Poplar Forest Tuliptree climb photos

[Will Blozan]

NTS,

I just thought I'd send a few shots of the tuliptree climb completed this spring at Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's plantation http://www.poplarforest.org/visit. This tree scaled a total wood volume of ~1,100 cubic feet; 463 ft3 in the main trunk, 574 ft3 in the limbs, and 64 ft3 in the 124 branches I sampled.

The whole tree with Bob at base

View of home from ~60 feet up

Home from above.jpg (253.85 KiB) Viewed 2366 times

Bob "The Gadgeteer" Leverett doing something

The climb took me six hours- made extra hard by a network of steel cables crossing the crown everywhere- thwarting efficient movement. Unfortunately, although well intended to reduce failure, these static cables will likely lead to premature failure of the tree. It is full of decay, and a significant amount of it's mass is not able to flex and absorb energy as it should.

Crown interior

One of thousands of blooms

Bloom.jpg (206.64 KiB) Viewed 2366 times

Me on lowest limb system

Will in tree.jpg (290.35 KiB) Viewed 2366 times

During the entire climb I was accompanied by a young raccoon, who apparently did not mind at all as I measured the branch it was resting on. It paid me no mind other than watching me, and seemed to get more and more comfortable as it laid out peacefully in the shade of the dense foliage. It had the right idea!

My climbing buddy

Will

[dbhguru]

Will,

That is one relaxed raccoon. I remember the little critter. Thanks for posting the images. Fine shots.

Bob

[jamesrobertsmith]

Too bad about the effects of the cable. My nephew visited there a few years ago to tell me about those trees. He seemed to think they were world champions.

Nice shots of the copacetic little raccoon.

[James Parton]

That little raccoon really made me smile. It also reminded me of James " Bob " Smith's article " Little Assholes "!!

[Larry Tucei]

Will, That's one big Tulip tree! Cool photos, love the flower and racoon shot. Larry

[dbhguru]

Larry,

You may recall that the climb was to model a tuliptree for the chief archeologist Jack gary at Poplar Forest. With the completion of the project, ENTS made its contribution to the legacy of Thomas Jefferson whose favorite tree species was the tuliptree. He called it the "Juno" of trees, where Juno refers to the principal Roman Goddess and wife of Jupiter. As you may recall, the Greeks had Zeus and Hera. Later the Romans adopted the Greek Gods and renamed them. Poseidon became Neptune, and so forth.

The little raccoon was cute as a button. I could see it from the ground, but Will had a front row seat.

Bob

[Will Blozan]

ENTS,

This tree gives a good perspective of what we perceive "big" to be, especially when you consider this impressive tree is barely 1/4 the size of the Sag Branch Tuliptree in the Smokies.

Mike Riley first branch.jpg (250.75 KiB) Viewed 2306 times

The Sag Branch Tuliptree has significantly more wood in JUST the limbs and branches than the entire Poplar Forest tree.

Will

[dbhguru]

Will,

Un-freaking real! Great shots and they do tell a story, but that story can only be fully appreciated from aloft. I would have liked to have seen a couple of shots like what you presented above in Jim Valentine's book on the southern Apps.

Bob

[Larry Tucei]

Will, The Sag Branch Tulip is an amazing tree a true Leviathan. Thats not big its Gigantic. I well remember your climb, I bet its such a rush to climb a monster like that! Larry