My Brother and I measured a new State Champion Green Ash, Fraxinus pennslyvanica, today in Pulaski Co., Georgia It measures 173" in circumference (55" DBH) and is 112' tall.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14370/IMG_0720.JPG)
Dodgy,
You have seen this tree, and even suspected that it was a champion. Well, it is! We found a Gum Bumelia a good bit bigger than the one that you found when you were at this property the last time. It will supplant the one in my back yard by a wide margin. It is a little shy of 12" in diameter.
All in all, a good day in the woods, today.
That's a big ash tree! ;D Did you secure "first refusal" for the log if it dies anytime soon?
Very very nice.
When I saw this topic in the "Woodworking" forum, I was afraid I was going to see customsawyer splitting that thing with a chainsaw. I'm glad to know that it is still alive and well. And also that it will finally get its proper recognition as a state champion :)
I suspected that there was an ever bigger gum bumelia somewhere on that property waiting to be discovered. I saw many there that were bigger than the one in your yard.
Yeah, I am going back to explore some more. Supposedly, there is a big overcup oak, too, in one of the sloughs.
I bet that Jake could split it, but we will hold off for at least a while. The owners would have a cow even if I mentioned it, Fish :D. I would not want to give them a heart attack :-\.
That sure is a big one. ;D Nice specimen to add to the records. :)
Very nice indeed. I love Champion Trees, even if they are only "my" Champions. I will always regret letting my 38" Champion Loblolly be felled.
I had full intentions of leaving a massive cherry tree on my dads land, but then he got to talking to a logger about having his land logged, so I took it upon myself to fell the cherry tree(with his permission). I kind of felt bad taking down such a beautiful tree, but I felt a little better when I found a bug infestation in the trees largest crotch. It was her time to go.
I hear ya MM. No one will be cutting my 25" yellow birch neither, which must be 28" by now because it's been a few years since I measured it and it's a dominant canopy tree.
Does NB have a Champion Tree program?
Very nice. Any day in the works is a good day.
Danny no official records are kept of big trees in NB to my knowledge. A 25 or 30 inch yellow birch would not be a record either. I have seen them over 40 inches, and in bad shape mostly. My tree is still healthy and no dead limbs in the crown. It's not much more than 100 years old because a fire went through a little over 100 years ago. It grew so well because it could out grow the cedar that regenerated. The old aspen that grew up with it are mostly dead now, if not harvested some time ago. The cedar was also cut and the site is regenerating to cedar again with some aspen and spruce.
I always love hearing these reports. Great work finding and measuring. Out of curiosity how was the height measured?
Using a clinometer.
I wonder if Apple has an app for that yet?
Yes, there is an app for that.
Go to the iStore and search on clinometer. May not be as fancy or do as much but it is there. ;)
Are you serious?!?!? That's awesome. I need to buy me an iphone. They have an app for gardeners too that shows where in the sky the sun will be at any given time. Just point it towards the sky and it tells you when and where. Great for helping a gardener position their garden.
I was wondering about the accuracy. I know I have seen the pad orient itself as it's turned, in a demo, but I have not used one or seen one up close.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq-oJf8KXCw
I've never really thought about it until now, but most SUUNTO and Brunto compasses we use in Forestry also have a clinometer needle on them. Just turn the compass to one side and the needle points straight down, not the magnetic needle. Just use the mirror in the lid to take the reading and use the edge as the line of sight.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_compass.jpg)
Wow, I would have thought that the height measure would need to be more accurate than a clino, but then I looked up the champ tree measuring guidlines and the method they used was even sloppier.
(use 12" ruler to sight tree top to bottom and measure distance from tree.)
Anyway, awesome find and congratulations! That is one big tree!
p.s. not saying clino measurements are sloppy, just that there are more accurate ways to measure (tapedrop, Impulse).
What's "Impulse"?
A handy laser tool. I am really interested in the measure of trees. One of the toughest things in my opinion is getting accurate height measurements. With many deciduous trees not having conical crown shapes it is often tough to see the top, and because of this it is easy to overestamate height if you are shooting to a spot that appears to be the top but is actually on the near side of the tree.
Another common error is with the use of tangent method. Tangent assumes that the top of a tree is situated strait above the base and the ground is flat (right angle).
I am always learning and would like to hear others opinions on stuff like this. As always, please correct me if I am wrong. It helps me get better at the ins and outs of the subject I love. TREES.
Always challenges, but cosine doesn't eliminate errors either. Is the tree vertical, is the bottom shot -20 or -17, is the top shot 66 or 69? Is the tree in or is it out of round so the widest dimension faces you or broad ways? ;D Then I have heard all kinds of methods of handling DBH on forked trees and related to point of germination of the tree base. Some say DBH with calipers pointing to centre, some average two ways, some say the DBH has to be taped if it looks just in. Here in NB we use height classes, in 2 meter increments as well as DBH in 2 cm increments. Our standard volume tables go by height curves, 4 softwood, 4 hardwood curves which leads to which volume table to use. Some cruises have you only measure a few DBH's to tune your eye in and then you estimate the rest, same on heights. This is a valid procedure in these types of cruises. I think they are more interested in BA, but where I have done this the work was sample checked by DNR to see how close things are. I'm so used to wood in this area that I usually guess right on the dbh class before a tape is even wrapped on the tree. Then if I have a helper I get, "why do I bother measuring them". ;)
Now what throws a red flag up is the guys that say they did it from the windshield. Yeah sure! Sounds like a realestate cruise. :D
I don't do plans any longer because they are mostly used to liquidate woodlots. The owner just multiplies the latest price sheet from a marketing board with the volume estimates and the plan part goes out the window. And I'm real picky on who I cruise for, even so many times it will end up a liquidation.