Today was an excellent day to spend in the woods. I finally met up
with Mike Dunn, one of our newer Ents. Turns out that Mike and I went
to the same elementary schools and he lived down the street from me!
Funny how that works out. Anyway, we met at the Springfield mall and
then drove over to the college. Swarthmore is an old quaker liberal
arts college just outside of Springfield Pa., in Delaware Co. It is
home to the Scott Arboretum and a few champion trees. Running along
the back of the campus is the Crum Creek that empties into the
Delaware river. Crum is dutch for crooked. This creek has cut a
steep gorge over the centuries and has provided an optimal site for
trees to get tall. I was introduced to the area by the staff of the
arboretum when they showed me a tulip poplar (previously reported)
down in the woods along the creek. I was intrigued and vowed to
return. It is the first tree listed.
We started off looking for the tulip that I could not get a height on
when it was in leaf. After we measured it we decided to go for a
Rucker index for the site. Here is what we found:
Tulip 16.5 x 153.0
Tulip 13.1 x 147.2
Cherry about 6.0 in cbh x 111.9 (P. avium)
Pignut Hickory 7.1 x 133.9
Pignut Hickory 7.4 x 127.8
Bitternut Hickory 8.3 x 113.6
White Ash 9.2 x 134.2
Chestnut Oak twin x 118.3
Sycamore about 7 x 132.9
White Pine about 6 x 131.7
Hemlock 104.4
Black Gum about 95'
American Beech 97.6
American Beech 112.4
Red Oak 15.1 x 130.1
Mockernut Hickory 7.8 x 115.4
trees with estimated girth were across the creek.
The top ten provide a Rucker of 127.5 Which is one of the biggest I
have ever reported. It would have been alot lower, but Mike found a
monster red oak on the way out that we initially missed because we
were looking for the big tulip!
Other species present but not measured:
Red, Silver and Norway Maple
Paulownia
Witch Hazel
Hornbeam
Dogwood
Spicebush
Rhodo max
Plenty of invasives includung:
Japanese Knotweed
Japanese Barberry
English Ivy
Burning Bush
among others.
The local folks are making efforts to rid the place of invasives, but
we all know how that goes. There are many saplings of all of the
trees mentioned, so the deer must not be too bad.
Mike is a class act and I enjoyed spending the better part of the day
with him. I am looking forward to venturing out more with him. We
just have to get George in the group and we can really cover some
ground!
Great RI! The tulips, hickories, and oaks are very impressive. That's a
tall chestnut oak for Pa. I can't seem to break the 100' mark with them. I
would say more than half of the ones I see are doubles. Great job.
-----Original Message-----
From: entstrees@googlegroups.com [mailto:entstrees@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of pabigtrees
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 5:06 PM
To: ENTSTrees
Subject: [ENTS] Swarthmore College, Crum Creek watershed rucker
ENTS
Today was an excellent day to spend in the woods. I finally met up
with Mike Dunn, one of our newer Ents. Turns out that Mike and I went
to the same elementary schools and he lived down the street from me!
Funny how that works out. Anyway, we met at the Springfield mall and
then drove over to the college. Swarthmore is an old quaker liberal
arts college just outside of Springfield Pa., in Delaware Co. It is
home to the Scott Arboretum and a few champion trees. Running along
the back of the campus is the Crum Creek that empties into the
Delaware river. Crum is dutch for crooked. This creek has cut a
steep gorge over the centuries and has provided an optimal site for
trees to get tall. I was introduced to the area by the staff of the
arboretum when they showed me a tulip poplar (previously reported)
down in the woods along the creek. I was intrigued and vowed to
return. It is the first tree listed.
We started off looking for the tulip that I could not get a height on
when it was in leaf. After we measured it we decided to go for a
Rucker index for the site. Here is what we found:
Tulip 16.5 x 153.0
Tulip 13.1 x 147.2
Cherry about 6.0 in cbh x 111.9 (P. avium)
Pignut Hickory 7.1 x 133.9
Pignut Hickory 7.4 x 127.8
Bitternut Hickory 8.3 x 113.6
White Ash 9.2 x 134.2
Chestnut Oak twin x 118.3
Sycamore about 7 x 132.9
White Pine about 6 x 131.7
Hemlock 104.4
Black Gum about 95'
American Beech 97.6
American Beech 112.4
Red Oak 15.1 x 130.1
Mockernut Hickory 7.8 x 115.4
trees with estimated girth were across the creek.
