The Turkey Creek Trail parallels portions of Stevens, Turkey and
Wine
Creeks while traversing floodplains, the top of bluffs, and
adjacent
uplands. Stevens and Turkey Creeks are large, generally greater
than 50'
across, slow moving streams typical of the lower piedmont of
South
Carolina, and Wine Creek is a smaller tributary. At 230'
elevation at
their confluence, the stream has only 40' to lose but several
miles to
meander before reaching the Savannah River just above the
Fall-line.
The forests along the Stevens Creek and Turkey Creek can be
partitioned
into three zones: upland forest, slope forest, and floodplain
forest.
Pure stands of loblolly pine cover the uplands as either mature
stands or
clear-cuts less than 20 years old. A variety of hardwoods, many
of which
dominate on the adjacent slopes, grow in the understory, and may
eventually succeed the pines. Separating that forest from the
floodplains, the slopes support a forest with a much less clear
pattern of
dominance. While loblolly and shortleaf pine dominate some
areas, a mix
of hardwoods including white oak, southern red oak, and
mockernut hickory
shade most of the slopes. Hophornbean occupies
the greatest proportion
of the midstory, but sourwood and dogwood are also common. In
the
floodplain, loblolly pine dominate isolated pockets, but again
most of the
forest is quite mixed. Common overstory species in that area
include
bitternut hickory (on Stevens Creek), cherrybark oak (on Turkey
Creek),
shumard oak, sugarberry, tuliptree, and sycamore. Under them,
hornbeam,
florida maple, and boxelder competed. Chinese privet has taken
over parts
of the understory, but other areas range from open to rivercane
thickets
with occasional pockets of paw paw and spicebush. Blooming trout
lilies
lined some portions of the trail in abundance, and squirrel corn
may be
the next spring ephemeral to liven the forest floor. Christmas
fern and
some species of purple flowered violet also claimed spaces at
the edge of
the floodplain. On both the slopes and the floodplain, most
canopy trees
appear to be a little under 100 years old, but trail cuts reveal
some of
the larger oaks to be in the 100 to 125 year range.
Several species at the site grow at the edge of their natural
ranges.
These species ranged from typically mountain denizens like
northern red
oak to classically coastal species such as baldcypress. Black
walnut,
chinquapin oak, cucumbertree, and mountain laurel. The cypress
had
relatively domed crowns that only hinted at craggy, flat tops
the species
often obtains with age, but many individuals already exceed
three feet
dbh. Access to much better drained and richer soils than the
species
typically grows in may account for rapid radial growth, or the
trees may
could be somewhat older than the adjacent bottomland hardwoods.
Most of
the cypress taper quickly along the lower trunk, but no massive
flairs
distort circumferences. Similarly, the root flairs on most of
the
bottomland hardwoods do not extend up the trunk over 4.5'. Most
of those
species often reach around 120' tall at the site.
All of the trees listed below grow along Turkey Creek except for
the
eastern redcedar and the two larger diameter shortleaf pines.
|
Cbh
|
Height
|
Species
|
|
7'0"
|
106.3'
|
Ash,
Green
|
|
16'1"
|
~110'
|
Baldcypress
|
|
NA
|
115.1'
|
Baldcypress
|
|
NA
|
117.6'
|
Baldcypress
|
|
NA
|
93.7'
|
Beech,
American
|
|
3'10.5"
|
71.2'
|
Boxelder
|
|
11'7"
|
136.0'
|
Cottonwood,
Eastern
|
|
5'5"
|
~67'
|
Eastern
Red Cedar
|
|
7'7"
|
121.1'
|
Hickory,
Bitternut
|
|
7'6"
|
~119'
|
Hickory,
Shagbark
|
|
14'11"
|
~119'
|
Oak,
Cherrybark
|
|
6'5.5"
|
129.3'
|
Oak,
Cherrybark
|
|
9'4.5"
|
134.7'
|
Oak,
Cherrybark
|
|
5'4"
|
79.5'
|
Oak,
Chinquapin
|
|
5'11.5"
|
~88'
|
Oak,
Chinquapin
|
|
9'11"
|
105.9'
|
Oak,
Northern Red
|
|
9'4"
|
118.2'
|
Oak,
Overcup
|
|
4'3.5"
|
~89'
|
Oak,
Post
|
|
4'9.5"
|
~89'
|
Oak,
Post
|
|
5'1"
|
97.3'
|
Oak,
Post
|
|
9'10"
|
114.7'+
|
Oak,
Shumard
|
|
10'4"
|
133.7'
|
Oak,
Shumard
|
|
9'9"
|
114.6'
|
Oak,
Water
|
|
8'7"
|
~111'
|
Oak,
White
|
|
8'4"
|
119.5'
|
Oak,
Willow
|
|
9'2"
|
118.1'+
|
Pine,
Loblolly
|
|
NA
|
~123.1
|
Pine,
Loblolly
|
|
6'5"
|
130.2'
|
Pine,
Loblolly
|
|
6'11"
|
130.4'
|
Pine,
Loblolly
|
|
6'5"
|
131.0'
|
Pine,
Loblolly
|
|
7'7"
|
131.9'
|
Pine,
Loblolly
|
|
NA
|
~110.5'
|
Pine,
Shortleaf
|
|
8'2"
|
~113'
|
Pine,
Shortleaf
|
|
7'6.5"
|
120.4'+
|
Pine,
Shortleaf
|
|
7'10.5"
|
123.9'
|
Pine,
Shortleaf
|
|
9'2"
|
109.2'
|
Sugarberry
|
|
NA
|
113.6'+
|
Sweetgum
|
|
7'1"
|
132.9'
|
Sweetgum
|
|
NA
|
126.6'
|
Sycamore
|
|
12'5"
|
130.8'
|
Sycamore
|
|
12'5"
|
130.6'
|
Tuliptree
|
|
9'7"
|
136.1'
|
Tuliptree
|
|
6'2"
|
106.0'
|
Walnut,
Black
|
RI 129.42
|
Turkey
Creek
|
|
|
Species/Subsite
|
Entire
Site
|
|
Tuliptree
|
136.1
|
|
Eastern
Cottonwood
|
136
|
|
Cherrybark
Oak
|
134.7
|
|
Shumard
Oak
|
133.7
|
|
Sweetgum
|
132.9
|
|
Loblolly
Pine
|
131.9
|
|
Sycamore
|
130.8
|
|
Shorleaf
Pine
|
120.4
|
|
Willow
Oak
|
119.5
|
|
Overcup
Oak
|
118.2
|
|
Rucker
Index
|
129.42
|
The
Cottonwood slightly exceeds the tallest previously reported by
ENTS.
However, one of those was measured two years ago, and has
probably either
started dying back or passed 136' by now. Unfortunately,
cottonwoods are
scarce along this section of Turkey Creek. The post oak is the
third
confirmed at over 95' in SC, but none have been found that reach
100'.
The listed willow oak is the only individual of that species
seen all day.
Loblolly pine almost certain reaches 135' at the site, and
individuals
around 9' cbh are common. Adjacent sugarberries appeared
slightly larger
in diameter and comparable in height to the measured individual.
Other
sweetgums did not appear to approach the height of the sweetgum
listed
above. The abundance of the species in the area may be limited
by
beavers. The area was by know means exhaustively searched. In
fact, the
forest along four miles of trail, mostly along Wine Creek, were
not even
viewed. Also, the 350 acre, mostly upland but located downstream
of the
confluence with Turkey Creek, Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve
apparently
includes much older trees.
Jess Riddle
|