December 5th, 2006
tree measuring at Mill Pond
On Saturday, as part of our “big tree” project, we decided to measure a few trees while we were hiking a section of the trails at Mill Pond Conservation Area near Portland, Ontario. The following are some of the results. I should mention that the canopies of most of our large eastern Ontario trees are not so large as one might expect. That’s due to the ice storm that hit this area in January ‘98. Few of the older trees escaped unscathed. A good example is the Sugar Maple (pictured below), which has several limbs broken away. In all likelihood, this was a result of the ice storm damage. Click on any of the following photos for a larger view. I’ve included estimated ages based on the Growth Factor Chart on this webpage.
Tree: Sugar maple, Acer saccharum
Location: N44.46.680, W076.11.226 (WGS84)
DBH: 37.89 inches (circumference 119 inches)
Height: 85+ feet
Canopy: 60 feet (a few very outwardly bent branches – and damaged)
Estimated age: approx. 190 years
Tree: Largetooth Aspen, Populus grandidentata
Location: N44.46.720, W076.11.298 (WGS84)
DBH: 22.91 inches (circumference 72 inches)
Height: 90-100 feet (approx. it is growing in a ravine, so difficult to measure)
Canopy: 32 feet
Estimated age: no growth factor listed – perhaps about 60 years.
Tree: American Beech, Fagus grandifolia
Location: N44.46.604, W076.11.273 (WGS84)
DBH: 23.23 inches (circumference 73 inches)
Height: 68 feet
Canopy: 42 feet
Estimated age: no growth chart – probably about 200+ years based on sources that Wayne from Niches was able to locate – see his comments accompanying the Beech tree on this page.
Tags: tree measuring, Sugar maple, Acer saccharum, Largetooth Aspen, Populus grandidentata, American Beech, Fagus grandifolia