Larry Tucei's Pine and More

[dbhguru]

Hi Folks,

With my sinus infection and allergies under control, Monica and I went up the Hermosa Creek Trail in the La Platas to visit the Larry Tucei Pine and look for other fine trees. When we got to Larry's tree, I set up and shot it from several locations and found a higher top. I got 149.0 feet, which includes a half foot to mid-slope. At mid-slope, I got 13.9 feet in girth. Here is a look at the tree with Monica in for scale.

Here is a look at the crown with an arrow pointing to the highest sprig.

I estimate that this big pine has very close to 1,000 cubes in its trunk and with the limbs will certainly exceed 1,000. I may return with the monocular and model it for volume. My calculation is (13.9^2/(4*pi))*0.44 = 1007. The 0.44 figure is realistic for this tree - I think. Hopefully, I can model it with the monocular.

Every where one looks the ponderosas excel. Here is a taste of pondy power.

And now for a vista shot.

On this trek, I confirmed three new 150+ foot Colorado blues: (156.0. 152.0, and 151.5. This bring the total 150-foot Colorado blues along Hermosa Creek to 6. In addition, we have 7 ponderosas that reach 150, and 2 Doug firs. There are quite a few trees in the 140s. This is a very significant big tree site.

Bob

[Larry Tucei]

Bob- Wow with Monica in the photo you really can see how large that Ponderosa is. The tree is almost 150' cool! How far did you guys go in? That place is mega loaded with tall trees. Off trail the sky is the limit and I plan to come back out next year and find many more Pondy's and Doug Fir. Did the rains help slow down the fires? Larry

[dbhguru]

Larry,

We went about a quarter of a mile farther. No let up in the possibilities. Rains have helped with the fires, but the West Fork fire is still burning. Yes, next year can be a banner one, but this year isn't over. Next week I'll continue the hunt with Mark Rouw, the Iowa Big Tree Guy. We'll keep you posted.

Bob

[dbhguru]

NTS

On next Tuesday, Laurie Swisher of the San Juan National Forest and I will model the Larry Tucei pine for volume. I'm guessing somewhere between 900 and 1,000 cubes for the trunk. I plan to use the Vortex Solo RT 8 x 36 monocular and the LTI TruPulse 360. I also plan to use some photographic analysis for limbs. I should have results by Wednesday or Thursday. I appreciate the Forest Service backing this effort. We really do have a partnership with the San Juan NF.

Bob

[Matt Markworth]

Larry,

I took some photos of the Larry Tucei Ponderosa Pine at Hermosa Creek this year and made a little 3D video. Great tree!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHgiuRgFejQ

Matt

[Will Blozan]

Bob,

When Matt and I revisited and remeasured the Tucei pine this summer we concluded it was a good bit smaller in volume than the new discovery of the "Bertolette Pine" on the same trip. The Tucei Pine does not have a round trunk and is rather elliptical (I think we measured an 8" differential) and the trunk taper is very conical suggesting a "young" tree. I would think the form factor more appropriate would be .35 for the trunk and of course the tree has lots of branches.

In contrast, the "Bertolette Pine" is just a hair smaller in girth (13'6") and height (148.5') but slowly tapered and sporting some massive branch systems. Here are some shots of the tree. It would be a breeze to model for volume and with horse shuttling assistance a climb would be no big deal.

-Will

[Don]

Will-
A good example of thick ponderosa pine bark insulating it from the scorching of wildfires...part of the species adaptation to fire!
-Don

[Matt Markworth]

NTS,

It's really nice to see the BBS up and running. Thanks Ed! (probably)

I visited Hermosa Creek in November 2019 and will be reporting on some of the superlatives there. Many survived the 416 fire, many didn't. With the time I had I didn't go farther than Dutch Creek and Clear Creek, so I won't have a report on the Don Bertolette Ponderosa Pine, the Kevin Markworth Blue Spruce, or the ~165' ponderosa pine that Will spotted in 2015.

Unfortunately the Larry Tucei Ponderosa Pine did not survive, as Stony Creek got hit very hard.

Here are some photos of the pine and Stony Creek. The scene is particularly harsh when contrasted with Bob's photos at the very beginning of this thread.

[ElijahW]

Mark,

That’s a lot of dead trees. I’m glad you guys were able to document at least a part of what the Hermosa Creek area was able to produce. Do you know if the dead snags will be left as they are or removed as salvage?

Elijah

[Matt Markworth]

Elijah,

I haven't seen anything official, but for now it appears that they are going with a strategy of using "enter at your risk" signs and doing trail maintenance as necessary.

In the wilderness area I think they're required to leave the snags alone. In the special management area, it wouldn't surprise me if they cut some of the most hazardous snags, but I'd be surprised if there is any large scale cutting of snags.

Matt