| Bryant
Woods, MA |
Robert
Leverett |
| Jul
07, 2002 16:50 PDT |
Ents:
Today the Bryant Pines
got plenty of deserved publicity. Stan Freeman
of the Springfield Union accompanied yours truly for a remeasuring
of the
Bryant Pine on the William Cullen Bryant homestead in Cummington,
MA. Using
two lasers and two clinometers, I successfully established the
height as
somewhere between 151.9 and 152.9 feet. After we returned from
the event, an
elegant young black reporter by the name of Denise met us. She
had come to
also cover the event from a different angle. Susan Benoit, a
fellow named
Robert, and I took Denise back through the Bryant Pines grove.
Guess what? I
took the opportunity to remeasure the Bryant Pine (surprise,
surprise,
surprise!). On one shooting, I got 152.4 feet - exactly half
way into the
151.9 and 152.9 range. I'm taking the 152.4-foot result and
blissfully happy
with the result. As Susan pointed out, 152.4 is half way between
the
extremes of the range, so had I averaged the 151.9 and 152.9
values, I would
have gotten 152.4. The big pine sports a solid 10.2-foot
circumference. It
is truly a beautiful tree.
The Bryant Pine
is one of four 150-footers in the Bryant Pines
grove. I suspect we'll confirm a 5th this fall after the leaves
drop. I
measured one last year at 149.6 feet. I expect it is now 150.1
or 150.2. Big
girths and great heights make the Bryant Pines the most visually
impressive
stand we have in Massachusetts. There are more 10-foot
circumference pines
in the Bryant stand than any other. The Bryant Pines are more
visually
impressive than the MTSF pines. And guess what? The Trustees of
Reservations has completed the trail that we marked last year.
People can
now amble among sure enough lofty pines. I predict that the
Bryant Pines
will eventually become one of the most popular big tree walks in
Massachusetts. Maybe it will inspire poetry. Since the Bryant
Pines are
still relatively young trees, in time the grove could easily
produce between
one and two dozen 150-footers. From somewhere beyond the veil in
that
timeless land, I think William Cullen Bryant is smiling .
Bob |
| The
Bryant Woods |
Robert
Leverett |
| Jul
14, 2002 13:45 PDT |
Ents:
Of late, we've
been spending time documenting the tree treasures of
the Bryant Woods in Cummington, MA. The Bryant Woods old growth
and
abundance of large white pines makes the site an important
forest preserve,
and fortunately, Bryant Woods are owned by the Trustees of
Reservations.
How good are the
Bryant Woods? Well, at first pass, outside of their
towering pines, there are no other species on the Bryant
homestead that
stand out as exceptional. When I eventually chase down all the
big ten,
Bryant's tall tree index on the Colby Rucker scale will likely
work out to
be between 105 and 110. My guess is between 106 and 107.
The Bryant Woods
cover about 80 acres. The elevation change is 300
feet, from 1200 to 1500 feet above sea level. The bedrock is a
schist not
much different in composition than that at MTSF. There is a
heavy layer of
glacial sand and silt covering most of the area, which creates
an ideal
growing environment for the white pines - thus the abundance of
large pines.
A scattering of rich woods species like maiden hair fern and an
abundance of
sugar maple regeneration signal the existence of some calcium in
the soils.
However, hemlock and white pine dominate in areas. The site
sends mixed
signals.
The answer to
the lack of MTSF-like hardwoods is water. The Bryant
Woods are a little on the dry side. The glacial sand-silt layer
is deep and
water passes through it fairly quickly. As for white pine
habitat, I would
have thought that they would have needed more water. Apparently
not, since
there are more 10-11 foot circumference pines in the Bryant
stand than any
other I've seen in Massachusetts.
I took the time to re-measure the 2nd
150-footer. It is now 151.8 feet,
up 0.5 feet. Its circumference at mid-slope is 11.0 feet. The
other two
150-footers cannot be measured until the deciduous trees lose
their leaves.
Our big find of the day was a red maple
spotted by Susan Benoit. It was
a challenge to measure, but I found a spot. At 106.3 feet tall
and 6.6 feet
in girth, it is picture perfect. The Bryant Woods have several
outstanding
red maples. We also confirmed an 111-foot hemlock. No record breaker, but
nice.
The surprise of the day was the discover
of about an acre of old growth,
with a nice herb layer and just when we think we're finished.
