Turner, Thanks for checking out the Gaudineer Scenic Area. I have read accounts of it before, but none anywhere near as good as yours.
Bob -------------- Original message -------------- From: turner <[email protected]> > > ENTS: > This past October I had a chance to visit an old growth stand of > Spruce/Hemlock. The stand is located on Shavers Mountain on the Cheat/ > Potomac Ranger District of the Monongahela National Forest. The crest > of Shavers Mountain in this area forms the eastern boundary of the > 20,000 acre Otter Creek Wilderness area that was designated as such in > 1975. Check out this link: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/sp/ottercreek.html > The Southern end of Shavers Mountain also contains the old growth > Spruce site at the Gaudineer Scenic Area. > It takes a bit of hike to get to the Shavers Mountain stand. The > shortest hike is from the Mylius trailhead along Glady Fork on the > east side and several miles north of US 33 East of Elkins, WV. From > the trailhead it is a 1.7 and mile and +800 feet hike to the saddle > between Glady Fork and Otter Creek then another 2.0 miles and + 600 > feet along the Shavers Mountain trail. The stand is right along the > trail and after surveying the Rhododendron my hiking companions > thought they might continue on the trail and check out the bog/fen > further out the trail and leave me to enjoy my questionable pursuit of > measuring trees. I spent about 3 hours and got pretty accurate > measurements on about twenty trees most of them using the ENTS Sine > method with a laser and clinometer. I could have used an assistant > with a pole to plumb the dept of the Rhody. However a heavy wet snow > (12”) that fell a couple of days previously had beat down the > Rhododendron a lot and a hard crust had formed on top and I was able > to walk on top for substantial distances before crashing through. > Every time I did crash through I thought of all the bear tracks and > scat we had seen while hiking up the trail and wondered who I was > disturbing. > Here are the largest > Red Spruce/P.rubens- 4.6’ and 88.0’ > 6.3’ and 74.3’ with top > out > Eastern Hemlock/T. Canadensis- 6.8’ and 80.9’ > 10.1’ and 78.1’ with top out > Red Maple/A. rubrum 7.7’ and 79.6’ > Black Cherry/P. serotina 6.9’ and 76.7’ > Yellow Birch/ B.alleghaniensis 7.3’ and 67.6’ > For a 5 species Rucker index of 78.6’ > The acreage of this stand has variously been described between 50 and > 100 acres. I may have covered 5 acres at the most. We did this for a > day hike but next time it will be an overnighter so I can get over > more of the stand. > Supposedly there is another old growth stand on the west side along > Turkey Run. > I did not take any pictures but check these out in the following link: > http://exploro-orbis-terrarum.smugmug.com/gallery/3781365_t5u6y/1/217928115 > Also Jonathan Jessup does a lot of hiking and shoots lots of photos in > the area. His work should be easy to find on the internet. > Also good news – saw no signs of HWA > Bad news- Beech has been wiped out along Shavers Mountain > trail in this section > Turner Sharp > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
