| Anders
Run update |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Apr
14, 2004 19:43 PDT |
Bob,
I took a trip up to Anders Run N.A. today to take some slides of
the
Cornplanter Pine. what a beauty. After I finished that, I spent
the
rest of the day checking out the flat marshy area down by the
Allegheny
River. I wanted to check out a couple of planted spruce that
stuck out
over the rest of the trees on the flat. This area is where Gen.
Irvine's plantation and progeny's mansion was once located. I
found a
couple of dandies in there. I even managed to bump the Rucker
Index up
a notch on my out when I ran into some old relic swamp white
oaks.
I started my search of the river flat from a trail that starts
from the
parking area located at the intersection of Anders Run and Dunns
Eddy
Road. The trail starts south from the parking area then turns
east
heading adjacent and upstream along the Allegheny River. I soon
came
across a nice river bank N. red oak to 17.6ft CBH x 86.9ft high.
After about another couple hundred yards from the fat N. red
oak, the
tall spruce came into view. They turned out taller than I
thought. The
first one easily broke Cook Forest's tallest Norway spruce at
119.2ft.
The next broke that at 123.2ft. There was a nice tamarack larch
beside
it that went to 10.6ft CBH (2x, fused trunk split at ~10ft up
from base)
x 111.5ft high. Then a nice balsam fir to 6.8ft CBH x 91.8. Then
came
the real nice Norway spruce. 10.2ft CBH x 131.9ft high! I was
beginning
to think I wasn't going to find any 120 footers, let alone a
130. With
an average crown spread of 37.6ft, it came up with 263.7 big
tree
points. I'm not sure yet how that stacks up with others across
the
state.
I then turned back west and skirted the edge of a wetland. Turns
out
there are a few relic oak species in there along the edges.
There are
some old swamp white oaks, a large wolf white oak and black oak
(both
have a very gnarled and burled base). The tallest swamp white
oak went
to 10.4ft CBH x 111ft high, not bad.
The day's stats follows:
Species CBH Height Comments
Balsam fir N/A 75 planted
Balsam fir 6.8 91.8 planted
Black oak 12.9 84.1+ ancient
tree, heavily
burled base & lower trunk
Black oak 5.1 102
Cucumbertree 5.6 102.1+
E. white pine 10 124
Norway spruce N/A 111.9 planted
Norway spruce 8.4 119.2 planted
Norway spruce 9.8 123.2 planted
Norway spruce 10.2 131.9 tallest
NE?, planted
N. red oak 17.6 86.9 riverbank
Shagbark hickory 5.4 102.2
Shagbark hickory 5.5 109.6
Swamp white oak 8.7 94.2
Swamp white oak 9.7 95 ancient
tree
Swamp white oak 8.4 102.8
Swamp white oak 11.4 107.6
Swamp white oak 10.4 111 tallest
NE?
European larch 10.6 111.5 2x,
fused 10ft up fm
base, planted
White ash 5.1 105.1+
White oak 8 87.1+
White oak 15.3 87.1+ old
wolf tree
White oak 7.8 102.1+
White oak 9.3 111.1+
Here's a rough visual estimate on some of the old growth species
that
can be found throughout the Anders Run N.A.
Species Est.
Age
Black gum 150
Black oak 200
E. white pine 350
(many 250+)
E. hemlock 350
N. red oak 150
White oak 200+
Swamp white oak 200+
Anders Run Rucker Index 121.48
Species CBH Height Comments
E. white pine 13.3 165.1 state
champ,
Cornplanter Pine
E. hemlock 7.5 125.4
Black cherry 6.6 121.8
Am. basswood 8.1 120.7
White ash 7.2 116.9
Red maple 4.4 116
Cucumbertree 3.9 115.8
White oak 9.3 111.1
Swamp white oak 10.4 111 tallest
NE
Shagbark hickory 5.3 111
That bumps Anders Run back into the #4 position in the state:
Site Rucker
Index
Cook Forest State Park 135.47
Wintergreen Gorge 127.89
Fairmont Park 127.72
Anders Run N.A. 121.48
Walnut Creek Gorge 121.28
Ricketts Glen N.A. 119.85
Heart's Content N.A. 113.79
Lake Erie Community Park 113.57
Alan Seeger N.A. 111.13
Coho Property 109.59
Tionesta N.A. 109.36
Scott Community Park 107.93
Glenwood Park 98.08
I was very impressed with the old, fairly large, and tall swamp
white
oaks. This is the first decent stand of swamp whites that I've
been
able to survey. A number of them went over 100ft. I'm pretty
sure I
found the tallest the site has to offer for that species.
I can't wait to be able to get onto Thompson Island a short
distance
down-river this summer and survey the large and tall (130+ft)
sycamores.
Bruce was on the island a few years ago and says there's some
fat ones
there (15ft CBH+). I just need to wait for the water to go down
a bit
so I can wade across. Maybe I'll just bring my fishin' innertube.
amazing what us some of us fanatics will go to to measure a
couple of
trees.
Dale |
| Re:
Anders Run update |
dbhg-@comcast.net |
| Apr
15, 2004 04:03 PDT |
Dale:
I am needle green with Norway spruce envy. That is one heck of a
tree. You've captured the northeastern record by a lot. I'll
have to remeasure the Norway spruce in Egremont. It should be
slightly under, or with lots of luck, over 124 feet by now. Many
western MA Norway spruce exceed 100 feet, but above 115, they
drop out like flies. You have yourself a special tree.
The list of PA sites grows in impressiveness. The abundance of
120 Rucker indices confirms that PA exceeds the lands to the
north.
The huge Cornplanter Pine is something to behold. I need to get
back up to the pines in Tamworth in NH and measure the biggie.