Bob |
| Bryant
Homestead |
Robert
Leverett |
| Sep
08, 2002 17:12 PDT |
Ents:
Today was my day to do
a program for the Trustees of Reservations at
the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington, MA. An OG
lecture followed
by a walk through a section of the OG and into the incomparable
white pine
stand was very successful. The event was attended by 45 people,
5 over the
limit normally established for such events. The walk through the
pine stand
on the new trail was a real thrill. It is good to see the
culmination of our
effort to establish a new trail and observe everyone very
satisfied with the
result. The Bryant pines form what I consider to be the single
most
impressive grove of white pines in Massachusetts and they are
still growing
very well. Four pines are above 150 feet in height. I've now
repeatedly
measured two of the 4 and consistently exceeded 150. The
absolute
confirmation of the other two must await fall, but the best I
can do so far
is 4 over 150.
I took several
more basal area measurements in the Bryant Woods to
bring my number of samples up to 15 that are widely spaced. The
average is
45.4 square meters per hectare or 198 square feet per acre. The dominance
of
white pines and hemlocks insure this fairly high figure.
The attached spreadsheet
lists 31 Bryant white pines I've measured
in the past for both girth and height. Other big pines in the
Bryant stand
have been measured for girth, but not height. There are lots
more of pines
in the 8 to 11-foot circumference range.
Based on white
I've seen, the Bryant stand is number #1 in
Massachusetts for the number of pines exceeding 36 inches in
diameter. There
may be a small stand on private lands somewhere that has a good
collection
of 36-inch diameter pines, but I've yet to hear about it. What
is especially
noteworthy is that the Bryant trees are not old. I would place
most of the
stand at 100 to 130 years of age. A small number of pines are
perhaps 150
years old, but not many. So to fully appreciate the Bryant
stand, age must
be factored in.
What is the
limit of this stand? Of course, I don't know for sure,
but I believe that these pines can put on about a foot of
diameter in the
next 100 years and 10 to 15 feet of height, which would produce
some
160-footers and plenty of 150-footers and 4-foot diameter pines.
This would
put the Bryant Pines on a par with the famous Pisgah Tract pines
in New
Hampshire - casualties of the famous 1938 hurricane. The stand
would be
thinned out considerably in 100 years, but there would still be
plenty of
big, tall trees. This is the way I see the potential of the
Bryant stand.
Hopefully, David
Graves will eventually have some web pictures of
the stand for us to view. Dave had his camera and was snapping
pictures.
Bob
|
| Bryant
Woods Profile |
Robert
Leverett |
|
Sep
14, 2002 15:14 PDT |
Ents:
Bryant Woods is a modest sized area of
approximately 40 acres contained
within the Bryant Homestead that includes several different types
of forest.
Bryant Woods lies on a sloping hill for about 1800 linear feet
at an average
grade of 11%. The area is covered by glacial till. The upper
area is fairly
dry. Two main rivulets cut through the till, one is seasonal and
the other
retains water except in periods of drought.
The Bryant Woods can be divided into 5
distinct forest classes: (1)
hemlock-dominated, (2) white pine-dominated, (3)
hardwood-dominated, (4)
mixed hemlock-hardwood, and (5) mixed white pine-hardwood. There
is one area
that is mixed white pine-hardwood that is very young. All the
other areas
are mature woods or old growth. For the purpose of computing
basal area,
John Knuerr and I took a number of samples this morning. Added
to what I'd
already taken, the following table summarizes basal area for the
entirety of
Bryant Woods.
Forest Type Average
Basal Area Average Basal Area
(sq
mtrs/hectare) (sq
ft/acre)
Hardwoods
35.6 155
Hemlock 49.1 214
Hemlock-Hardwood 49.6
216
White Pine 50.1
218
Overall 47.6
208
The region of old growth occupies about
14 acres with trees ranging from
120 to over 300 years old. Most probably the 14 acres served as
a woodlot at
one time or another, but was never cleared completely. Today, it
has all old
growth characteristics. A few sugar maples and yellow birches
probably
approach or exceed 400 years of age. The region of white pines
occupies
another 14 acres. About 10 of the 14 acres includes a stand of
super pines.
The remaining 12 acres of the 40 consists of mature forest from
70 to about
160 years old.
The stars of Bryant Woods are the super
pines that occupy an area of
about 10 acres. The pines range in circumference from 7 to 12
feet and
attain heights from 130 to 155 feet. The average stand age is
probably
around 100 years. However, there are a few pines that reach ages
of 130 or
140 years and a very isolated group that are probably 160 or
more years old.
Today John Knuerr and I tested the new
OPT-LOGIC laser on the Bryant
Pines. The unit has trouble seeing through holes in the canopy
because its
beam is long and narrow. The narrow part works fine, but not the
long part.
