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National champion loblolly pine (Pinus
taeda) at Congaree Swamp National Monument, with (from left to right) Will
Blozan, Jeff Ellsworth, John Parmenter, Michael Davie. |
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John Parmenter (white helmet) and Will
Blozan (orange helmet)
in the national champion loblolly
pine in Congaree Swamp. Photo by Michael Davie |
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John Parmenter (white helmet) and Will
Blozan (orange helmet)
in the national champion loblolly
pine in Congaree Swamp. Photo by Michael Davie |
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John Parmenter (white helmet) and Will
Blozan (orange helmet)
in the national champion loblolly
pine in Congaree Swamp. Photo by Michael Davie |
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A recent climb for the American Chestnut Foundation. The climber (Mike Riley, an employee) is ascending to do the
pollination. I had bagged the female flowers two weeks earlier. He is
nearing 40' up in this beautiful chestnut in Ashe County, NC which may stand
60' tall. It is about 5 feet in girth and in nearly perfect health. It has
small non-lethal (yet?) cankers only in narrow branch bark ridges. I will
try to get a photo of the impressive trunk of this tree. It is so smooth the
bark looks very much like young black birch or cherry. Photo by
Will Blozan |
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The Yonaguska hemlock, formerly the largest known hemlock, now
dead. Photo by Michael Davie
An excerpt from Bob Leverett May 05, 2004: "...takes us
back to the earlier days of ENTS when determining volume of the Smoky
Mountain behemoths was a priority with us. We were fixated on the
1000-cubic-foot monsters, which promoted Will to climb several huge
Smoky Mountain hemlocks in the Cataloochee district of the Park. We
measured one to 1500+ cubic feet. That was the great Yonaguska hemlock.
Though no longer alive, it is still our volume record
holder..."
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East
Fork of the Chattooga River in the Ellicott
Rock Wilderness (SC section).
The attached photo is a composite taken
December 13, 2003. The foremost tree is the one we climbed and taped to 168'9", and has Ed Coyle beside it. The next
tree is a 155'+ tree with Jess Riddle beside it. The farthest tree is a 160'
tree with Mike Riley beside if. Dead center in the picture (between the left
and middle tree) is the bole of the East Fork Spire which was taped to
167'10" in 2001. I want to get a better photo of this grove before the trees
decay... Will Blozan
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