Rock Creek Park, D. C.   Will Blozan
  Jan 03, 2005 18:02 PST 
ENTS,



I was in MD and Washington DC last week and had one short day to tree hunt.
The ENTS database lists a tuliptree in Belt Woods (~159') as the tallest in
the state. I found one on Tuesday that was over 162' in the Rock Creek
National Park, WDC, just a few hundred yards from the MD border. From what I
saw while driving, this is just a taste of what the area has to offer. With
an ENTS representative in DC and MD, a Rucker of 135-140 is possible. I was
literally blown away by tall trees in the area. I will post a report soon,
but will send this out as a primer for some DC or MD data that may not be
out yet. I further suspect that the tallest trees in VA may be in the DC
area. So many tree sites, so little time!!!!!



Will
Re: Maryland/WDC tuliptrees   wad-@comcast.net
  Jan 04, 2005 04:43 PST 
Will, ENTS

I used to live in that area also. I can only imagine that there are many large trees along the Potomac river, especially in the Great Falls, Va area, where there are alot of save/park areas. Rock creek has a kudzu problem, or at least they did in the 90's. Did you see any of that while you were there? Out near Leesburg Va., along the Potomac, there were many giant Sycamore and persimmon. Happy hunting.
Rock Creek National Park, Washington, DC   Will Blozan
  Jan 10, 2005 18:02 PST 
ENTS et al,

Over the holidays I had a day to begin an exploration of Rock Creek National
Park while I was visiting family in Maryland. Being wholly unfamiliar with
the park, I chose to drive the extensive network of roads and thereby scout
areas to explore in more detail later. I will not get into details of the
park as it has a website dedicated to it that can be found with an online
search.

I was immediately overwhelmed with good sites for ENTS data collection, and
had to try very hard to concentrate on the traffic and not the trees. In the
surrounding communities I saw many HUGE specimens of trees both native and
exotic that could very well be state or district records. I finally just
picked a random spot to begin, since it all looked good. I must admit
however, that I was not at ease in this urban forest when debris from
muggings and other urban "activities" were everywhere. It was sad to see
such magnificent woodland marred by human indecency, but the trees have
prevailed and grown to respectable proportions. Another depressing sight was
the utter lack of ANY hummus or organic matter except for what had just
fallen. Essentially the soil was simply exposed dirt with a layer of dry
leaves a few leaves thick. I suspect European earthworms are to blame, and
the trees may be suffering from this as well as the gypsy moth.

Since the park is so large (~1600 acres) with another 2000+ acres in
adjacent Rock Creek Regional Park (MD) the possibilities for more fantastic
trees are a given. The initial Rucker Index for the park is without a doubt
FAR from a maximum (after all, it is far below Bob's hallowed Mohawk trail
;). I anticipate a RI of over 140' based on what I have seen. Stopping was
not only unlawful but often impossible given the national park status and DC
traffic. I bypassed many nice cottonwoods and sycamores that alone would
increase the Rucker Index by a few points.

Anyway, here are the numbers I obtained in a few hours.

Miscellaneous trees along the roads and parking areas:

Virginia pine                  5'7" x    98.1'     This species is SUPERB in the DC area. I have no doubt they reach and exceed 110'. Super gnarl!

Pitch pine                      6'11" x 106'      I do not have a good sense of this species in the area.

American beech             9'2" x    114'

                                    8'3" x    118.7'   130' is very possible.

Black gum                     6'9" x    113.8'   120' is likely, as the species is quite common and in good form.

Chestnut oak                 9'11" x 122.3'   No doubt well below it's height potential!

Black oak                      9'6" x   129'      Dry site!!! Just a hint of it's potential on a better site.

Tuliptree                        10'3" x 130.9'   Very dry site.

                                     10'6" x 135.7'   "           "

White ash                     10'2" x 126.3'   Dry site. 140'+ is a given on the right site. I bet 150' is possible.

Mockernut                     4'4" x   121.3'   Must reach 130' somewhere in the park.



The Melvin Hazen Nature Trail:



Bald cypress                 8'3" x    91.1'     Planted, super gnarly tree!

N. red oak (var. rubra)     9'8" x    132.7'

                        "           8'9" x   135.4'   140'+ is a given on the right site.

Pignut hickory               6'1" x   124.9'   Just the beginning. gotta' hit 140' somewhere.

Tuliptree                        13'6" x 157.8'

                                    9'3" x   162.5'   170' is not out of the question somewhere up there! This tree is tallest of a twin stem ~ 16' cbh.

American beech             6'4" x    111.2'

6'7" x   119.4'   Should be able to reach mid 120's if not 130' on the right site.

