Coopers Rock State Forest, WV   Fores-@aol.com
  Jul 09, 2006 06:35 PDT 
........

Yesterday, I was working on a timber sale near Coopers Rock State Forest
near the WV/PA line and encountered such a patch of old growth timber straddling
the property boundary between Coopers Rock SF and the private property I was
working on. In a couple of acres I found a red oak 58" DBH...15.2' CBH....a
54" DBH red oak, a 40" DBH chestnut oak, a 48" yellow poplar, I have also
encountered a 38" white ash, 49" red maple.....there were several dead red oaks
on the ground between 40 and 50" DBH.

I am not certain that the area is true old growth but the growing sites in
the area are fair and I really do not think that the biggest trees could be
much less than 200 years old.   The largest poplar had thick plates and deeply
furrowed bark that was over 4" thick.

This particular patch of older growth will remain unharvested.

We really have very few large patches of virgin forest in WV because so much
of the state was under corporate ownership in the early 20th century....it
is still possible to find small patches on private land throughout the state
like I encountered yesterday.

Russ Richardson
Re: Cathedral State Park? -- Coopers Rock   Fores-@aol.com
  Jul 11, 2006 03:37 PDT 
Anthony:

It's good to hear from you!

The area of older growth runs across a few acres. Today, I am going to be
visited at the site by the Silviculture professor from WVU as the area I found
lies along the boundary between the private land I am working on and the
University/Coopers Rock State Forest. The OG stand I encountered probably
covers around 10 acres but most of it is in a decadent state with the carcasses of
very large diameter red oak and poplar trees littering the forest floor.
The property contains many trees between 30" and 40" DBH but the heights are
not as impressive as they can be farther south in WV as I am fairly certain
that almost none of the trees are over 120' tall.

If you want to look over the area, just holler.

In New England, especially Vermont there are several disputed areas covering
many square miles that were never incorporated into towns and they fell
between recognized or established property boundaries and are called gores. I
seem to recall that "Baltimore" Vermont is one of the largest "gores".

The opposite of a gore is a "lap" or overlap when the same area is legally
claimed by more than one person...you will almost never find any old trees in
a "lap" but near property corners in many remote areas some incredible old
trees can almost always be located.

Russ