New Mass Tall Tree List    dbhg-@comcast.net    Nov 08, 2003 14:29 PST  ENTS: After a chilly afternoon on the Mill River flood plain and the adjacent river terraces in Northampton, I was able to confirmed a new height champion black locust for Massachusetts. It is 114.8 feet tall and 6.5 feet in circumference. I had measured the tree in June, but couldn't get a good solid measurement because of the dense canopy. Today wasn't ideal, but much better than in June. One disappointment came when I discovered that our champion tall tuliptree for Massachusetts has lost height. It's highest crown point is now just a little over 124 feet, so the Westfield tuliptree takes back over as the state's tallest of the species. There may be some challengers in Robinson State Forest and I hope to get to them before the snow flies. The attached Excel spreadsheet updates 45 Massachusetts tall tree champions. I've added some extra columns that show the sites that dominate the list. Of course, Mohawk Trail State Forest remains unchallenged. Mohawk's domination has never been seriously challenged. However, with increased searching, the number of state height champions in Mohawk will undoubtedly drop by a few, but I don't expect the number to fall below 9. Mohawk should continue to dominate for the following species:    White pine    White ash    N. red oak    Bigtooth aspen    Sugar maple    Red maple    American basswood    Black birch    Yellow birch    The other Mohawk champions are likely to eventually be topped by other trees in the Deerfield River Gorge or elsewhere in the Berkshire/Taconic region. It will be interesting to see if Zoar Valley and Cook Forest maintain their dominance as more of New York and Pennsylvania are scoured for exceptionally tall trees.    A question that can be legitimately asked is whether or not Mohawk's, Ice Glen's, and Mt Tom's dominance results from the overall state of forest care/management in Massachusetts or do these tall tree locations reflect exceptional growing conditions? To what extent does over-cutting and/or high grading of Massachusetts private woodlands explain the dominance of the state forests and conservation woodlands like Ice Glen and the bryant Homestead? This is a subject that a future event in the Forest Summit Lecture Series will attempt to examine. What was surprising to me today was the degree to which the black locusts outgrew all other species in the area I was in. The following list shows most of the trees measured. Species         Height Circumference Tuliptree 124.5 13.4 Black locust 114.8 6.5 Black locust 114.5 6.7 Black locust 112.4 6.9 Cottonwood 111.9 8.6 Black locust 108.2 6.8 Cottonwood 107.6 7.6 Bitternut H. 104.4 11.6    With the exception of the one tuliptree, the N. red oaks and European beeches were the largest trees on the terraces. Of course, the tuliptrees were easily the tallest. No surprise tehre. On the banks dropping down to the flood plain and at the edge of the flood plain, the black locusts topped all other species. That was a surprise. The cottonwoods followed. The silver maples came in third. The large bitternut hickory was a surprise. Another measures 104.9 feet tall and 10.3 feet around. It appears that bitternut hickory can be a large tree on the banks of river terraces here in the Connecticut River Valley. Bob   Home