Chestnut oak                 7'1" x    121.7'

White oak                     8'7" x   125.9'   Many fine specimens to be found; 130'+ is a given.

Sycamore                     5'10" x 134.3'

                                    6'         136.7'   I know a 150' tree is possible at the latitude- just need more search time!

Rucker Index of 130.37 (no conifers)

In addition to the above trees I saw and roughed out green ash to near 120'
and white pine ~ 125'. I kept holding out for better pine and thus did not
spend the time on the "shorties". I should have though, in retrospect.

Here is my RI Index prediction for Rock Creek National AND Regional Park
based on Colby's finds in nearby Belt Woods and field observations of growth
potential:

Tuliptree                        170'

Sycamore                     150'+

White ash                     150'

Northern red oak            145'+

White oak                     140'+

Chestnut oak                 140'

Pignut hickory               140'

Black oak                      140'+

Cottonwood                   135'+

Mockernut                     130'+



Rucker Index = 144

Since I do not have enough lifetimes as it is to cover the Smokies, SOMEONE
needs to take over the DC area and confirm (or refute) my predictions!
Scott? Ed?

The DC area is a growing machine!



Will
Re: Rock Creek National Park, Washington, DC   Jess Riddle
  Jan 11, 2005 20:06 PST 

I am once again amazed! I believe Rock Creek NP is now only the fifth
site outside of the Smokies with a tuliptree confirmed over 160'. The
diversity on dry sites sounds excellent, and the black oak is particularly
impressive. How old are the forests in the park? To what do you
attribute the spectacular growth?

Jess
Rock Creek National Park, Washington, D. C.


http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16811

Rock Creek National Park is a forested valley running through the District of Columbia along the banks of Rock Creek. The national park connects with additional state park land outside of the district, providing a green corridor from near the heart of the city out into the northwestern suburbs. First explored as a location for a presidential mansion immediately after the Civil War, the land became a national park in 1890. It was one of the first of the national parks in the United States, and it is certainly one of the most easily accessible.

This Landsat 7 natural-color image of Rock Creek Park shows the deep green vertical stripe of the park in the image center, with thin extensions north into the Maryland suburbs and under the I-495 Beltway—the freeway that encircles Washington and its inner suburbs—and south through Georgetown to the Potomac River. Most of the national park portions of Rock Creek are in this southern area, including the Smithsonian National Zoo, Peirce Mill, and Old Stone House Visitor’s Center.

Other striking features in the imagery include major Washington D.C. landmarks, such as the Capitol, the National Mall, and the White House and the Ellipse behind it. The crisp “O” feature east of the Mall in the bottom right corner of the image is RFK Stadium. Although the suburbs of the city have hints of green from suburban landscaping, the character of the parklands is dramatically different from the surrounding land, and most especially from the dense grey of buildings and homes in the city’s center and running north along the park’s eastern boundary.

These data were collected by Landsat 7’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument on June 18, 2002. The image was created by combining data from the red, green, and blue channels (ETM+ bands 3, 2, and 1 respectively) to show a natural color view.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility.

 
rock creek   Darian Copiz
  Mar 15, 2005 06:38 PST 

ENTS,

Two weeks ago I measured two trees off of Rock Creek Park in Washington,
D.C., but didn't get around to posting their dimensions as they didn't
break any records for the area. The location is the last ravine feeding
into Rock Creek Park before it reaches the Potomac. The tuliptree was
in Montrose Park and the white oak was in Dumbarton Oaks Park which is
separate from Dumbarton Oaks, a nearby mansion and garden that is
accessible to the public. The two trees I measured were probably part
of the mansion's property at one time.

tuliptree 19' 2" x 124.0'
white oak 13' 1" x 111.6'

The tuliptree was at the top of the south edge of the west-east flowing
ravine. It was at the edge of the forested part and had characteristics
of an open grown tree. The height isn't remarkable, but the combination
of height and circumference adds up to a pretty respectable tree. I
found it to be impressive. The white oak was growing lower down on the
same side of the ravine in the woods in the middle of a slight swale
which was wetter than other parts of the slope. It also did not have
any singly significant measurement but was still a good sized tree.
These may help raise the Rucker Index of Fatness for Rock Creek. Is the
100, 200, or 300 index of maximum potetial system going to be used at
some point? I would love to see some tall trees cut down to size once
circumference is figured in too.

Three weeks ago I had briefly visited the Melvin-Hazen ravine which Bob
had reported on. I took a few measurements but didn't find the tallest
tuliptree/tallest top in the ravine.

Darian