After spending the morning with Guy, Jessica, and Chris (Hewey) we parted ways and I spent some time investigating something that has been bugging me for a long time.
There is a cedar swamp along the north branch of Mt. Misery brook and right in the heart of that swamp is a circle of non-cedar growth. I came across it looking at aerial photos and I was trying to figure why it was there. It has always been there going back to 1930. What was it? Hmmm. today I found out.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.91692031566155&lng=-74.44158911705017&z=17&type=nj2007&gpx=
take a look at MSN birdseye for a more descriptive photo.
Anyway, the cedar swamp was extrememly dense, it was a tough go
My GPS was useless in this swamp and was sending me in several wrong directions when it did work, so I finally abandoned it and did it the old fashion way. Meanwhile, I got around the swamp pretty good. small spungs were everywhere, especially with these high water levels.
this is an un-named spur of mt. misery brook. From the thick of the swamp, I would say it is witnessed seldomly.
I came acros this. A cedar that had apparently been rubbed by deer. However, there was no deer path leading to it, and no other rubs around, also, it was about 5' high from the base and that base sat up on a small hummock. Jersey Devil perhaps? rubbing his still ever growing horns?
there also appeared to be verticle scratches that penetrated the inner bark. This was deep in the swamp.
I feared that my destination was going to turn out to be a maple/blueberry swamp. but when I finally got there I was in for a surprise. Suddenly the elevation increased dramatically and I was surpised to find monster mountain laurel, large pines, sassafrass and sour gum. The understory was quite clear and what appeared to be teaberry covered the ground, however there was no fruit which seems unusual. There was green brier but it was not overwhelming.
Some of these shots were taken from an old tree stand, the only one I found in the area.
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This was interesting. Your eyes are not decieving you. It is an american Holly as tall as the pines. Huge. There were several very large hollys and mountain laurel nearly two stories high.
Here is my glove, to the left on one of the massive holly trunks.
So, in conclusion, I would guess that this abnormal, or unusual inconsistancy within a dense cedar swamp was at one time an island in a once larger watershed. As the water levels lowered (for whatever reason) the cedar took over, but were unable to overtake the highest elevations of the island.
Any other thoughts on this would be welcome.
Jeff
There is a cedar swamp along the north branch of Mt. Misery brook and right in the heart of that swamp is a circle of non-cedar growth. I came across it looking at aerial photos and I was trying to figure why it was there. It has always been there going back to 1930. What was it? Hmmm. today I found out.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.91692031566155&lng=-74.44158911705017&z=17&type=nj2007&gpx=
take a look at MSN birdseye for a more descriptive photo.
Anyway, the cedar swamp was extrememly dense, it was a tough go
My GPS was useless in this swamp and was sending me in several wrong directions when it did work, so I finally abandoned it and did it the old fashion way. Meanwhile, I got around the swamp pretty good. small spungs were everywhere, especially with these high water levels.
this is an un-named spur of mt. misery brook. From the thick of the swamp, I would say it is witnessed seldomly.
I came acros this. A cedar that had apparently been rubbed by deer. However, there was no deer path leading to it, and no other rubs around, also, it was about 5' high from the base and that base sat up on a small hummock. Jersey Devil perhaps? rubbing his still ever growing horns?
there also appeared to be verticle scratches that penetrated the inner bark. This was deep in the swamp.
I feared that my destination was going to turn out to be a maple/blueberry swamp. but when I finally got there I was in for a surprise. Suddenly the elevation increased dramatically and I was surpised to find monster mountain laurel, large pines, sassafrass and sour gum. The understory was quite clear and what appeared to be teaberry covered the ground, however there was no fruit which seems unusual. There was green brier but it was not overwhelming.
Some of these shots were taken from an old tree stand, the only one I found in the area.
This was interesting. Your eyes are not decieving you. It is an american Holly as tall as the pines. Huge. There were several very large hollys and mountain laurel nearly two stories high.
Here is my glove, to the left on one of the massive holly trunks.
So, in conclusion, I would guess that this abnormal, or unusual inconsistancy within a dense cedar swamp was at one time an island in a once larger watershed. As the water levels lowered (for whatever reason) the cedar took over, but were unable to overtake the highest elevations of the island.
Any other thoughts on this would be welcome.
Jeff
But seriously, what causes this? Seems like squirrels or birds are the likely culprits. Or could it be some kind of insect?