However, you can measure to closer objects than with the
Bushnell, so both
units have their places. Nonetheless, John persisted with the
unit and did
successfully get reliable hypotenuse distances to several
important trees.
The surprising news came when we found an excellent view of the
crown of the
Bryant Pine from the absolute opposite side to which I usually
measure the
tree. We succeeded in clipping the highest spots on the tree's
broad crown
and got a very surprising 155.4 feet! From the other side, we
can
substantiate numbers ranging from 151.8 to 152.8 feet. The new
measurement
is from a much superior vantage point - though finding the spot
makes
finding the proverbial needle in the haystack mere child's play.
So how many
times has it taken us to finally nail down this great tree's
height? I'd be
embarrassed to say, but it goes to show us, that "it ain't
over 'til it's
over."
In confirming the 155.4-foot
measurement, I used a Bushnell laser and
John used the OPTI-LOGIC. We got readings within a foot of each
other. I'm
satisfied. We also found another 150-footer close by the Bryant
Pine. Those
pines are really packed in and it takes lots of searching to
find a hole.
The bad news is that one of the other
150-footers in the Bryant Pines
lost its status. I just can't verify the 150-foot measurement I
got last
year. I can get 148.4 feet and that is it. So the tree loses a
couple of
feet. So we gained one 150-footer and we lost one and the number
of
150-footers remains at 4. However, I feel confident that there
are 2 or 3
more in the "packed zone", but Brother, is it hard to
measure those trees.
You have to be a complete fanatic and you can't go tree
measuring with
others who become bored. That becomes a fatal distraction
because you may
have to take half an hour or even an hour with one tree when
they are packed
in like the Bryant Pines in the packed zone. Incidentally, the
basal area in
the packed zone exceeds 300 sq feet per acre and probably has
80,000+ board
feet of timber over a 2 to 3 acre region. John and I tallied
trees in
immediate view that would produce 2,000+ board feet per tree.
Several will
go over 3,000. I suspect that one of the acres in the packed
zone will
approach 100,000 board feet.
The following table includes the
inventory of 140+ footers that we've
measured. I've not exhausted the possibilities. There are
probably 20 more.
Perhaps 30.
Location Species Height Circumference
Tree Name
Bryant Woods WP 155.4
10.2
Bryant
Tree
Bryant Woods WP 151.8
11.0
Thomas
Cole Tree
Bryant Woods WP 151.2
8.6 Frederick Church Tree
Bryant Woods WP 150.7
10.6 Thomas
Moran Tree
Bryant Woods WP 149.6 8.4
Bryant Woods WP 148.4
11.2
Bryant Woods WP 148.0 9.0
Bryant Woods WP 148.0 10.2
Bryant Woods WP 147.3 8.4
Bryant Woods WP 146.3 9.5
Bryant Woods WP 145.5 9.4
Bryant Woods WP 145.2 10.5
Bryant Woods WP 144.2 8.5
Bryant Woods WP 143.1 11.4
Bryant Woods WP 142.7 7.6
Bryant Woods WP 142.5 9.3
Bryant Woods WP 142.0 9.7
Bryant Woods WP 142.0 12.4
Bryant Woods WP 141.9 10.4
Bryant Woods WP 141.8 10.3
Bryant Woods WP 141.5 10.2
Bryant Woods WP 140.7 11.3
Bryant Woods WP 140.6 10.5
Bryant Woods WP 140.5 9.7
Bryant Woods WP 140.3 10.9
Bryant Woods WP 140.1 10.2
The excellent trails and overall
accessibility makes the Rivulet and
Bryant Pines Trails ideal for woods visitors. The area is not
for focused
hikers who only see the trail in front of them. No, the Bryant
Woods are for
contemplation and meditation, for spiritual renewal.
Unfortunately, the
peace and tranquility of the Bryant Woods is sometimes
interrupted these
days by some strange wild man running around hugging trees and
making ape
calls. Darndest thing you've ever seen or heard. Around Bryant
Corners, they
call him "Tree Foot".
As a final note, a stand with lots of
white pines in the 40-inch dbh
class are uncommon in southern New England. Few spots have pines
old enough
to reach that dbh class except for a tree here or there. Usually
when
somebody alerts me to a big pine, it turns out to be a
multi-stemmed old
field pine. However, the Bryant stand has many trees over 40
inches dbh. A
future project will be to locate and measure every one and then
to determine
their spatial arrangement. Density of big stems is an important
statistic
for us in ENTS to track. I recall once going to an advertised big tree site
to see big trees. I saw "A" big tree. One. Those responsible for
the site
description were apparently afraid of overwhelming a math dumbed
down
public. I hold no such fear.
