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I’m a botanist (72 yrs old) in western PA. All my life.Boy, could I show you some remarkable trees: white oak, black walnut, white pine and an awe-inspiring American elm. Standing below any of these trees, it is not difficult to understand why the ancients revered old trees as the domain of spirits. You are a kindred spirit, Adam.
We have a public hunting ground in Harrison Co. KY that used to be a plantation. The owners had stipulated that it could only be passed down their lineage, but eventually that family tree faded away. After much debate it was decided to make it a "Wildlife Management Area" of around 750 acres, roughly a third is woodlands. There's a Giant burr oak there with one side of it missing. The ground inside the tree is big enough for me to lay down in. Most of the old growth trees are estimated to be between 150-350 years old (chinquapin oaks, burr oaks, blue ashes, shagbark/shellbark hickories). Quite similar to where you made this video. It's used as a public hunting ground (mostly deer/dove/turkey), I use it for foraging and a place where I can follow my own trails.
Adam, words can't express how thankful I am for this channel! You're brilliant dude; I've gained so much knowledge over these last few years from ya. Thank youuuuuuuu
Thanks for another vicarious walk in a majestic forest. My local squirrels, chipmunks & I are working on converting my 2 acre clear mowed lawn in Central Ohio into a mini white oak grove. 😃
We have 2 huge black walnuts on our property. N Baltimore county... Nothing grows under or near them. We are propagating paw paws for the other side of the property near the fruit orchard. Thanks for sharing this old growth with us.
It is always interesting because sometimes around me, when walking around forests you can find groves of old oaks. Sometimes you can tell from the shape of the tree that it spent much of it's life on the edge or middle of a field.
Thanks for another great addition, Adam. As always, your videos are very informative and I learn something new from every one of them. Keep up the great work!
When I was a kid in the 1960's and 1970's and early 80's, I lived on the east side of Conneaut Lake in NW PA. I lived just up the road from the old Oakland Beach Hotel. I was a wee one when it was torn down in the 1960's but I still remember the big boat coming off the front of it hanging over the roadway. Anyway, when I was a teenager, the old hotel property was a big vacant lot. Back in the woods behind the hotel site there were both white oaks and northern red oaks. I remember at least 2 of the NRO's and about 3 of the white oaks being so big and straight. There were at least two 16 foot logs in these trees. Straight, no branches coming out for a long, long way until the top. I also remember some big white pines, but nothing super big. I remember some big American Beech trees in there too. The oaks were as big as any of the ones that you are standing next to in your video. Where Oakland Beach Drive and Oakmont Drive came together in a point, there were big white oaks along Oakland Beach Drive and the branches came out the side and covered the point of land between the two streets. There was an old, iron water pump (the kind humans need to use their muscles to pump) that had the best cold water. We would stop there all the time as kids when we were riding out bicycles and get a good cold drink. A lot of the trees in this woodlot were old. I remember American Beech trees that people carved their names into back in the 1920's and the tree kept on growing and the carvings were still there, except expanded somewhat. I remember a big black cherry tree too. It was straight except for a big wave in its trunk. There were hemlocks too, but I don't remember any of them being massive. Just about all of these trees are gone now. Real estate developers cut them all down and put up big houses on the lake. I think it is a crime.
We have a black walnut in our fruit tree orchard and she has a "daughter" not nearby, but definitely her family. I really enjoyed your video today because we have all kinds of oak on our property and the Grandmothers are awesome...I'm sure they're a minimum of 150 years old....we love them very much. And it's so nice to hang out with someone who loves trees like many of us do.
Thanks Adam, I'm lucky to have a piece of property in the driftless area of South Central Wisconsin. The hill behind my house is to steep for a log skidder, so I have quite a few old growth red, white and burr oak.
This makes me miss the house I grew up in so much. The wooded portion of the property was mostly giant white oaks and rivaled the most secluded forests in terms of lack of invasive plants. It was just so pristine and diverse for a modest pocket of forest nestled between farm fields. A disturbed site there would fill with ragweed and cottonwood, rather than being immediately engulfed in invasives like everywhere else I've lived since. You never truly appreciate what you have until it's gone.
That was a big black walnut tree! It's neat to think that those old growth trees have been here throughout so much history.. thanks for another great video :)
I feel sad knowing that that land was probably lost during the depression. Huge areas of PA is land taken to pay taxes. Now they get no tax money for the land. It was worse than the clearances in the United Kingdom.
The trees would likely not have survived had this land remained private, so be happy you had the opportunity to add your tangential perspective to the topic.
We have a few places in Minnesota like this. One of them in Northern Minnesota is called “The Lost 40”, where somehow the loggers missed all these giant White and Red Pines.
