Warren OH bottomland hardwoods   Thomas Diggins   Jul 16, 2003 07:58 PDT  ENTS, Stupendous bottomland grove in Perkins Park, along a bend on the Mahoning River in downtown Warren, OH. Cottonwoods, sycamores, a couple tulips, Ohio buckeye, and a potential state champion black walnut. Definitely an old-growth riverfront forest canopy (USFS technical paper on this), but understory totally cleared and replaced by mowed lawns. We're just talking about big trees here, no longer an intact forest. Also, some non-native and planted trees (eg. bald cypress), date from late 1800s when park was a private estate. But... hold on to your hat, Bob, for these cottonwoods, ALL single stems: 1) 121.7' x 16' 8" CBH (>60' to branches) 2) 120.6' x 18' 11" CBH (>60' to branches) certainly the largest volume tree I've ever seen in the Northeast 3) 109.1' x 18' 1" CBH 4) 98.6' x 21' 7" CBH, crown spread ~100' I think I measured the largest and tallest trees, but there are 8 or 10 more whoppers in the grove still to be catalogued. One unmeasured tree is definitely dying of old age, but the others are still in good form. 5) tulip tree, 133.4' x 11' 6" slightly less balding than the more slender Zoar tulips - a little younger (~150-200 years)? 6) sycamore, 90.4' x 15' 7" a MUCH taller tree went unmeasured, still inundated by recent flooding AND... 7) black walnut (two trunks, but they fork above 6') 111.8' x 19' 6", crown spread ~70' Will be Ohio champion by more than 70 points (total ~364 points). I'd like to get back to Perkins Park again ASAP: 1) to get the rest of the cottonwoods, 2) to get silver maple and other species, 3) to repeat heights, as it was quite windy yesterday, and 4) wearing gloves, to more aggressively thread the tape measure through the poison ivy vines! Sorry Will, I didn't have to stand in a bee's nest to measure any of these! Tom   Home