Bob |
| Bryant
Homestead |
dbhg-@comcast.net |
| Sep
27, 2003 14:40 PDT |
ENTS:
Today we held a fund raiser at the William Cullen Bryant
Homestead. My role
was to take the group on a walk through the OG and the great
white pine stand.
Well, naturally I had to remeasure the Bryant Pine. I took 3
measurements and
the conservative figure is 156.3 feet. The represents a growth
increase of 0.9
feet from last fall. I actually thinking I'm conservative. I
think the tree is
probably 156.5 feet, but it is definitely over 156. The whole
place is a growth
machine, but it is a challenge to measure and always has been.
The reason is
the long side branches on the pines. You have to work hard on
virtually every
tree to find vantage points where you actually see the top.
At present I have 4 pines over 150, but there could easily be a
5th and if
not this year in a couple of seasons. This is a stand I want to
share will Lee
and Will during the October 23-27th period. It is definitely a
place to watch.
The Bryant Pine takes its places as the tallest tree in
Massachusetts outside
of MTSF and the Trustees of Reservations are very proud of the
Bryant Pines.
Insuring their recognition and protection has been a labor of
love for me. I
can't get enough of them.
Bob
|
| Bryant
pines take a hit |
Robert
Leverett |
| Dec
01, 2003 08:14 PST |
Lee, Will, Dale, et al:
On Sunday John Knuerr, John Eichholz, Eleanor
Tillinghast, and I
visited the Bryant Pines in Cummington, MA. We wanted to tweak
the
Rucker index a bit and confirm four 150-footers for the stand.
The light
conditions in the canopy were poor, but with all leaves off the
deciduous trees and a light covering of snow on the forest
floor,
visibility at ground level was good.
The Bryant pines took a solid hit from a
recent wind storm. A number
of pines were snapped off at 30 to 50 feet above their bases. Needless
to say, the stand is more open now, but with all the downed
wood, from a
forestry point of view, the pines are going down hill. What
should
continue to happen is a continued weeding out of the weaker
pines with
the end result being a much thinned stand of pines that go
through
volume growth spurts as they take advantage of the additional
light.
John Eichholz nailed a fine 95-foot yellow
birch and John Knuerr and
I added a couple 100-foot class white ashes. We remeasured a
gorgeous
black cherry at 8.8 feet in circumference and 100 feet. It
wouldn't even
be noticed in Cook Forest, but in the Berkshires, it is a dilly.
The big news is that we have 3 of the 4
originally measured
150-footers solidly identified and confirmed in the Bryant
stand. The
4th may be one of the broken stems or it could have been a
mismeasurement. Our numbers dictate that we settle for 3, which
reduces
the Massachusetts total to 50.
In a last ditch attempt to confirm 4 pines at
150, John Knuerr and I
measured and re-measured a tree that looked to be in the
150-class. We
eventually settled on 149.0. On the Bryant pine itself, John
Eichholz
got 155.3 feet against my 155.2. We were in different locations.
These
two measurements plus one done this past June by yours truly are
all in
the low 155s. However, a measurement by yours truly in September
yielded
156.2. I'm throwing that one out in favor of the 155.3.
Statistics rule.
We now have enough independent measurements and from different
locations to settle on a height determination for the Bryant
pine to
within +/- 0.5 feet. We proclaim the tree to be between 155.0
and 155.5
feet. It is the flag ship of the stand.
The dynamic nature of the Bryant pines makes
them an ideal stand to
study over time. Because of their greater exposure to wind and
their
concentrated configuration, they will never challenge the Mohawk
pines
for height dominance in Massachusetts, but they provide us with
an
invaluable study location.
Bob |
| Re:
Bryant pines take a hit |
Lee
E. Frelich |
| Dec
01, 2003 12:22 PST |
Bob:
You have observed natural selection in action, in the form of
high wind, to
weed out weak trees, leaving the ones with wind resistance and
longevity in
their genes to shed seeds on the forest floor for the next
century.
Lee
|
| Re:
Bryant pines take a hit |
dbhg-@comcast.net |
| Dec
01, 2003 17:04 PST |
Lee:
The Bryant pines are stockier than the Mohawk pines. The growing
conditions are harsher. The altitude of the Bryant stand is
1,400 feet and lies on a sloping ridge that drops 300 vertical
feet from the center of the stand to the Westfield River at an
average grade of 15%. The ridge tops out at 2,080 feet. I think
there is a little of a wind funnel, but mainly just exposure.
The soils are sandy-silts. Lots to watch.
