| Scored
in Linville |
Will
Blozan |
| Aug
31, 2003 07:28 PDT |
Yesterday I joined Jess Riddle in a Carolina hemlock hunt in
Linville Gorge.
We found some beauties (though well into serious decline from
HWA) and broke
the height record for the species four times!
Tsuga caroliniana
9'3" x 93.65'
5'7" x 95.72'
6'10" x 101.8'
7' x 101.86'
8'7" x 102.55'
6'5" x 109.47' Breaks old record by 11' or so!
These trees only have a few years left as HWA is rampant and
widespread.
From the overlooks all hemlocks were gray and some dead ones may
be
attributed to HWA but I am not sure. Needles were falling like
rain.
Will |
| Re:
Scored in Linville |
Michael
Davie |
| Sep
01, 2003 17:06 PDT |
Those are some great finds. I went out there last month,
following a lead of
big Carolinas around the base of Hawksbill mountain. There were
a few nice
ones, but I only measured one, I hadn't sent a report because I
wanted to go
back and measure some more, which I haven't done yet, of course.
Since it's
on subject, though...The one I measured was the largest I saw,
10'9"
circumference, 108 feet tall. The spread was nearly fifty feet,
quite a
beauty. I intend to go back, but travel around there is very
treacherous,
with layers of forest on shelves covered with slabs between
cliffs, sloping
steeply down into the gorge. Some of the rock terraces had
dwarfed table
mountain pines and pitch pines. A very cool place. It was sad to
see so much
HWA, on trees already stressed by years of drought, many already
infested
with elongate scale.
|
| A
few back-logged tree hunts |
Will
Blozan |
|
Mar
21, 2004 15:41 PST |
ENTS,
Oh where to start! The last few weeks have been very busy! The
epic mapping
climbs of the Middleton Oak (SC) and the Sag Branch Tuliptree
(NC) have left
me dazed and in wonderment of the new information coming out of
the ENTS
exploits! I am embarrassed to have not even mentioned the great
(and perhaps
unsurpassed) live oak as one of the East's biggest trees in the
first
edition of "Stalking the Forest Monarchs"! Shame on
us... but now we know!
Anyway, I wanted to share a few trips I have done lately...
Full text of this report including material from other
localities in this report.
2/23/04
Linville gorge with Dr. Robert Van Pelt.
This was Bob's
first
introduction to native Carolina hemlock. Glad he saw them before
they are
dead from HWA!
Carolina hemlock 10' X 96'
" 7'6" X 100.79'
" 9'3" X 81.52'
" 10'9" X 90'
" 7' X 109.55'
|
| Linville
Gorge |
Jess
Riddle |
|
Sep
17, 2004 06:51 PDT |
Linville Gorge, with somewhere in the vicinity of 10,000 uncut
acres, is
the largest uncut tract in the southern Appalachians outside of
the
Smokies that I can think of off the top of my head. Cutting
occurred in
some flat areas around the rim of the gorge and probably along
the lower
stretch of the river, but extensive cliffs and large areas of
poor growing
conditions resulted in the rest of the area being untouched.
In terms of big trees, Linville Gorge is best known for carolina
hemlock.
Stands of large trees, including a former national champion and
the
tallest known tree in the wild, grow on the gentle slopes at the
top of
the gorge, and picturesque individuals perch at the top of
cliffs and
along the river. Eastern hemlocks, white pines, tuliptrees and
white oaks
are big trees in the gorge, but do not achieve the sizes the
species reach
elsewhere in the southern Appalachians.
Jess Riddle |
| Re:
Linville Gorge |
Fores-@aol.com |
|
Sep
17, 2004 07:08 PDT |
Jess:
My best memory about Linville Gorge is having hiked all over the
rocks on
Grandfather Mountain and being there at sunrise. That part of
the Blue Ridge
really impressed me when I was still based in New England and
the only sunrise
place I have been to that was more impressive in the East was
Cadillac
Mountain in Arcadia NP. I know the Linville Viaduct on the Blue
Ridge Parkway
probably was a very long time coming but they appear to have
done a good job of
protecting the area.
Russ Richardson |
|