Old Growth Forest Sites Western MA 6/21/09

Mohawk Trail State Forest, Charlemont MA
Bryant Homestead Cummington MA

Impromptu invitations turned up Audrey, Pat, Brenda, Ruth, and Allison who offered to join me for an excursion out to Western MA to visit two sites that feature some of finest examples of Old Growth Forest in New England. I won’t go into what defines old growth forest. However some of my comments should give readers some ideas what this means.

First site is in Mohawk State Forest (MSF) in Charlemont MA. The groves in MTSF are not particularly old, but the site is sheltered from storms and soils are well watered and fertile. Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS) indicates big trees in MTSF are mostly between 125-175 years old range, but since there’s been little disturbance, they’ve had a chance to grow in a very fertile environment to 140-168 feet tall. Trunk diameters are considered slender. Old Growth in Cook Forest in PA has big population of old growth trees in 250 year old range and predictably has larger average diameter. According to ENTS has at least 85 trees confirmed taller than 150’.

Weather the day of visit was cloudy with occasional rain typical for the year so far. Clouds plus the multilayered tree canopy made for poor lighting conditions. Bird songs were outstanding. We were treated to non-stop music of the thrushes and freinds.

We walked a loop that started at a parking lot just beyond the entrance kiosk and follows a paved road by switchbacks up through an area with camping cabins. The cabins are situated in tall groves of white pine and look like they’d be very nice to stay in. We reached a group campsite and walked by a gate which is starting point for the“Nature Trail” and followed that. The first grove is not on the Nature Trail. An unmarked trail on the left and takes you down to a big sign announcing you’re reached the Trees of Peace, the grove where the Jake Swamp Tree lives.



According to annals of the Eastern Native Tree Society, the Jake Swamp Tree is height champion for New England at 168.6’ (as measured by tape drop) . Bit fuzzy due to bad lighting, but Audrey and myself are there for scale.



Now a shot up the trunk.



Pat pauses to pose as we continue down the herd path to the big meadow alive with bird song on this day.



Head to the right to get on to the mowed path and follow that to the far end of the meadow. Take the left fork and the trail takes you back into the forest where you find more groves of majestic white pines. The trail runs along the top of stream terrace of the Deerfield River.

More pictures of some tree-top shots of the trees in this area:



We followed the Nature Trail until we reached a junction with the lower Nature Trail and returned via that route. We could have continued up the trail and make a loop returns you to start point by hiking up over Todd Mountain.

We went through an area of pines planted in the 1930's by the CCC who were getting pretty tall, but were also pretty skinny. Made for someinteresting photgraphs though. Here's Audrey walking down the aisle in the cathedral of red pines.



Tree tops form interesting patterns:



We saw a little bear two times in different locations. Not because we’re great trackers or anything like that. We later met a man with four special hunting dogs who’d been dispatched to the area to try to tree him so he could be tranquilized and taken away. The man informed us he was a problem bear and had been terrorizing campers. The bear actually boarded a bus with girl scouts on it in search of food causing the girls to head for the exits.

We stopped at Hawley Bog on the way to our next stop to walk the board walk through the bog. In interest of brevity I’ll just say the bog was pretty interesting. We saw many unique plants and birds.

Part 2 - Bryant Woods at Bryant Homestead

Our next stop was Bryant Homestead in Cummington MA. Bryant Homestead is shown on most state highway maps. The big trees are mainly located in an area called the Rivulet Trail located 1/2 mile walk from the Bryant house site. The trail is maybe 1.5 miles long tops and takes less time to tour than MTSF. The forest has a distinctly different character though.

Bob Leverett says it better than I can. He writes the following on ENTS website: “The stars of Bryant Woods are the super pines that occupy an area of about 10 acres. The pines range in circumference from 7 to 12 feet and attain heights from 130 to 155 feet. The average stand age is probably around 100 years. However, there are a few pines that reach ages of 130 or 140 years and a very isolated group that are probably 160 or more years old.”

