Bark Variations with Age   Don Bertolette
  Apr 04, 2005 20:47 PDT 

Ed/Ray-

Your conversations remind me of musings between Bob and I as we stumbled
throughout NW Mass in the 1990's. My dendrology was based on tree books
that displayed tree bark characteristics that one would commonly find in the
woods.
The old-growth trees we were looking at were no longer common, and their
bark characteristics were very much different than even mature trees.
As I look back on that time, my soundest realization was the importance of
bark characteristics in identifying trees in old-growth forests (yes I know,
O-G is no longer in vogue, it has been assimilated into political realms and
spit out). It holds true out west here, with ponderosa pine, the yellow
platy bark is one of the most reliable identifiers.
I think that a "before and after" pairing of tree bark characteristics
"before and after" aging would be a great project.

-Don
RE:  Bark Variations with Age   Robert Leverett
  Apr 05, 2005 07:20 PDT 

Don:

From your experience with western species, which ones show the
greatest variability from pole-sized to maturity to old-growth status in
terms of bark appearance?

Bob
Re: Bark Variations with Age   Don Bertolette
  Apr 05, 2005 12:27 PDT 

Bob-

Home for lunch, will respond more in depth later, but Doug Fir and Western
White Pine come to mind first. O-G Doug Fir in the Park are distinct from
younger, and the Western White Pine I've seen in N. California has an
alligator bark segmentation that only occurs in OG WWP.

-Don
Re: Bark Variations with Age   TIMOTHY SULLIVAN
  Apr 05, 2005 13:42 PDT 
Bob and Don,

I would add red fir and white fir to the list of significant bark changers. It is very hard to tell the younger trees of both species apart by looking at the bark but once they mature you can quickly see the difference. However, I have come across very old specimens where it is harder to tell the difference since the red firs don't always show their telltale dark redish color on the outside and the whites lose the light coloring between bark plates.

As long as the tree is old enough for the outer bark to start seperating into segments you can easily tell the difference by breaking off a piece. And of course the branching and needle structure on the two is noticeably different.

Tim
Re: Bark Variations with Age   Michele Wilson
  Apr 05, 2005 16:07 PDT 


pointing out zillions of examples of the variety of tree bark
characteristics is an ongoing process in my daily work when making sure my
assistants are up to par, especially those just out of forestry school...an
interesting facet of the world of forestry, for sure!
Re: Bark Variations with Age   foresto-@npgcable.com
  Apr 05, 2005 16:36 PDT 

Tim/Michelle/Bob-

In 1990, I had the honor of being detailed from the Daniel Boone NF to Northern
California for a Old-growth/GIS project...one of the "tests" was a cohort of
Shasta Red Fir, all very near 400 years of age. The test? Were these old-
growth trees? The only disturbance during the last 400 years was the
construction of a FS dirt road that approached the stand within a mile.

This is one of those "what is old-growth definition" kind of questions...to be
the true old-growth that Oliver and Larson define, this stand had to be the
descendants of the original cohort. This stand originated following an
eruption in the Mount Lassen area some 400 plus years ago.

Pickiness aside, the bark characteristics would probably not be distinct from
the bark char. of the descendants of this cohort. But they were distinct from
those Shasta red firs of a more tender age...virtually all of the stand was
from 30 to 48 inches in dbh, with most in the 40-44" dbh class. Per
expectations, the furrows were quite a bit deeper than younger bucks, and
the 'horizontal segmentation' that I think develops from flexing of the bole
was more pronounced. But it would take a pretty good eye to distinguish OG
Shasta Red Fir bark from OG White Fir bark, with no other considerations. Yes,
chunking at the bark would expose the red that the tree is named for, and yes,
the needles are different.

-Don