Yellow Birch
Gould City, Upper Peninsula, Michigan
| National Champion
Yellow Birch Gould City, Upper Peninsula, Michigan
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In the past five years, an energetic coalition of environmentalists and scientists has confirmed many eastern old-growth sites that previously went unrecognized. We have documented areas of extraordinary forest that many thought had long ago disappeared. And our discoveries have often been regarded with doubt and suspicion, sometimes even with hostility.
Dave Stable's confirmation of bald cypresses exceeding 1600 years of age, and some of Will Blozan's fabulous Smoky Mountains big tree finds are quite literally unmatched, past or present. I have found spots within Massachusetts Berkshires that closely agree with descriptions of the original Berkshire forests as described by Dr. George Emerson in the early 1800's. Rob Messick's remarkable discoveries provide us with views of the Blur Ridge forests straight from the descriptions of William Ashe.
| Robert Leverett
Old-Growth Forest Expert 
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From New Hampshire, Chris Kane reminds us that this has happened before. His rediscovery of an ancient forest on Mt. Sunapee shows us how easy it is for old growth sites to drop off the records. Bruce Kershner is exploring western New York. Robert Jones, Becky Sharitz and Bruce Allen are opening our eyes to the hidden treasures of South Carolina's Conagree Swamp forest. Lee Frelich has championed the Porcupine Mountains. The list of site discoveries and explorations goes on, but equally exciting are our individual tree discoveries.
We cannot allow these old-growth stand and great trees to pass from the Earth, undocumented and unnoticed, victims of air pollution, exotic pests, ill-conceived development, and even logging. The old-growth inventory and the ENTS big tree database need support from the environmental and scientific communities. Of course, the sites and individual trees need the principal support, but it is hard to convince the public to protect what others are saying do not exist, so support for the research is needed as well.
| National Champion
Quaking Aspen Kootenai National Forest, Montana 
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We have identified stands of eastern hemlocks in several Appalachian locations that virtually redefine the growth potential of the species.
Now Charles Warlick's discovery of giant tulip poplars in the Deep Creek region of the Smokies may surpass all our previous finds. Warlick has measured five tulip poplars in one stand to over 20 feet in circumference! A decade ago attention that had been given to the Smoky Mountains suggested that there were no truly giant trees left. Obviously, we were wrong.
But how do plants measuring 20 feet in circumference and standing 160 feet in height remain unnoticed? Yes, some of these places are remote, but there is no shortage of adventurous souls to hunt for spectacular life forms. The problem has been a kind of myopia that has been steadily nourished in a climate of diminishing expectations. If we are told often enough that old-growth forests no longer exist, and that the really big trees are relegated to a few historic spots, even the Smoky Mountain giants begin to recede from our collective awareness. We do not venture into the forests anticipating discovery.
The models of modern forestry further intrude with what some in that profession have attempted to foster a new landscape paradigm They would accustom the public to THE most boring woodlands ever conceived. In such a climate, the giant forms of the Smokies become psychologically diminished, and we slowly forget our most spectacular eastern forests, perhaps in unconscious anticipation of their eventual physical extinction.
Well, it is time to turn to them again. The research potential of these places is immense, to say nothing of their vast potential for nourishing our sagging spirits. But the public needs to be made aware of them.
| Eastern Old-Growth Notes is published by the Eastern Old-Growth Clearinghouse, a project of Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest, Wild Earth magazine and Yggdrasil Institute, and edited by Mary Byrd Davis.
Eastern Old-Growth Notes is mailed quarterly to supporters who make an annual $30 donation. Make checks payable to ASPI/Old Growth Clearinghouse. Eastern Old-Growth Clearinghouse
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The Eastern Old-Growth Clearinghouse and Eastern Native Tree Society have jointly assumed the responsibility for maintaining records on the old-growth sites and the individual trees. We will in some cases form limited partnerships with the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and state agencies responsible for the sites. The scientific staffs of these public agencies are always stretched to the limits. We are too, for the matter, but it is apparent that we are the only ones who maintain the enthusiasm and the focus on what must be done to save, document and help expand the old-growth forests in the East.