It should be a little over 150 and it had a girth of 14 feet.
Bob
|
| Anders
Run update |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Jun
08, 2004 18:47 PDT |
Bob,
Colby, Will,
I've finally updated my Anders Run Natural Area files. Anders
Run
turned out to be more impressive than I originally perceived. It
turns
out that it not only has a few impressive white pines, but also
some
nice plantation grown conifers as well along the flat adjacent
to the
Allegheny River and associated wetlands.
I measured a swamp white oak down on the flat near the Allegheny
River
to 10.4ft CBH x 111ft high. If our ENTS tall tree list is up to
date,
it appears that this tree might be the tallest so far documented
in the
Eastern U.S. Are you guys "hiding" any swamp white oak
I'm not aware
of?
Here's a general list of the more noteworthy trees at Anders
Run:
Species CBH Height Status
Comments
E. white pine 13.3 165.1 PA
State Champ
Cornplanter Pine
Norway spruce 10.2 131.9 tallest
E. U.S.?, PA
State Champ? plantation
tree
European larch 10.6 111.5 tallest
E. U.S.?
double, plantation tree
Swamp white oak 10.4 111 tallest
E. U.S.?
Balsam fir 6.2 91.8 tallest
E. U.S.?
plantation tree
The Ander's Run white pine tally as follows:
Height Class # trees
120 2
130 7
140 11
150 6
160 1
Anders Run Rucker Index as follows:
Species CBH Height Comments Rucker
Index
E. white pine 13.3 165.1 PA
State Champ
121.48
E. hemlock 7.5 125.4
Black cherry 6.6 121.8
Am. basswood 8.1 120.7
White ash 7.2 116.9
Red maple 4.4 116
Cucumbertree 3.9 115.8
White oak 9.3 111.1
Shagbark hickory 5.3 111
Swamp white oak 10.4 111 tallest
E. U.S.?
Dale |
| Anders
Run update |
Dale
J. Luthringer |
| Dec
09, 2004 18:25 PST |
Bob,
I took a short excursion to Anders Run today to re-measure the
Cornplanter Pine for a possible climb come spring. I last
measured it
on 3/23/04 at 13.3ft CBH x 165.1ft high, and thankfully
remembered
stating that I still couldn't see the whole top. Well, I was
able to
find a different vantage point today just a little further south
while
still on the road where I could get a better view of the
northern part
of the crown. Translated, I found another sprig that I couldn't
see
before with an almost unobstructed view to the base. Four
measurements
today on that sprig, which is full of cones, yielded the
following
heights:
166.8
167.5
166
166.9
So, we now have a new height for the Cornplanter Pine which is
set at
166.8ft, or until Will can find another sprig that is currently
invisible to my eye. I also put the crown spread at 46.4ft. The
Cornplanter Pine is currently the highest ENTS points tree I've
measured
in PA at 2218.4 (CBH x height). Total AF big tree points is now
338.
The Seneca Pine is at 333.6 big tree points. The Cornplanter
Pine is
MASSIVE!!! It definitely has more volume than the Seneca Pine.
It is
only a short ~90 yard straight line distance from the road, but
up a
short and very steep slippery slope. A large group of people
would have
to take the trail to the uphill side of it if they wanted to get
upclose
and personal. The rest could just watch the show from the road
if they
so desired.
So far, I only have 5 trees that break 2000 ENTS points for
Pennsylvania. These are:
Tree CBH Height
ENTS Points
PA State Co-Champ N. red oak 16.7 120.4 2010.7
Heart's Content Pine 12.7 160 2032
Walnut Creek Gorge Sycamore 15.3 133.8 2047.1
Seneca Pine 12.5 172.7 2158.8
Cornplanter Pine 13.3 166.8 2218.4
I'd place pretty good odds that a number of sycamore will make
the PA
list The Cook Pine almost makes this list at 12.4ft CBH x
160.2ft high
for 1986.5 ENTS points.
I also decided to remeasure the Norway Spruce height record
located in
the plantation area. I last measured it on 4/14/04 at 10.2ft CBH
x
131.9ft high. Today's measurements yielded a 0.4ft growth
candle.
Current measurements are 10.3ft CBH x 37.6ft spread x 132.3ft
high for
265.3 AF points.
I also measured a few more trees on the flat adjacent to the
river just
south of the record spruce tree. These were right on the river
terrace
edge. Had a nice sycamore here to 12.9ft CBH x 107.8ft high (new
12x100
club tree). Also bagged a personal best silver maple height at
8.7ft
CBH x 116.1ft high and a taller white ash than previously found
at this
site to 11.5ft CBH x 118.4ft high (no slouch). The silver maple,
Cornplanter Pine, and white ash all bumped Anders Run's RI up to
122.31
from 121.48.
I've attached my latest PA RI standings via excel spreadsheet.
Ander's
Run now sits at #5 out of 19 PA sites. Here's a quick run-down:
Site
Rucker Index
Cook Forest State Park
135.58
Wintergreen Gorge
128.53
Fairmont Park
127.72
Ricketts Glen State Park
126.29
Anders Run N.A.
122.31
Walnut Creek Gorge
121.69
Hemlocks N.A.
114.75
Heart's Content N.A.
113.79
Lake Erie Community Park
113.57
Coho Property
113.19
Alan Seeger N.A.
111.13
Scott Community Park
109.56
Tionesta N.A.
109.36
Allegheny River
104.99
Detweiler Run N.A.
104.65
Laurel Run Rd-Centre County
104.6
Glenwood Park
98.08
Bear Meadows N.A.
93.72
Parker Dam State Park
85.57
Great day. it even held off raining until I got back to the car.
First
time it didn't rain all day over here in the last week and a
half!
Dale |
|