
limits. He
told me that the trail section runs right along the edge of the
watershed and does not go through any old growth. In addition,
the City
of Greenville is still radical about anyone venturing into the
watershed. One is not even supposed to hike the trail alone, and
in no
way to venture OFF the marked trail. Jack even encountered AN
ARMED
GREENVILLE WATERSHED SECURITY OFFICER while hiking the trail.
Yes, they
are very, very serious about enforcing the no-trespassing rules
on the
vast watershed. So much for my idea of using the Palmetto Trail
to sneak
onto the watershed and look around for old stands. |
|