I noticed the site has much greater age and species diversity compare to MTSF. Bryant Woods appears to have been hit hard by last winter’s ice storm. We observed great heaps of side branches that had come down under the weight of the ice leaving the main trunk untouched. Compare this view up the trunk of one of the big White Pines with one from MTSF above:



I hope the tree survives. If it does it will certainly showup as some years of slow growth. I noticed similar damage from that storm in another old growth stand up in southern NH. Probably not a good thing, but it did enable us to look directly up the trunk to better appreciate of the tree’s incredible height.

We saw some interesting hardwood trees. Like this Wild Black Cherry with Allison and Ruth holding hands.



The big hardwoods don't grow as straight as the pines and look even more dizzying as they wind up into the sky.



We saw other big hardwoods. One was a big American Ash. They say a big ash always leaves a big Ash Hole when it falls.

Those interested in visiting Bryant Homestead should visit Trustees of the Reservation site below:

http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/285_bryant_homestead.cfm

Be sure to visit the Town of Cummington Web Site download a copy of the Rivulet Trail Guide which includes an informative key to trail signage:

http://www.cummington-ma.gov/BryantHomestead.php

Those interested in touring MTSF, can download trail maps of the forest from MA DCR web site at http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/western/mhwk.htm.

Those interested in Eastern Native Tree Society can visit ENTS web site, but be forewarned it’s sprawling and must be confusing to first time visitors. I like to read “Field Trip Reports and Localities”. Which includes TR’s from all over the US. MTSF is important site and has it’s own list of TR’s.

Those interested in visiting these sites should purchase “Sierra Club Guide to Ancient Forests of the Northeast” by Bruce Kirshner and Robert Leverett. The writers are leading specialists in this field and also active in the ENTS.

I recommend visiting when the leaves are off the trees as the under story canopy kind of hinders your views of the big trees. These would both be good areas to snowshoe or cross-country ski. Thanks to Alli and Brenda for supplying photos for this essay.

Thanks for the TR, site info, and photos of the giant old growth trees. More places to add my already long, must visit list.

Thanks, Jazzbo. It was a fascinating day, whetting our appetites for more. I'll be bog-bagging in the future!

Thanks for the writeup Jazzbo! What a wonderful day--I so appreciate being included.

Thank you for the excellent write-up and photos.

With its old trees and great diversity of terrain, Mohawk Trail State Forest is one of my favorite places to camp and explore. The unusually large concentration of record holding trees is due to the particular climate, soil and rainfall of that area. Even some of the oldest and largest trees are still growing at a fantastic rate.
I understand that some of the best specimens are off trail and not easy to find.

I also went searching for old trees at the Bryant homestead. I remember that majestic cherry in your photo.

Great pictures. One question, did you reverse the captions between the Ash and Cherry? The tree that the ladies are encircling sure looks to me to be a big white ash (my boatbuilding hobby trained me to hanker after long gunnel strips obtained from white ash) and the next photo looks far more like a cherry than an Ash. (another woodworkers trait to hanker after cherry trees).

Bogs R cewl 2:









Just had to share a couple!

peakbagger said:

Great pictures. One question, did you reverse the captions between the Ash and Cherry? The tree that the ladies are encircling sure looks to me to be a big white ash (my boatbuilding hobby trained me to hanker after long gunnel strips obtained from white ash) and the next photo looks far more like a cherry than an Ash. (another woodworkers trait to hanker after cherry trees).

Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing.....
Cool Report, Jazzbo!

Wow, thanks for sharing those! I'm a fan of large trees. You really don't see too many of those around these parts.

grouseking

peakbagger said:

Great pictures. One question, did you reverse the captions between the Ash and Cherry? The tree that the ladies are encircling sure looks to me to be a big white ash (my boatbuilding hobby trained me to hanker after long gunnel strips obtained from white ash) and the next photo looks far more like a cherry than an Ash. (another woodworkers trait to hanker after cherry trees).

Click to expand...

