Day #2    Robert Leverett
   Aug 14, 2006 09:46 PDT 

Day #2:

    On July 22nd, Monica and I arose to cloudy skies. We hit the road a
bit late as we completed our trip through southern New York. Before
reaching New York's western border, we dropped down into the northwest
corner of PA and on into Ohio, where we were greeted by torrential
rains. The proximity of Lake Erie announced its dominance over the local
weather patterns. What a difference a big lake makes, even the
shallowest of the Great Lakes. I told Monica that I though the farther
south we went the better the conditions would become as we moved beyond
the most powerful of the lake effects. Fortunately, that proved to be
the case and conditions improved. It had been a white knuckle experience
with some drivers having had the good sense to pull over to the side of
the road until the torrents abated.

    The remainder of our trip across Ohio was pleasant and memorable
because we stuck to the rural roads, avoiding I80, the Turnpike, like
the plague. In years past, the repetitive nature of the landscape would
have caused me to lose interest, but this trip was different. The
undulating to flat countryside of fields and narrow strips of forest was
pacifying. The lawn ornaments of people across the rural landscape
caught Monica's eye, as did the frequency of seeing Amish in horse drawn
buggies. Monica had remembered the lawn ornaments from her cross country
biking expedition done some years prior. In a way, rural Ohio was like
stepping back in time by a few decades. At one point Minica pointed to
an Amish buggy occuping a parking space with cars on either side. It was
quaint. The agricultural fertility of the region reminded me of why
farmers of the late 1800s left New England in droves for what was the
far superior soils of the Mid-west. The fertility of the soils of the
American Mid-west apparently equals if not surpasses that of all other
comparably sized regions of the Earth. However, I would defer to any
soil experts among us to shed more light on Mid-western soils, their
glacial origin, and the reasons for the fertility.

As we drifted along, I thought to myself that this was truly a laid
back Ohio, a part of America virtually unknown to the city-bred, a
landscape of green fields and wide horizons, a pace and life style far
removed from the hustle and bustle of Cleveland, Columbia, Cincinnati,
Akron, and Toledo. To be sure, for anyone crossing the country, the
traveling is slower on these off-Interstate roads, but not much so as
one might think, if you choose your route wisely - unless of course,
you indulge the habit of perpetually speeding on the Interstates. One
quickly eats up a lot of real estate at a constant 75 to 80 MPH.
However, the lack of heavy truck traffic and absence of aggressive
drivers on the secondary Ohio roads gave us ample reason to relish our
choice of traveling on the rural byways and Monica made it abundantly
clear to me that this was the way she wanted to travel. No heroic
700-mile, 12-hour days. I got the message and was happy to comply.

     Our primary destination for July 22nd was Goll Woods, located in
the northwestern corner of Ohio. Goll Woods is a 321-acre woodland
preserve with a section of old growth/virgin forest. I had taken to
heart what Randy Brown had told me about the woodland and I was anxious
to get there, but our late start for the day and leisurely pace held us
back, so that we didn't made it to Goll Woods until mid-afternoon. But
by then, the day had cleared and cooler air had moved in. The
temperature was most comfortable and blessed us with a periodic breeze.
I was ready to measure trees. I quickly assembled by equipment while
Monica looked at a trail map. We I chose the bur oak trail and off we
went. I was ready for a big tree surprise. Now, if this all sounds
idyllic, there was a catch that rudely came in the form of a tiny insect
with an insatiable appetite for blood - my blood. Oh My Gosh, the
mosquitos! Yes, Goll Woods is in the Black Swamp. Duh! Silly me. The
following is a partial description of Goll Woods from the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources, emphasis added by yours truly.

"Goll Woods exemplifies the "Black Swamp" forest which once covered a
vast area of the flat post-glacial lake plains southwest of Lake Erie.
An outstanding feature of this woods is the abundance of giant bur oaks
and exceptionally large white oaks, chinquapin oaks and cottonwoods.
Many of these magnificent old trees are four feet in diameter. A rich
variety of native shrubs and wildflowers occur in the woods including
spotted coral-root and three-birds-orchid. The preserve is best visited
in the spring BEFORE MOSQUITOS EMERGE."

I should have been better prepared with heavier clothing and a stronger
insect repellant because Monica's environmentally friendly repellant
acted more like a choice salid dressing dabbed attractively on a garden
fresh salid. For the mosquitos, I was the salid! The mosquitos were
absolutely clear about that. God, they were awful! I made numerous
attempts to measure trees, but the instant I got still, those little
blood suckers were on me like ugly on an ape. I'd swing a branch wildly
for a few seconds then try to sneak in a quick measurement. It didn't
work. So, mercifully, Monica moved in and rhymically swatted the hungry
little devils to keep them off my neck, arms, and back - but also to no
avail. I bathed myself in the insect repellant until I decided that it
really was an attraction. I gave up and we ran back to the car.

