Fall Hike, 2011

[adam.rosen]

I'm in the business of creating little ENTS, (not the reproduction end, the education end). Today we took 130 potential ENTS up Elmore Mountain in Northern Vermont. We enjoyed the company, the good weather and colorful leaves. I took some pictures of a few impressive/older yellow birches, that seemed to have been spared the loggers axe for the last few hundred years. Hope you enjoy them.

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[edfrank]

Adam,

Very nice images. Did you explain to all of them about the laser rangefinder/clinometer sine top/sine bottom tree height measurement method and the applicable trigonometry?

Ed

[Larry Tucei]

Adam, That's great! How did they respond to such a beautiful place with such giant birches. Larry

[James Parton]

Adam,

The most important thing is that you have gotten the kids outdoors and exposed them to the magic of the trees.

JP

[dbhguru]

Adam,

Wonderful mission, great scenery, fine looking yellow birches. You make us proud.

Bob

[adam.rosen]

I'd probably keep my math at the elementary level, use the "stick method" to introduce similiar triangles, or even cruder techniques for estimating. I'm still looking for a way to get the school to purchase a laser range finder--trigonomtry isn't exactly grade 6 math!

[greenent22]

Good stuff.
I just got back from VT. A few days of leaf peeping up there. The colors are horrendously muted in NJ this fall.

Looked to me liek a few spots in the Granville Gulch had some very old and pretty big looking softwoods.

Going up Lincoln Gap Rd crossing over the northern GMNF there seemed to be a number of remnant old-growth sugar maples and softwoods along one short stretch.

(Side note: Came across some old articles while I was up there. It was pretty sad to read that someone had had the foresight to leave 30,000 (with many thousands of acres of OG) to Middlebury and the state about 100 years ago because he believed it was a better work of art than any painting, etc. and how marvelous untouched forest was and how this would be so amazing for future generations and boom as soon as they get their hands on it they are all like oh his will couldn't possibly have meant that it should remain unlogged could it? I mean obviously the woods would soon rot themselves to mud in a few years which would be counter to his wishes to forever preserve the woods in their natural state right? SO only clearcutting it can save the forest right? I mean it's not like the whole region wasn't cloaked in impressive timber on lands little managed for thousands of years was it? Without clear cutting it's obviously clear forests turn to mud and rot quickly right?
So after all he did for them and left them they proceeded to log most of his lands to pieces, even most old-growth parcels were touched. Perhaps as little as 100-200 acres of OG survived it all from his 30,000 gift. On a more positive note, it seems that the reason Camel's Hump area mysteriously seems to have large chunks of OG is because that was an earlier donation of his, one that went better. And the condundrum of what to do with some of his 30,000 donation led to the creation of the northern GMNF which most likely would have never come ot pass otherwise.)