ENTS: I had a chance to revisit and remeasure this great Sycamore this
past
Friday, December 11, 2009. No foliage to peer through but a stiff cold
wind was blowing.
Bob Hannah, a WV DOF Forester, and I spent a cold two hours measuring
this tree; Here are the results"
CBH is 311.4 inches or 25.95 feet
Height is 117.4feet
Crown Spread is 128 feet which gives a BTP total of 460.
Some other measurements made:
CBH on high side is 306 inches or 25.5 feet
CBH on low side is 337.8 inches or 28.15'
There was a 32 inch height difference between the high and low side.
The 311.4 " CBH was taken 16 inches above/below the high/low side Both
the high and low side CBH were affected by anomalies which is one
reason we did not go with an average of the two. All measurements were
taken underneath the moss buildup. The high and low side were found
with a level. I could not find the push pin I left in the tree during
my first visit, but it appeared to me we were about 3 inches below my
previous CBH measurement.
Two crown heights were measured. The tallest of the two were measured
4 times by two different lasers(Nikon 440 and 550) from 3 locations.
Heights ranged from 116.5 to 118.7 with us settling on 117.4 as best.
The trunk went up 49 feet where it had 6-7 main limbs going off in all
directions. From a eyeball guess the diameter at that point was in the
three- four foot range. The tree has a pronounced lean over the
adjoining road. Because of the swollen butt, Bob and I speculated that
at on time there may have been another stem that died and has been
totally enveloped by the remaining stem at the base. Tree has no sign
of decay at base.
Turner Sharp
That is one freaking big tree. It is doing what sycamores are supposed to do - rule the roost and bow to no other species.
I get 460.8 or 461 points from your dimensions. By comparison, the Pinchot sycamore in Simsbury, CT earns 446 points, and the Sunderland Sycamore earns 444 points based on my last measurements. We'll never challenge Scott's PA champion on the big tree formula.
----- Original Message ----- From: "turner" <tshar...@suddenlink.net> To: "ENTSTrees" <entstrees@googlegroups.com> Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 10:31:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [ENTS] McCarrihan Sycamore-Marshaal County, WV
ENTS: I had a chance to revisit and remeasure this great Sycamore this past Friday, December 11, 2009. No foliage to peer through but a stiff cold wind was blowing. Bob Hannah, a WV DOF Forester, and I spent a cold two hours measuring this tree; Here are the results" CBH is 311.4 inches or 25.95 feet Height is 117.4feet Crown Spread is 128 feet which gives a BTP total of 460.
Some other measurements made: CBH on high side is 306 inches or 25.5 feet CBH on low side is 337.8 inches or 28.15' There was a 32 inch height difference between the high and low side. The 311.4 " CBH was taken 16 inches above/below the high/low side Both the high and low side CBH were affected by anomalies which is one reason we did not go with an average of the two. All measurements were taken underneath the moss buildup. The high and low side were found with a level. I could not find the push pin I left in the tree during my first visit, but it appeared to me we were about 3 inches below my previous CBH measurement. Two crown heights were measured. The tallest of the two were measured 4 times by two different lasers(Nikon 440 and 550) from 3 locations. Heights ranged from 116.5 to 118.7 with us settling on 117.4 as best. The trunk went up 49 feet where it had 6-7 main limbs going off in all directions. From a eyeball guess the diameter at that point was in the three- four foot range. The tree has a pronounced lean over the adjoining road. Because of the swollen butt, Bob and I speculated that at on time there may have been another stem that died and has been totally enveloped by the remaining stem at the base. Tree has no sign of decay at base. Turner Sharp
Thank you for the nice report on the great Sycamore in West Virginia.
In your report you said you took four measurements from three
locations, How did you settle on 117.4 height as the best of the four
measurements? Here in Kentucky I also use a laser rangefinder
(Bushnell Legend 1200) and scientific calculator to measure various
trees. Selecting the best height measurement when I take multiple
measurements is sometimes a question when I do my measurements. Do you
have any suggestions?
Bob
Kentucky
On Dec 13, 10:31 pm, turner <tshar...@suddenlink.net> wrote:
> ENTS: I had a chance to revisit and remeasure this great Sycamore this
> past
> Friday, December 11, 2009. No foliage to peer through but a stiff cold
> wind was blowing.
> Bob Hannah, a WV DOF Forester, and I spent a cold two hours measuring
> this tree; Here are the results"
> CBH is 311.4 inches or 25.95 feet
> Height is 117.4feet
> Crown Spread is 128 feet which gives a BTP total of 460.
> Some other measurements made:
> CBH on high side is 306 inches or 25.5 feet
> CBH on low side is 337.8 inches or 28.15'
> There was a 32 inch height difference between the high and low side.
