The Waverly (Waverley) Oaks

Some of the biggest white oaks ever known in America

The Waverly (or Waverley) Oaks were a group of very large and very old white oaks that grew near Boston, in a corner where the towns of Watertown, Belmont and Waltham meet. I use the past tense because the last of these big old oaks has apparently died. A monument has been erected in their memory.

About 8 years ago, I first read some articles about the Waverley Oaks in turn-of-the-century periodicals in the Library of Congress (LOC) American Memory website. Two of the most extensive and informative articles were:

• "The Waverly Oaks" (with an excellent photo of some of the trees) by Professor C.S. Sargent, published in Garden and Forest, February 19, 1890,
  
• "Waverley Oaks" in The Atlantic Monthly, September, 1877.
  
• I also found some photographs of the Waverly Oaks in the LOC Detroit Publishing Company collection.

The poet, James Russell Lowell, was particularly fond of Beaver Brook and its small waterfall near the ancient oaks. He spoke of the grove of oaks as the "Beaver Brook Oaks," and somehow wrote a poem about Beaver Brook without even mentioning them.

Recently, I've enjoyed reading more about the Waverley Oaks in some of the old books that Google has digitized. In the pieces I've read, there's little agreement about how many trees there were. An 1881 account of the trees, included in a Harpers Magazine article about James Russell Lowell said there were only seven or eight oaks at Beaver Brook and one elm which was dying.

A year later, The Massachusetts Horticultural Society specifically states that the Harpers Magazine article is wrong -- there were twelve or fourteen oaks, not just seven or eight.

I feel sure that Professor C.S. Sargent of Garden and Forest did an accurate count. He was a scientist. He reported in his 1890 article about the Waverly Oaks, "There are in this group, twenty-three large oaks and one large elm growing on an area of two or three acres. The Oaks are all White Oaks with the exception of a single Swamp White Oak."

Similarly, there is much disagreement over the age of the trees with estimates from 100 years to 1000 years and a reported tree-ring count of over 600 on a stump. I don't know who to believe, but I'm inclined again to take the word of Professor Sargent, who wrote that the trees were at most 500 years old.

You can read reports of the enormous size of the trees at the various links I've included here.

Professor Sargent probably wouldn't have liked this sentimental description of the Waverley Oaks, but it's within the age parameters that he granted them.

The magnificent Waverly oaks were mature trees when the keel of the Mayflower touched the gleaming sands of Plymouth harbor.

The south wind played the same soothing melodies through their branches then as now, though the Indian, whose moccasins noiselessly trod the sward at their feet, has vanished from the face of the earth and the humble Pilgrim from Leyden has inspired and created the greatest nation of the civilized world.

The old trees saw the Red man and the Englishman play their parts and are still sturdy—as well they need be— while they listen to the polyglot tongues that now babble around them.

Seasons come and go, leaves ripen and fall, buds unfold into leaf and blossom, but the tree grows on and on and recks not that the white headed old man who thoughtfully reposes in its shade is the same person who sported beneath its limbs in childhood's merry hours.

Source: An 1893 speech by Nathan Mortimer Hawkes

I read in 2001 that the State of Massachusetts was collecting acorns to propagate the last tree of the Waverly Oaks. I can't locate that information on the internet anymore, but I hope the project is still being pursued.

Technorati tags: Waverley Oaks, Waverly Oaks, historic trees, white oaks, Massachusetts trees

Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas at Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky

Restoring a lost ecosystem

Land Between the Lakes (LBL) is a long narrow strip of land that lies between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake in western Kentucky. This inland peninsula was formerly owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In 1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) took over ownership, and LBL is now a National Recreation Area operated by the U.S. Forest Service.

Boating, fishing, camping, and hunting (in season) brings many visitors to LBL. LBL also has an elk and bison reserve, a telescope and a planetarium, an 1860's farm ("The Homeplace"), a nature center, historic sites, and more. There is a significant bald eagle population.

Oak-grasslands restoration planned

Two Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Area (OGRDA), are now being planned and developed. Over 8000 acres will be restored. One area will be located in Tennessee near The Homeplace and the other area will be in Kentucky near the elk and bison range.

When restoration is complete, the oak-grasslands will "create habitat for wildlife, improve forest health, and provide recreational and environmental education opportunities." This promise is quoted from an informational pamphlet published by the USDA Forest Service: Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

The open forests of the past

Today, the upland area included in Land Between The Lakes is mainly a dense, solid-canopied forest. It was not always so. According to old writings and other ecological evidence, the forest was much more open at the time Europeans came to the area. The canopy admitted enough sunlight that a wide variety of grasses and wildflowers covered the ground between and beneath the trees. Areas of open forest were interspersed with grasslands.

