Our big tree being measured for the register of big trees in Maine.Forest Ranger Merrill Ring arrived at our house this morning in 9 degree temperatures to officially measure our "big tree".
It is a mile round trip, the snow was two feet deep and I followed him all the way to the tree. He had to officially measure what Molly and Beth had measured in December.
At the end of December, Molly and Beth came over and we hiked on snow shoes to measure our big white pine. I had seen an article in the paper where you could register your tree if you thought it could make the register of big trees in Maine, but it had to be done by December 30th.
Armed with a 20 foot tape measure and a 12 inch ruler, we set out to make history. Snow shoes are okay for walking, but try walking around this tree to measure the circumference when the back side is a gully, especially when the tree is 20 feet around. Molly was a good trooper and she and Beth measured it at 20 feet. The ranger got 19.5.
Then we had to measure the crown. How in the world can this be done.? Molly said, "Grandmom, you stand under where the limbs reach out on one side and I'll go on the other." This distance had to be measured. Again Beth and Molly mastered the gully. Would you believe in this crude manner we got a crown of 73 feet and the ranger got 68.6? Again, a plus for the ladies.
The ruler did not give us a fair way to measure the height of the tree as we couldn't get far enough away, so we missed it quite a bit. We over estimated!!!! Anyway the ranger got 112 feet. Using a formula of adding the inches in circumference, to the height of the tree and a quarter of the crown, we had 362 points. The Champion white pine in Maine has 379 points and the ranger actually thinks it died.
So where does that leave us? As soon as Augusta confirms the figures, we may have the largest white pine in Maine sitting right here on Postlude Farms in Sumner, Maine.
3 comments:
Well, I don't want to jinx your chances, but congratulations. I guess you will need to set up a refreshment stand and restrooms for all the tourists who will want to hike your trails and see Grandpa Pine. I could come up and organize the Postlude Police. I hope he makes the record books.
whoohooo!!! I'm thinking postcards, t-shirts, souveneir spoons, shot glasses, and a nice collection of women's winter wear all with the theme of the giant white pine.
Makes the pines in Mississippi look like tooth picks. The Texican needs to come up with a poem for your big tree.
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