> The 311.4 " CBH was taken 16 inches above/below the high/low side Both
> the high and low side CBH were affected by anomalies which is one
> reason we did not go with an average of the two. All measurements were
> taken underneath the moss buildup. The high and low side were found
> with a level. I could not find the push pin I left in the tree during
> my first visit, but it appeared to me we were about 3 inches below my
> previous CBH measurement.
> Two crown heights were measured. The tallest of the two were measured
> 4 times by two different lasers(Nikon 440 and 550) from 3 locations.
> Heights ranged from 116.5 to 118.7 with us settling on 117.4 as best.
> The trunk went up 49 feet where it had 6-7 main limbs going off in all
> directions. From a eyeball guess the diameter at that point was in the
> three- four foot range. The tree has a pronounced lean over the
> adjoining road. Because of the swollen butt, Bob and I speculated that
> at on time there may have been another stem that died and has been
> totally enveloped by the remaining stem at the base. Tree has no sign
> of decay at base.
> Turner Sharp
Bob: In this case I just averaged all four measurements. I felt the
variance in the heights we obtained were within the variance of the
rangefinders. I mostly measure trees alone and usually take two height
measurements from two locations and when I get a variance greater then
+/- 1.5 feet I do several things. 1. I check my arithmetic. 2. I
repeat my measurements previously made. (I use a little red flag that
disc golfers use to mark my location). 3. If the variance is still to
great I take more measurements from different locations until I get a
cluster and average the cluster and ignoring outliers- My record for
one tree, same top is 10 shots and a cottonwood with 6 tops with 12
shots. This tree defeated me because I was getting the tops mixed up
from different vantage points. This past year I started using the 4
1/2 foot mark to get my bottom sine distance and then just adding that
4 1/2 feet into the total height. Another hint: Try not to have a
preconceived notion of what your results should be. Concentrate on
taking good readings(especially clinometer) and recording your results
immediately and in legible form. I can not believe the time I have
wasted because of taking bad notes - which I always blame on someone
talking when I am measuring. Some other things to consider: Are you
using a clickover point for top sine distance? Have you checked your
calibration on rangefinder and clinometer?
I am not familiar with the Bushnell's variance allowance.
Hope this helps
Turner Sharp
On Dec 14, 8:14 am, BobinKy <bpatric...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Thank you for the nice report on the great Sycamore in West Virginia.
> In your report you said you took four measurements from three
> locations, How did you settle on 117.4 height as the best of the four
> measurements? Here in Kentucky I also use a laser rangefinder
> (Bushnell Legend 1200) and scientific calculator to measure various
> trees. Selecting the best height measurement when I take multiple
> measurements is sometimes a question when I do my measurements. Do you
> have any suggestions?
> Bob
> Kentucky
> On Dec 13, 10:31 pm, turner <tshar...@suddenlink.net> wrote:
> > ENTS: I had a chance to revisit and remeasure this great Sycamore this
> > past
> > Friday, December 11, 2009. No foliage to peer through but a stiff cold
> > wind was blowing.
> > Bob Hannah, a WV DOF Forester, and I spent a cold two hours measuring
> > this tree; Here are the results"
> > CBH is 311.4 inches or 25.95 feet
> > Height is 117.4feet
> > Crown Spread is 128 feet which gives a BTP total of 460.
> > Some other measurements made:
> > CBH on high side is 306 inches or 25.5 feet
> > CBH on low side is 337.8 inches or 28.15'
> > There was a 32 inch height difference between the high and low side.
> > The 311.4 " CBH was taken 16 inches above/below the high/low side Both
> > the high and low side CBH were affected by anomalies which is one
> > reason we did not go with an average of the two. All measurements were
> > taken underneath the moss buildup. The high and low side were found
> > with a level. I could not find the push pin I left in the tree during
> > my first visit, but it appeared to me we were about 3 inches below my
> > previous CBH measurement.
> > Two crown heights were measured. The tallest of the two were measured
> > 4 times by two different lasers(Nikon 440 and 550) from 3 locations.
> > Heights ranged from 116.5 to 118.7 with us settling on 117.4 as best.
> > The trunk went up 49 feet where it had 6-7 main limbs going off in all
> > directions. From a eyeball guess the diameter at that point was in the
> > three- four foot range. The tree has a pronounced lean over the
> > adjoining road. Because of the swollen butt, Bob and I speculated that
> > at on time there may have been another stem that died and has been
> > totally enveloped by the remaining stem at the base. Tree has no sign
> > of decay at base.
