| MacArthur Heritage Forest
Haddon, New Jersey  |
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PHOTO DYarrow 4/2/02 Bruce Kershner lean on an elder giant |
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MacArthur Heritage Forest
Haddon Township, southern New Jersey
First Survey Team Visit
Tuesday, April 2, 2002
Team Leader: Bruce Kershner
Assistant: David Yarrow
Data Sheet:
April 2, 2002
"In all New Jersey, only one site exceeds the beauty, size, quality, and age of MacArthur Heritage Forest, and that forest is in a swamp on private land. So, MacArthur Forest is the most accessible example of the best ancient hardwood forest in the entire state." So proclaimed forest ecologist and old growth expert Bruce Kershner after spending a long day touring the woods with environmentalists, media—even the mayor.
Rhode Island arborist Matt Largess picked up Bruce and me in central New Jersey and drove us two hours south to Haddon. During the drive, Matt reviewed the background history and data about this ancient forest under threat.
Matt led us in from a shopping plaza parking lot on the southeast. This area had been clearcut in the 70s, and grown back as a choatic tangle of small trees, saplings, shrubs, and weeds. Trash blown off the parking lot blended with active dumping along the broad path slashed through undergrowth. After a few hundred feet threading through this demolition and dumping zone, suddenly a row of giant trees appeared by along the path as the canopy soared to nearly 100 feet.
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The forest's largest tree—a giant Black Oak—
Several trees have been cored with an increment borer by Dr. David Whitmer and Dave Johnson, Dr. Whitmer was guarded with his data, but indicated preliminary tree ring counts yielded ages of 185 to 250 years.
| Data Details
April 2, 2002 |
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McArthur Forest is one of the oldest and most pristine forests in New Jersey.
The Forest displays many signs of old growth, or original forest. It has always been a forest, and some of its trees date back to before the first settlements were established in this area. Most of the grove's terrain is rolling pit and mound topography caused by the decay of fallen trees over many centuries. Mounds are caused by the decay of the upturned root mass, and pits are caused when high winds lift a trees roots out of the ground. Most of the grobe's 150 or more year old oaks and maples rise outr of ancient treefall mounds, the remains of trees that were blown over centuries ago. Pit and mound topography is an extremely important characteristic of old growth forests.
MacArthur Heritage Forest Haddon, New Jersey |
The Forest's other important old growth characteristics include large old trees, fallen logs in varying stages of decay, buttressed bases on large trunks, large standing dead trees (snags), high flat-topped and spreading crowns. Most forests in central Nwe York do not have these characteristics.
The Town of Haddon has owned the Grove since 1950.