Bob
|
| RE:
Bryant pines take a hit |
Evan
Smith |
| Dec
03, 2003 20:38 PST |
Hello ENTS,
Robert Leverett wrote:
| |
"I
guess we'll have to recruit some pups to carry on our
work." |
Bob: I may know a couple candidate “pups”, one of which has
been hugging
trees before she could walk. Sawing up even a blowdown earns me
a tirade
from her every time and even the U.S. President couldn’t
convince her to
“thin” the forests…
As a matter of fact we must have been right behind you on the
“Rivulet /
Pine Loop” on Sunday because we stayed until dusk. It sure was
beautiful
what with the dusting of snow and all, though not as dramatic as
Saturdays snow squall at the Ashfield Hull site (Thanks again
for the
directions). I have pictures of the Hull Pines looking like an
Ice
Cathedral with snow plastered all the way up the trunks and
under-story
-- if anyone knows a good place to send them.
There are a few large pines on the Bryant Pine Loop that have
the big
bowls and the low heavy branches of “wolf” or pasture trees
and since
White Pine is non-epicormic or unable to respond to sunlight
(i.e.
canopy disturbance from blowdowns etc.) and resprout new limbs
from
dormant buds in the bark like most hardwoods (and Doug Fir) can,
these
must be the oldest trees here.
The 2002 Trail guide states the age range of the Pine Loop
trees… “15.a.
PINE FOREST Although not old growth, this area boasts trees of
150 to
175 years old. Two pines in this area are 150 feet, among the
tallest in
the state.” …and the age range of the trees just West of the
bridge on
the Rivulet trail… “12. WHITE PINE STAND This white pine
stand contains
trees close to or topping 150’ in height, which is a rarity in
New
England. This is especially unusual since the trees are
relatively young
at 120-170 years. Because of their height, this stand is
considered to
be one of the top ten white pine stands in the eastern United
States”…
The stated age of these pines (1830-1880) sure corresponds to
the peak
of deforestation and agricultural activity across most of New
England
but I wonder how the “wolves” compare in age to the other
pines in the
stand?
My original question was going to be “could canopy openings
created by
blowdowns have caused branches to grow out of some lower
trunks” but the
Google search thingy learned me good about epicormic"isity."
I really
don’t know jack about trees except that I like ’em.
Re. that fat cherry, the guide states…”7. WILD BLACK CHERRY
(PRUNUS
SEROTINA) This 102.4 foot black cherry is the second tallest of
its
species known in Massachusetts.”
Of course, the wind damage could have been worse than the
blowdowns and
the 2 Bryant barn doors that were stove-in. One of the tornados
that
devastated the Cathedral Pines in Cornwall CT in July of ‘89
spun down
to New Haven and took out most of the grand trees along Prospect
and
Livingston Streets, half a block from my childhood home. The sky
turned
black, mid-day, and the tornado also took a century old White
Pine from
behind our garage, spun it up over the roof and placed it in the
yard
with the leader just tagging our house. Our neighbors huge
Poplar
deposited one large limb through the roof of my sister’s
bedroom. The
above mentioned streets are now barren to me, I’m glad I
didn’t have to
experience the citywide loss of the Elms in New Haven or the
Hurricane
of ‘38 etc…
Our neighbors just cut down two 80 year old healthy and gorgeous
white
pines (“too messy“…GRRR!) and I’ve seen my daughter
gazing forlorn at
the bald spot they used to grace…so I guess the apple didn’t
fall too
far from the tree and you may have a recruit or two out there.
Best,
Evan Smith
|
| Weekend
delights |
Robert
Leverett |
| Mar
28, 2005 12:03 PST |
ENTS:
This past weekend saw us measuring
trees in two locations, one new
and one familiar. The first bit of news is the confirmation of a
new
150-foot white pine in the William Cullen Bryant woodlands.
Named the
Richard Wilbur Tree for a poet laureate who currently lives in
Cummington, MA. The tree's stats are hgt=151.1' , cir=10.6'. It
is not
that we missed this tree previously, but had great difficulty
shooting
far enough into the crown to clip the highest twig. The Nikon is
the
instrument of choice to do the job. The big tree becomes the 4th
confirmed 150-footer in the Bryant Woods and the 79th in
Massachusetts.
So far, we have measured 25 pines to over 140 feet in the Bryant
woods.
...Monica's Woods, Broad
Brook Watershed Florence, MA
I also was able to measure
the champion silver maple in Hatfield,
close to the Connecticut River. My new measurement is 118.1
feet. The
previous measuremt for this tree is 118.8.
Bob
Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
|
|