The top ten provide a Rucker of 127.5 Which is one of the biggest I
have ever reported. It would have been alot lower, but Mike found a
monster red oak on the way out that we initially missed because we
were looking for the big tulip!
Other species present but not measured:
Red, Silver and Norway Maple
Paulownia
Witch Hazel
Hornbeam
Dogwood
Spicebush
Rhodo max
Plenty of invasives includung:
Japanese Knotweed
Japanese Barberry
English Ivy
Burning Bush
among others.
The local folks are making efforts to rid the place of invasives, but
we all know how that goes. There are many saplings of all of the
trees mentioned, so the deer must not be too bad.
Mike is a class act and I enjoyed spending the better part of the day
with him. I am looking forward to venturing out more with him. We
just have to get George in the group and we can really cover some
ground!
Scott,
Thanks for an excellent outing! It always amazes me that these small
wild areas exist amidst the sprawl of suburbia. Hopefully there will
be many more of them to discover in our region.
I think we need to continue south of the railroad bridge at some
point. There may be more to see in this watershed. I too had a great
time. I still can't get over the fact that we went to the same
schools etc. Small world.
> Scott,
> Thanks for an excellent outing! It always amazes me that these small
> wild areas exist amidst the sprawl of suburbia. Hopefully there will
> be many more of them to discover in our region.
The fat tulips & red oaks down there are VERY nice...
Pignuts... we're finally starting to scratch the surface on their height
potential. It's nice to see some more in the 130ft class.
Cook Forest State Park 137.15
Fairmont Park 132.27
McConnells Mill State Park 130.85
Clarion River 129.72
Wintergreen Gorge 127.53
Swarthmore College 127.5
Ricketts Glen State Park 126.29
Walnut Creek Gorge 123.66
Anders Run Natural Area 121.59
Ohiopyle State Park 120.36
> Today was an excellent day to spend in the woods. I finally met up
> with Mike Dunn, one of our newer Ents. Turns out that Mike and I went
> to the same elementary schools and he lived down the street from me!
> Funny how that works out. Anyway, we met at the Springfield mall and
> then drove over to the college. Swarthmore is an old quaker liberal
> arts college just outside of Springfield Pa., in Delaware Co. It is
> home to the Scott Arboretum and a few champion trees. Running along
> the back of the campus is the Crum Creek that empties into the
> Delaware river. Crum is dutch for crooked. This creek has cut a
> steep gorge over the centuries and has provided an optimal site for
> trees to get tall. I was introduced to the area by the staff of the
> arboretum when they showed me a tulip poplar (previously reported)
> down in the woods along the creek. I was intrigued and vowed to
> return. It is the first tree listed.
> We started off looking for the tulip that I could not get a height on
> when it was in leaf. After we measured it we decided to go for a
> Rucker index for the site. Here is what we found:
> Tulip 16.5 x 153.0
> Tulip 13.1 x 147.2
> Cherry about 6.0 in cbh x 111.9 (P. avium)
> Pignut Hickory 7.1 x 133.9
> Pignut Hickory 7.4 x 127.8
> Bitternut Hickory 8.3 x 113.6
> White Ash 9.2 x 134.2
> Chestnut Oak twin x 118.3
> Sycamore about 7 x 132.9
> White Pine about 6 x 131.7
> Hemlock 104.4
> Black Gum about 95'
> American Beech 97.6
> American Beech 112.4
> Red Oak 15.1 x 130.1
> Mockernut Hickory 7.8 x 115.4
> trees with estimated girth were across the creek.
> The top ten provide a Rucker of 127.5 Which is one of the biggest I
> have ever reported. It would have been alot lower, but Mike found a
> monster red oak on the way out that we initially missed because we
> were looking for the big tulip!
> Other species present but not measured:
> Red, Silver and Norway Maple
> Paulownia
> Witch Hazel
> Hornbeam
> Dogwood
> Spicebush
> Rhodo max
> Plenty of invasives includung:
> Japanese Knotweed
> Japanese Barberry
> English Ivy
> Burning Bush
> among others.
> The local folks are making efforts to rid the place of invasives, but
> we all know how that goes. There are many saplings of all of the
> trees mentioned, so the deer must not be too bad.
> Mike is a class act and I enjoyed spending the better part of the day
> with him. I am looking forward to venturing out more with him. We
> just have to get George in the group and we can really cover some
> ground!
