On 3/15/2018 i visited a private forest tract near Williamstown, West Virginia I had first visited 2/22/ 2010 to verify a Yellow-poplar height reported at 185'. My comments at that time can be found at this link.
http://www.ents-bbs.org/viewtopic.php?f=131&t=1149
The largest trees measured during the current visit included
Tulip-poplar (Lirodendron tulipifera) 18.2' x 136.5' x 77'
Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) 7.3' x 103.3' x 28'
American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) 10.9' x 102.7' x 62'
Shagbark Hickory( Carya ovata) 5.4' x 100.3'
Blackgum(Nyssa sylvatica) 6.0' x 98.7'
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) 7.0' x 84.8'
Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea' ) 6.5' x 77.6'
Crown spreads are an average of the two-axis method.
The landowner sold standing timber on this sixty acre tract in 2002. The procurement forester for a local sawmill made the initial contact and they soon agreed on price and they signed a contract with the main stipulations that only trees with a 16" or greater diameter could be cut and that skid roads/log landings be seeded after conclusion of logging.
Sixteen years later I walk through the heart of this tract and find that 80 percent of residual stand is Yellow Buckeye and Beech with a good percent of the Beech being culls that were not felled or girdled during the logging operation. Remaining stumps were in the 3-4 ' diameter range and were mostly Red Oak with some White Oak.
Such is the status of "private forestry".
A large Yellow-poplar was felled during the logging operation. It had some butt rot and the top logs splintered when it was felled across a ravine.its close by mate was not felled. It was supposedly at least as large as the one we measured. No stump remained.
18.2' circumference
Click on image to see its original size
Bill Schlier
18'2' x 136.5' x 77'
Click on image to see its original size