We have large shade trees in the yard, and you can sure feel the difference in temperature, when it gets hot. Thanks Adam, for the good work that you do.
i love learning about all these trees. thank you Adam. to think they have been around longer than ive been alive and, they will still be there when im gone
Hi Adam. Reason #5 which is rather popular in Michigan; the trees border a highway or are visible from an overlooking city / village and are left behind for what our DNR calls "Visual maintenance." In the logs, these types of oaks are referred to as "Sawlog oaks" because the value of a forest is not in the plants, animals, or age of the forest. Rather, the value is in whether the land can be used for hunting, tourism, or timber. A combination of the three is a golden($$) ratio that is irresistible.
Your videos as always are a delight. Thank you for doing this important work. I had a thought to share when you mentioned the large triple-trunked tree on what could possibly be an old boundary border. My acreage in Western NYS is a 175-200 year old farmed area with hedgerows, and the farmer that first settled my land planted 3 or 4 trees per planting hole deliberately to create triple trunked trees as boundary trees along roads and hedgerows. Shagbark hickory & sugar maples, many of which are still standing along the property boundary line. Later generations also did it in our yard area with fruit trees- we have a huge black cherry tree which our local DEC said was the largest they had ever seen. Apparently, this was a deliberate choice that many of the older farmers in our area have told me was quite a common practice. We have a 180" circumference triple trunk maple tree next to where our yard used to end, no doubt this was a boundary tree as well.
Wow, what a gorgeous black walnut! You just don't see that much anymore. There was one in our yard growing up and not much else lol. There were some things that could handle the juglone though. We use to collect the seeds all up, stick them in the attic in boxes and then bring them down, one box at a time, to pop the husks off and roast them up. You need a good hammer to get them open, lol. 😅
Recently discovered some quite large northern red oaks up in massachusetts on state forest and was suprised they remained unlogged. You can see plain as day they are all growing directly on a stone wall that must've been dividing 2 properties before the state obtained it!
Recently an area of Bushy Run Battlefield designated as an old growth forest. It was hit very hard by recent weather and took a big hit. Might be worth a visit when it reopens to see how an old growth forest looks after very turbulent weather.
I love tree's especially big old tree's. Here in southern Indiana we still have some really big and old oaks. Some not a whole lot like we did when I was a kid. But I know where some truly giant and very old oaks are. Not a lot in one place anymore, when I was younger I seen some woods just clear cut out. Hated to see so many woods awesome tree's just clear cut and nothing put back or anything. Hickory Sycamore, oak, Beach just gone and turned into cornfields subdivision etc.. Sucks heartbreaking my kid's don't get to see and appreciate what I got too. Great video's
Another great video!! I’d love to show you this one big old massive white oak tree, you would be impressed, I find sheepshead mushrooms at the base of it too.
I had 3 of the largest oaks 2 pin and 1 live oak in the town i used to live in, i literally had people stop and get out of their cars to hug my trees :)
Had read first settlers into Wisconsin found 8' dbh and bigger, cut to build Chicago. Some amazing split oak log cabins in the Kettle Moraines, still perfectly faced 150 years later.
Love the outro music! You would love the old growth forests still intact in northern Michigan, btw, not to mention the endless waterfalls. Check it out if you ever get a chance?
The black oak you showed appears to be different from the blackjack oak I am familiar with in Oklahoma. Blackjack is so hard that chainsaws often emit sparks from the chain while cutting the wood. They dull a chain rapidly.
Thanks for another brilliant vid! Me and my son have spent a bit of time in north-central PA fossil hunting. It is beautiful. I am curious where that state gameland is?
Loved the video! Where I live in northeast PA the state has been logging many tracts of state game lands, and not necessarily the old growth forests. Those trees appear to be less than 100 years old.
I believe this is State Game Land 58 near Bloomsburg. Anyone can explore Game Lands, but beware of hunting seasons as many are actively used by hunters. Not all have established and maintained trails, so be prepared.
And, also be aware that even if you are not hunting, you are still required to wear blaze orange, visible from 360° when you are on State Game Land if it is hunting season
Chanterelles are mycorrhizal with oaks and beeches. Start looking for them in Mid to late July. Especially a few days after nice soaking rains. In dry years, focus your efforts in moister areas such as near beech and oak stands in coves, low on slopes or near streams.
YA Adam, I easily could had handled an hour of this video. When I was growing up we owned 74 Acers, and had on our place a sugar pine tree that was over 200 + feet tall.
if you want to see some giant old growth oaks you should go to fort Niagara in Youngstown New York figure around in the front end of a car they are insanely huge. I always think to myself the type of things that those trees were around through war-wise etc must just be amazing
Thanks for another great video, Adam! Quick question / observation. At 9:43 you show the triple stem red oak. Do you think it's possible that these multi stem, old trees, were once single stem trees that were logged out? Could it be that the stumps themselves continued to sucker out and that these three stems are the remaining epicormic growths from what was otherwise a healthy root system? I'm a tree climbing arborist in SE Pennsylvania and I see these characteristics from time to time on hickory, maple, birch, etc. Just wondering your thoughts.
