During December,
on behalf of Georgia Forest Watch, I spent a
week searching the north facing coves of the Kelly Ridge
Roadless Area in
northeast Georgia for exceptional trees. The relatively high
elevations
in parts of the area allow typically northern species such as
yellow
birch and mountain maple to grow well, and the rich,
circumneutral soils
support sugar maple and an abundance of yellowwood. The soils in
conjunction with below average logging pressure have allowed for
the
persistence of the areas best known feature, stands of large
yellow
buckeyes. The tall trees in the attached spreadsheet, which
includes
some trees measured prior to the Georgia Forest Watch survey,
grow in the
selectively cut areas with the buckeyes and in rich second
growth areas.
Some parts of the roadless area have never been cut, but those
areas
generally occupy poor sites that cannot support tall trees.
Supplementary
information for the spreadsheet follows. Ramp
Cove, Stroud Creek, and Dismal Cove drain into Dismal Creek.
Poplar Cove
and Milksick cove are in the Cynth Creek watershed. Some of the
trees
listed do not grow within the legal boundaries of the roadless
area, but
are not separated by any roads and share the same bedrock type
as the
rest of the area. Several other yellow buckeyes ten to twelve
feet in
circumference and over 120' grow in the area, but were not
measured.
Young black birch over 90' tall are common along one stretch of
Dismal
Creek. The tallest white ash appears to be under 100 years old,
and is
in excellent condition. The tree is the first tall white ash I
have seen
that is not in a cove. Instead, the tree grows in a small, well
watered,
tuliptree dominated flat on the creek below Poplar Cove. The
tuliptrees
in Ramp Cove and at Addis Cove Gap look to be well over 100
years old
while those on Firescald Branch and in Milksick Cove are under
100 years
old and possible under 75 years old. The tallest cucumbertrees
appear to
still be growing rapidly. The black gum is one off about half a
dozen
individuals grow in a rich area with abundant tuliptrees and
spicebush
and some yellow buckeye. The white pines grow in a planted grove
of many
trees of approximately equal size. Some smaller north facing
coves
remain to be searched in the area.
Jess Riddle
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