| UAM
campus trees |
Don
Bragg |
| Mar
03, 2005 17:36 PST |
This is my first "official" ENTS tree report, now that
I have
our Impulse 200LR operational, I feel more confident in
providing
dimensional data from some of our stands in the Midsouth.
To learn the technology, I decided to spend part of an afternoon
and morning shooting heights around the campus of the University
of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM). UAM is located on the south
side of the city of Monticello, which is in Drew County on the
Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain. This gently rolling landscape of
the UAM campus is primarily of late Tertiary sediments, with
some
Holocene alluvium along the small streams that drain the
uplands.
Many of the ridges are comprised of gravels and other sediments
that have been reworked by water and wind over the millennia,
and can be of relatively low site quality. Soil fertility and
moisture availability increases as one passes from the
ridgelines
towards the numerous small terrace flats and bottomlands. Upland
vegetation is dominated by loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, and
various oaks and gums. The lands were logged heavily in the late
1800s and early 1900s, and then farmed for a while, but failed
to
support most crops (cotton was most common). Some parts of the
landscape in southern Arkansas were natural prairies, although
many of these have been converted to pasture, rice fields, or
pine plantations.
The first set of dimensions comes from trees surrounding the
main
buildings of campus. This area has long been open, first as
farmland/pasture, and then as part of the UAM campus. Thus, the
trees tend to be open-grown (i.e., stout yet girthy).
Species Scientific name DBH(in) CBH(ft) Height(ft)
water oak Quercus nigra 45.1 11.8 79.7
post oak Quercus stellata 43.7 11.4 70.9
post oak Quercus stellata 41.6 10.9 85.3
s. red oak Quercus falcata 39.0 10.2 89.6
post oak Quercus stellata 40.2 10.5 77.4
s. red oak Quercus falcata 66.0 17.3 79.0
willow oak Quercus phellos 57.0 14.9 87.5
pecan Carya illinoensis 28.2 7.4 74.8
pecan Carya illinoensis 38.5 10.1 74.3
pecan Carya illinoensis 41.4 10.8 77.4
The 17.3 foot CBH southern red oak appears to be two oaks that
grew together many years ago, and have grown together in the
open for a very long time. All of these trees, though
impressively thick, are growing on poor quality sites in open
conditions, and thus haven't grown very tall. The next set of
trees are from the "Forestry Park" near the west side
of campus,
and are on a somewhat better site in a forested setting:
tulip-poplar Liriodendron tulipifera 24.9 6.5 98.0
winged elm Ulmus alata 14.5 3.8 59.2
cherrybark oak Quercus pagoda 29.9 7.8 109.8
loblolly Pinus taeda 29.5 7.7 108.6
loblolly Pinus taeda 30.1 7.9 107.4
loblolly Pinus taeda 30.8 8.1 106.6
cherrybark oak Quercus pagoda 32.8 8.6 101.2
shortleaf Pinus echinata 20.1 5.3 101.6
The tulip-poplar, not native to this part of Arkansas, was
planted
a number of decades ago, but has grown very rapidly along the
small
stream. The winged elm was not particularly large, but is not
usually mentioned in ENTS reports, so I threw it in anyway. The
following oak is found on the north side of campus, near one of
the
entrance roads, but in a non-descript small bottom:
willow oak??? Quercus phellos??? 61.0 16.0 107.4
This is a massive tree, with a broad crown spread, and large,
thick
branches. It had apparently grown in more open conditions
initially, but is now surrounding by other oaks, gums, and
ashes,
some of which are 20+ inches in DBH. I am not entirely sure of
the
species, but it is probably a willow oak. I will also send some
pictures later to post on the website. The last group of these
trees came from a protected area in the West Block portion of
campus
along a small stream:
loblolly Pinus taeda 28.7 7.5 94.5
loblolly Pinus taeda 32.7 8.6 103.6
white oak Quercus alba 21.8 5.7 99.8
white oak Quercus alba 27.5 7.2 105.3
loblolly Pinus taeda 30.0 7.9 100.0
white oak Quercus alba 25.8 6.8 101.4
loblolly Pinus taeda 28.5 7.5 108.8
loblolly Pinus taeda 32.5 8.5 115.5
blackgum Nyssa sylvatica 20.0 5.2 97.4
RI10 = 99.7
RI5 = 107.9
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the UAM campus first
iteration
Rucker Index of 99.7 feet. It will be possible with a little
more
sampling to pushing this over 100, although it will take a
number of
years for the stands to grow to 110 or more. These trees are all
probably 70 to 90 years old, with the exception of the biggest
oaks,
which are probably 100+ years (and the biggest of these may
exceed 150
years). Coupled with the low to moderate site quality, I am not
surprised that it is not particularly high. Nevertheless, a
pretty good
way to spend a few hours learning some new equipment!
Don Bragg
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don C. Bragg, Ph.D.
Research Forester
USDA Forest Service
Southern Research Station
|
| RE:
UAM campus trees and question for Don Bragg |
Don
Bragg |
| Mar
04, 2005 08:22 PST |
Big trees in this part of the world are a function of site
quality and degree of protection from the people and elements.
The biggest of the big trees are found in the bottomlands pretty
much statewide, since these areas have good moisture levels and
typically fertile soils. The mountains of the state (Ozarks and
Ouachitas) tend to have few big trees on their slopes and ridges
because of poorer, shallower, droughthier soils exposed to the
elements. However, it is on some of these harshest sites that we
will frequently find some of the oldest trees. For instance, we
have numerous sites with 300+ year old gnarly post oaks that are
30 or 40 feet tall and only a foot or so wide...
The bottomlands of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and the other
minor rivers of the southern part of the state are the best
locations for looking for big trees. We have several areas that
still have parcels of old-growth (including the White River
National Wildlife Refuge) and several smaller properties owned
by governmental agencies, the timber industry (believe it or
not), and private individuals. I am still finding new places to
check out, and scattered big trees are not uncommon (like the
big willow oak just off of the UAM campus).
Don Bragg
| |
Robert
Leverett <dbhg-@comcast.net>;
wrote:
Don:
A question that comes to mind is do you have a
good feel for where in
Arkansas you'll likely find the height champions for
various species? |
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