ENTS,
I had the fortunate experience to meet, and act as tour guide,
to Darian
Copiz, our newest Maryland ENTS, in the great Cataloochee Valley
of the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park this past weekend. We toured
the
Boogerman Loop Trail and a section of Caldwell Fork and Hoglen
Branch.
Darian measured the Boogerman Pine to 186.65' on the way around
the loop
trail. We saw the 141' chestnut oak on Sag Branch and of course
the Sag
Branch Tuliptree.
On the way
out, down Caldwell Fork, we measured some
"shrubs" for my
forthcoming champion tree list requested by the National
Park Service.
Turns out, we bagged a new NATIONAL CHAMPION
mountain
winterberry
and a potential NC State Champion
witch-hazel. The witch-hazel set a
new eastern height record as well as a
nearby mountain
winterberry.
Here are the details.
- We
remeasured the national champion cinnamon clethra, which
has
grown a whopping 3 inches in height since 1997! It is now
33.2' tall
and 9.5 inches in girth.
- Near it
was the tall witch-hazel. Its 24.4 inch girth supported a
tip
53' high! The previous record was 47.3'.
- We
also found a new eastern height record mountain holly at
38.2' tall.
- Next to
this tree was the "big one", 27.8" in girth
and 32.9' tall. Crown
spread was a whopping 33' average for a total of 69 points - a new
national champion mountain
winterberry (Ilex montana).
The
current National Champion is 65 points, but has been damaged by
hurricane Ivan last fall (email from owner).
It was a
pleasure meeting Darian and putting a face to the name. His
measuring accuracy is evident and a valuable asset to ENTS.
Will Blozan
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