While trying to survive the mosquito onslought, I did manage hold out
and measure a huge dead bur oak. At 16.7 feet in circumference and 112
feet tall, it was imposing, and later a white oak at 13.2 feet around
and just at 116 feet tall. That was it. There were many other impressive
bur oaks, whites, and cottonwoods in the area. One is quickly struck by
the volume of wood that these trees exhibit 60 to 80 feet above their
bases. We all see trees that start of with a fat trunk and then whimp
out hardly 10 or 15 feet above ground level. Not so these big brutes.
However, there was one disappointment. The tuliptrees were very
ordinary. The species does not do well in the compacted soils. My
impression is that the tulips of Goll Woods only slightly exceed 100
feet. I suppose a few will approach 120 feet, but I didn't see any and
many don't quite reach 100.

With ample room being wrong, my general impression is that Goll Woods
supports a Rucker Index of between 100 and 110. If that seems light
compared to what we commonly report, what the Goll Woods forest lacks in
stature, I assure you that it makes up in the impressiveness of
individual trees. I definitely plan to return to Goll Woods when the
mosquitos are dormant and hope I can meet up with the ENTS Ohio
contingent. There is just so much for ENTS to explore in Ohio. As I
mentioned in an e-mail, even though the individual woodlands are
relatively small, the woods are of high quality and well worth
documenting via ENTS methodologies.

After donating a pint of blood to the Black Swamp mosquito population
(we certainly want to keep them healthy), it was time to recuperate and
what better way to do it than to sample some home made ice cream a few
miles down a very rural road. It was a delightful experience. With ice
cream aplenty, we settled on the outside of the small establishment
featuring a small landscaped area and tables. The area gave way to corn
fields and a wide horizon. It was incredibly relaxing. Sounds of birds
that Monica identified were only occasionally interrupted by a passing
car. It was all peace and harmony. But foolishly, I had ordered the
super delux cone size that had so much ice cream that it melted and ran
down the sides of the cone no matter how fast I tried to keep up with
the intermingling melting flavors. Why can't I do things in moderation.
My new wife looked on wondering what she had married. I finally gave up
and ditched the remainder of the cone in the trash can and we headed out
to pick up a little lost time. Our goal was to make it to the vicinity
of Mishawaga, IN via rural roads. We wanted to position ourselves for
the following day's rendezvous with a Illinois tall grass prairie
preserve. That's next week's chapter.

Bob


Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
RE: Day #2   Robert Leverett
  Aug 15, 2006 05:17 PDT 

Holly,

   Thanks, but by far the best is yet to come, to include relating our
discovery of two new nature authors, or at least authors new to us. One
is John Madson, if any of you have read any of his works. His is the
voice of the prairie - which alerts you to what is coming. There will be
lots of stuff on prairies. I hope to get ENTS input from Lee and any
others with knowledge of prairie plants and soils.

    I've long enjoyed the American prairies, but mostly in a catch as
catch can fashion. I was always hell bent to reach the mountains, but
because of Monica's love of prairie grasses, on this trip, we slowed
down and I smelled the prairie grasses. Prairies are WAY COOL.

   One comment I must make. In terms of the installments, try as I will,
the grammatical mistakes and spelling errors creep in. I feel a little
embarrassed. Gotta break down and use the spell checker more. Monica
brought to my attention last evening that I had spelled salad as salid.
OMG! I know better than that. So, please forgive the stupid mistakes. I
find that when I get into writing mode, increasingly, my aging brain
forgets the correct spellings of even common words and I lapse into a
kind of phonetic mode. I've caught myself substituting homonyms. Old age
is a bummer.

   BTW, maybe we can all get together sometime in the coming couple of
months to do another Hudson River excursion. Both Monica's and my
schedule are iffy, but I think we might be able to spring for a weekend
somewhere in the next two to two and a half months. Monica is assistant
chair of her department at Smith College this year. She is going to be
weighted down with administrative responsibilities on top of her
teaching load and concert schedule. I'm going to have an unusually busy
wife this fall.

Bob


Holly Post wrote:
 
Hey! Thanks for taking all of us along on your trip.
I am really enjoying it.

Holly

Re: Day #2   Randy Brown
  Aug 15, 2006 19:08 PDT 

 
"Goll Woods exemplifies the "Black Swamp" forest which once covered a
vast area of the flat post-glacial lake plains southwest of Lake Erie.


here's a few snippets about the GReat Black swamp for anyone who's
curious.

http://www.blackswamp.org/swamp%20history/swamp_history.html
http://www.historicperrysburg.org/history/swamp.htm

http://www.blackswamp.org/BSC_Swamp.html