Fire was the primary agent that kept the forests open. The American Indians and early settlers deliberately burned the woods on a semi-regular basis.

How the oak-grasslands will be restored

In OGRDA, LBL will re-create the following pre-European conditions:

On upper slopes and ridges across the area, grasslands (less than 10 percent canopy closure) and open oak woodlands (10-60 percent canopy closure) are interspersed in variable mixtures. Understories are dominated by native grasses and wildflowers. Most mid- and lower-slopes support open oak forests (60-80 percent canopy closure), with understories containing regenerated oaks in sufficient numbers to provide for sustaining oak on these sites over time.

Source: PDF document: Abstract for an oral presentation, Tennessee Native Grasslands Workshop, January 24, 2007

First, the trees will be thinned to re-create an open woodland where grasses can flourish. Timber will be harvested with the goal of leaving behind scattered trees of various ages, especially oak and hickory trees. Some trees will be cut and left, to simulate the natural treefall that would occur in a oak-grassland.

Foresters will burn the oak-grassland areas on a regular schedule (every 2 to 12 years) to maintain the balance of trees, grasses, and other plants.

Benefits to plants, animals, and people

As the restoration procedes, it will help up to 40 species of native plants and animals that require a grasslands habitat.

These open conditions will benefit rare of declining species such as Barbed Rattlesnake Root, Barn Owl, Prairie Warbler, Northern Pine Snake and Northern Bobwhite Quail. Other species that will benefit include White-tail Deer, Fox Squirrel, and Wild Turkey.

Source: An informational pamphlet published by the USDA Forest Service: Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

It would be nice if a population of prairie chickens could be re-established in the OGRDA.

The White-tail Deer in LBL don't need any help, in my humble opinion. The area is overrun with them. At one campground where we spent several days, young deer lurked in the woods near the campsites, apparently hoping to find food. At night, big herds of deer milled around the picnic tables and restroom facilities beside the lake.

Hiking, birding, and interpretive trails through the oak-grasslands have been promised. The trails will be an excellent educational and recreational resource.

Partners of the Oak Grasslands Restoration Demonstration Area

The following agencies and organizations are working together on the LBL oak-grasslands restoration project:

• USDA Forest Service
• National Wild Turkey Federation
• The Nature Conservancy
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Quail Unlimited
• U.S. Fire Learning Network
• The Central Hardwoods Joint Venture

Read more about LBL and the oak-grasslands restoration

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (official website)
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (Wikipedia entry)
PDF document: A 2006 informational letter about the proposed oak-grasslands project in LBL

Technorati tags: oak-grasslands, Land Between The Lakes, LBL, ecosystem restoration, native grasslands, Tennessee grasslands, Kentucky grasslands

Fossil of early tree discovered in New York

Prehistoric, fossilized Wattieza trees near Gilboa, New York

In the 1870's a forest of fossilized tree trunks and roots was discovered when a quarry was excavated in Schoharie County, New York, near the town of Gilboa in the Catskill Mountains.

They were early trees of the Wattieza genus, so ancient that they predated dinosaurs. However, nothing was known of their appearance except for their trunks because no crowns were preserved in the fossil bed.

When another fossil-rich area was discovered about ten miles from the original find, the state of New York protected it, and researchers from Binghamton University, New York, international research teams, and the New York State Museum have recently been conducting digs there.

Yesterday, Nature reported that the researchers had found:

... spectacular specimens from Schoharie County, New York, showing an intact crown belonging to the cladoxylopsid Wattieza (Pseudosporochnales)8 (sic) and its attachment to Eospermatopteris trunk and base. This evidence allows the reconstruction of a tall (at least 8 m), tree-fern-like plant with a trunk bearing large branches in longitudinal ranks. (Source)

The reconstruction indicates that the branches of the Wattieza trees were similar to giant fern fronds, and the trees would have dropped 200 or more during their lifespan. At any time, the trunk of the tree would have been bare except for a cluster or clump of fronds at the top. The trunks were probably green inside (rather than woody), and it is possible that the trees conducted photosynthesis. (Source)

Dr [Christopher] Berry (of Cardiff [UK] University) said: "This is a spectacular find, which has allowed us to recreate these early forest ecosystems. Branches from the trees would have fallen to the floor and decayed, providing a new food chain for the bugs living below.

"This was also a significant moment in the history of the planet. The rise of the forests removed a lot of Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere. This caused temperatures to drop and the planet became very similar to its present-day condition." (Source)

Some of the tree fossils have trunks over twice as large as the specimen that has been reconstructed, so it seems likely that many of the trees grew much taller than 8 meters (26 feet).

Read more:
The earliest trees, preserved from trunk to tip
Fossilised trees mystery solved
World's first tree reconstructed
385-million-year-old fossil reveals first tree
Journal features Gilboa trees