| South
Carolina Potential |
Jess |
| Feb
23, 2003 16:52 PST |
Area Acreage
Unexplored Potential
Brasstown Creek
1300 1300 Brevard Belt
Lower Chauga River
4750 4000+ Brevard Belt
Upper Chauga River
1500 1500 Brevard Belt
Otter & Poor Mtn. Creeks
400 <100 Botanically rich
Isaqueena Falls
200
200 Brevard Belt
Tamassee Knob
675 100 Brevard Belt
Upper Brevard Escarpment
4000 4000 Brevard Belt
Mountain Bridge Wilderness
600 <100 Mountainous
Table Rock State Park
600 500 Contains old growth areas
Upper Eastatoe Creek
150 50 Contains old growth areas
Wadakoe Mountain
1000 100 Amphibolite soils
Whitewater River
200 125 Contains old growth areas
Greenville Watershed Property 25000 25000 Untouched
for 55-75
years
This is an incomplete list of areas with the potential for big
trees in
the mountainous part of South Carolina. Most of the areas above
probably
contain pockets of big trees within larger areas of
unexceptional forests.
The piedmont also contains thousands of acres of unexplored
bottomland
hardwoods and the coastal swamps and river systems also contain
large
areas to search for giant trees. On the above list, Brasstown
Creek is
the site most likely to support forests that rival those found
at Tamassee
Knob and Wadakoe Mountain. The Greenville Watershed Property is
the area
most likely to support large and old trees in addition to tall
trees. The
larger of the two properties has been closed to public access
and logging
since around 1930 and probably supports a few thousand acres of
old growth.
My dad returned to the Laurel Creek tree last summer, but could
not find a
hole through the canopy to measure the tree. The pine is still
standing
appears to still be growing upward.
Jess Riddle
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