Montpelier

[dbhguru]

ENTS,

On April 12th I met with Sandra Mudrinich, the horticulturist for Montpelier. She is very receptive to an ENTS project to document the big trees of teh Madison estate as only we can do. The property is awash in tall tuliptrees, including possibly Virginia's tallest tree - a tulip at 167.1 feet that I confirmed on the visit after many tries. It is a major challenge and I do mean major.

The following image shows a handsome 150-footer that makes 14.1 feet in girth. I expect it is between 150 and 200 years old.

An observation platform, as shown below, looks into not less that six 150-footers. Not far away is a skinny northern red oak at 147.0 feet. There is so much work there to do. The father of our Constitution deserves our best shot. Who is interested?

Bob

[James Parton]

Bob,

167.1? Awesome. But that Red Oak surprises me even more. I hardly ever hear of Red Oak being so tall. Anyone, how many oak species can top 150 feet?

James

[dbhguru]

James,

The oak surprised me too. It wasn't a large tree in girth. There are other species at montpelier that are quite tall. I'll return in the late fall to measure trees again. As of now, the tree measuring season is basically over.

Bob

[dbhguru]

ENTS,

I just sent an email to Sandy Mudrinich of the Montpelier Estate alerting her to an ENTS proposal that I will submit to do a more complete documentation of the big and tall trees of the Madison estate. Who is interested in participating? It would be late this fall or next March. We have to do it when the trees have shed their leaves or the understory obscures the bases of the trees.

This will be a prestigious assignment for ENTS. We could also get one for the Thomas Jefferson estate of Poplar Forest.

Bob

[gnmcmartin]

Bob:

I might be able to help--keep me posted.

--Gaines

[Larry Tucei]

Bob, Put me on the Montpelier Project List, sounds exciting! Another way cool ENTS function! Larry

[dbhguru]

Larry and Gaines,

Indeed I will. Thanks very much. I'll shortly put together a proposal to the horticulturist at Montpelier. I think sometime in early November of this year or mid-March of 2011 would be the time. There's no point in trying to do anything during leaf out.

Bob

[dbhguru]

Larry, Gaines, Will, Gary, et al,

Today I will be contacting one of the volunteer researches at Montpelier to see if we can team up. Hopefully, we will be able to and get a joint effort going either in the fall or spring. I'll keep you all informed of the outcome of the conversation.

Bob

[dbhguru]

Will, Larry, Gaines, et al,

I talked to the forester that has been helping in the historical documentation of the trees on Montpelier. He's winding up his study and seems spent. So we'll be going it alone. The length of the downed trees that he has measured come nowhere close to the heights of the big standing trees. The tulips breakup on falling and I doubt that they can accurately reconstruct the crowns. They probably miss from 10 to 30 feet of crown.

Bob

[Larry Tucei]

Bob, I found a nice link about the Landmark Forest thought I should post it. Very excited to be able to participate in the Montpelier Project. http://www.montpelier.org/explore/garde ... forest.php Larry