I may be mistaken on the picture I identified as a cherry. I forgot my camera so I'm working with pics my compadres sent me or gave me permission to download so I'm missing my usual connection as the photographer. We did definitely see a giant wild black cherry which wound up into space. The picture of the hardwaood winding into space is that one. We used binoculars to confirm it had the single leaves and it definitely had the platey bark so characteristic of cherry. This is a trunk shot of one I'm pretty sure was the cherry. The bark had plates that sort of flaked off. You can see a couple of places where flake have fallen off.



Ash bark is furrowed and very stable. Bark tends to look a little different on mature trees. I agree the deeply furrowed bark is more characteristic of ash. We also saw some humongus red maples. That's a tree one doesn't associate with great size, but red maples can also reach great sizes.

Since Seeker so kindly contributed some photos taken at the bog. I'll post some here tonight when I get home. There was one flower I could not identify using the Peterson Guide. Here's one picture for now. Plant has little yellow compound flower heads in joint between leaf and stock. Looks like a loosestrife or something.

Jazzbo, that's a swamp or tufted loosestrife (Lysimachia thyrsiflora).

Old Growth Hemlocks

I used to live in the hill country of the Berkshires on land which drained into the West Branch of the Farmington River. I have not been there since the early 80s so what was may not be now. Behind my father's property was a gorge with virgin hemlocks, which apparently was inaccessible to lumbering. The place was most amazing. You would have thought it was the Pacific Northwest. Though not as vertical as Sage's Ravine, it possessed that feel of being untouched since the retreat of glaciers. I hope it doesn't fall to the Woolly Adelgid or the hand of man.

Hank said:

I used to live in the hill country of the Berkshires on land which drained into the West Branch of the Farmington River. I have not been there since the early 80s so what was may not be now. Behind my father's property was a gorge with virgin hemlocks, which apparently was inaccessible to lumbering. The place was most amazing. You would have thought it was the Pacific Northwest. Though not as vertical as Sage's Ravine, it possessed that feel of being untouched since the retreat of glaciers. I hope it doesn't fall to the Woolly Adelgid or the hand of man.

Click to expand...

Hummm .... While I haven't been to Sages Ravine, I've always heard it's a pretty special place. The locality you write of sounds interesting too. You should go back there some time and check it out. Write us a TR. The Wooly Algelid is indeed a problem and may kill off the big hemlocks.

Years ago we stayed at Race Brook Lodge B&B near Sages Ravine. Very beautiful and "rustic". Reasonably priced and "rustic" sort of like Common Man decor apllied to lodging rooms. Most B&B's are so antiquy and quaint that you feel you can't relax and put your feet up on the furnisture. This place is sprawls and has a TH for Race Brook Falls Trail leads up to the AT. If I was to go back again I'd hike up Race Brook Falls Trail and head south and descend via Sages Ravine. That would be a nice route. When we did it we turned north on AT to visit Mt Everett and returned the way we came.

Surprisingly, I have never actually hiked the Sage's Ravine Trail. I used to hike right up the ravine from Rt 41 on the south side of the stream, in CT. The stream actually divides CT & MA at this point. This trail meanders a short while then climbs steeply, getting lost in the verticality of the ravine. An unexpectedly pristine setting. I was just south and above it this past year with my brother Steven, whom you have hiked with in the Whites. He said you co-led the AMC hike he was on in May up Franconia Ridge where Joe Comuzzi's dog got lost. We went up Bear Mtn.

One day I will have to go back to the old growth ravine but it is totally on private land. I suppose I could trek in from downstream, which I had but there are not paths, just rock to rock. I suppose it would be 7 to 8 miles round trip with a good chance of a sprained ankle.

Perhaps 10 years ago I was at the parking lot of the Mianus Gorge in Greenwich, CT/ Bedford, NY. Someone was doing a project in the northeast on old growth gorges. I reported to him on our spot, never hearing what became of it.

Thanks Jazzbo, Audrey and Arm for the heads up on this special place. (Bryant Homestead)
I have been by it 100's of times and never realized what was there.
We went last Saturday and read some poetry.

BoB