> > Turner Sharp
Larry: The Sycamore to see in WV is the Webster Sycamore along the
Back Fork of the Elk River. As a result of Will B. and Jess R
measurements in April of 2007 it has a cbh of 328.5 inches or 27.375
feet and a BTP total of 495. Check out his previous posts on this
tree.Particularily impressive is its circular shape and it holds a 5
foot diameter way higher then the McCarrihan Sycamore. The base of
the Webster Sycamore is hollow and recently damaged by a fire but is
still standing and leafing out, although I wonder how it fared with
the high winds we had last week. Go see it while it is still standing.
Thus far these two trees would rank #1 and #2 in WV big tree database.
Turner Sharp
On Dec 14, 1:57 pm, Larry <tuce...@msn.com> wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: entstrees@googlegroups.com [mailto:entstrees@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of turner
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 10:32 PM
To: ENTSTrees
Subject: [ENTS] McCarrihan Sycamore-Marshaal County, WV
ENTS: I had a chance to revisit and remeasure this great Sycamore this
past
Friday, December 11, 2009. No foliage to peer through but a stiff cold
wind was blowing.
Bob Hannah, a WV DOF Forester, and I spent a cold two hours measuring
this tree; Here are the results"
CBH is 311.4 inches or 25.95 feet
Height is 117.4feet
Crown Spread is 128 feet which gives a BTP total of 460.
Some other measurements made:
CBH on high side is 306 inches or 25.5 feet
CBH on low side is 337.8 inches or 28.15'
There was a 32 inch height difference between the high and low side.
The 311.4 " CBH was taken 16 inches above/below the high/low side Both
the high and low side CBH were affected by anomalies which is one
reason we did not go with an average of the two. All measurements were
taken underneath the moss buildup. The high and low side were found
with a level. I could not find the push pin I left in the tree during
my first visit, but it appeared to me we were about 3 inches below my
previous CBH measurement.
Two crown heights were measured. The tallest of the two were measured
4 times by two different lasers(Nikon 440 and 550) from 3 locations.
Heights ranged from 116.5 to 118.7 with us settling on 117.4 as best.
The trunk went up 49 feet where it had 6-7 main limbs going off in all
directions. From a eyeball guess the diameter at that point was in the
three- four foot range. The tree has a pronounced lean over the
adjoining road. Because of the swollen butt, Bob and I speculated that
at on time there may have been another stem that died and has been
totally enveloped by the remaining stem at the base. Tree has no sign
of decay at base.
Turner Sharp
Will: Sorry - no pictures. I have lost and/or destroyed so many
cameras my dear wife dares not let me out of the house with one. I
guess I am going to have to buy one all my own. Of course I have
bought several in the past 5 years as replacements for my
transgressions.
Turner
On Dec 15, 8:37 am, "Will Blozan" <tree_hun...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Great report- what a beast! I'm so glad this tree got the attention it
> deserved. Did you take any photos?
> Will F. Blozan
> President, Eastern Native Tree Society
> President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.
> "No sympathy for apathy"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: entstrees@googlegroups.com [mailto:entstrees@googlegroups.com] On
> Behalf Of turner
> Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 10:32 PM
> To: ENTSTrees
> Subject: [ENTS] McCarrihan Sycamore-Marshaal County, WV
> ENTS: I had a chance to revisit and remeasure this great Sycamore this
> past
> Friday, December 11, 2009. No foliage to peer through but a stiff cold
> wind was blowing.
> Bob Hannah, a WV DOF Forester, and I spent a cold two hours measuring
> this tree; Here are the results"
> CBH is 311.4 inches or 25.95 feet
> Height is 117.4feet
> Crown Spread is 128 feet which gives a BTP total of 460.
> Some other measurements made:
> CBH on high side is 306 inches or 25.5 feet
> CBH on low side is 337.8 inches or 28.15'
> There was a 32 inch height difference between the high and low side.
> The 311.4 " CBH was taken 16 inches above/below the high/low side Both
> the high and low side CBH were affected by anomalies which is one
> reason we did not go with an average of the two. All measurements were
> taken underneath the moss buildup. The high and low side were found
> with a level. I could not find the push pin I left in the tree during
> my first visit, but it appeared to me we were about 3 inches below my
> previous CBH measurement.
> Two crown heights were measured. The tallest of the two were measured
> 4 times by two different lasers(Nikon 440 and 550) from 3 locations.
> Heights ranged from 116.5 to 118.7 with us settling on 117.4 as best.
> The trunk went up 49 feet where it had 6-7 main limbs going off in all
> directions. From a eyeball guess the diameter at that point was in the
> three- four foot range. The tree has a pronounced lean over the
> adjoining road. Because of the swollen butt, Bob and I speculated that
> at on time there may have been another stem that died and has been
> totally enveloped by the remaining stem at the base. Tree has no sign
> of decay at base.
> Turner Sharp
