The preserve

[ryandallas]

Fellow ENTS,

Today I happened to visit "The Preserve", which is located in Old Say rook, CT. I kind of visited the place on whim, so I didn't have my measuring equipment with me. This park is known for its large chamaecyparis thyoides. A sign standing by the park's entrance advertises a particularly large specimen, which is ~75 ft. Tall and has a ~6.5 ft. Circumference. I headed off into the woods and, after a tough bushwhack, found a stand of very old Atlantic white cedar. I could not confirm any heights, unfortunately, but many of the cedars were, in fact, ~2 ft. In diameter.

I will return and measure those trees. In the meantime, what do you guys know about this species? It never was widespread, from what I've heard, and commercial usage decimated its already small population. What are the big specimens, and where do they grow?

P.s. Sorry about the confusing capitalization/spacing. Autocorrect does far more harm than good.

[Matt Markworth]

Ryan,

This post might be helpful regarding information on maximums for the species: http://www.ents-bbs.org/viewtopic.php?f=393&t=5645

Matt

[Erik Danielsen]

That sounds like an awesome spot. Large specimens of east-coast Cupressaceae of any species are really something special in my opinion. Maybe I can get out there with you sometime this winter and we can give those a good thorough measuring. They may not be as big as the largest further south but that's still pretty impressive. I measured one on Long Island to 77' but it was more like 12" diameter. Does the preserve appear to have old/large trees of any other species?

[ryandallas]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

Matt: I'll check out that link.

Erik: Yeah, we definitely should hit this spot, I think. The thyoides were the champions here. Nothing else was particularly large, although there were a few gnarly, picturesque red maples standing beside the cedars.

[DougBidlack]

Ryan,

there was also a thread back in 2008 on these guys.
http://groups.google.com/group/entstree ... c4cf?hl=en

Doug

[DougBidlack]

Ryan,

in New England any Atlantic white-cedar over 6' in girth is impressive. I think I have found a couple that may be over 7' in girth (in Massachusetts) but I haven't actually measured them yet. I've only actually measured three in height and two were between 74' and 75' but I'm sure some are over 80'. So I'd say your find in CT is very nice. I keep saying I'll do some serious measuring of this species in Massachusetts with Andrew Joslin as we both really love the species but so far it hasn't happened. Sorry Andrew! Maybe this is the year?

Doug

[ryandallas]

Doug,

Thanks for the reply.Yes, please measure those cedars! They would be among the largest measured by an ENT, according to the link Matt provided.