big reed pond maine

The core showed 154 rings. “It’s almost impossible to determine the age of a tree by coring it,” he said. Photo by Joe Rankin. There was a general recognition that use on Big Reed Pond, because it was a remote pond, was very low. Big Reed Pond — one of those lakes — was under threat. Vickery was conservation programs director at the time. The fishery was endangered when someone illegally introduced rainbow smelt into the pond, but the state reclaimed the pond and reintroduced the blue-backs in 2011. We were in Big Reed Forest Reserve in northern Maine, a couple of hours by gravel road northwest of Baxter State Park. It wasn’t easy bushwhacking through this forest. the Beetle Mountain, ME US Topo Map quadrant. The primary disturbance factor, he said, was wind. Lissa Widoff was a field biologist in her 20s when she came to Big Reed Pond in the 1980s to organize field teams doing an assessment in advance of a possible purchase by The Nature Conservancy. I had come here because I wanted to see what a true old forest looks like. Maine Trail Finder is a free online resource that promotes active outdoor recreation in the state of Maine. Save for the green outhouse of treated OSB. They would marvel over the little sheltered spots, microhabitats where the soils were richer trip back across the pond was literally a breeze – thanks to the brisk tailwind. This is a list of fish species known to be present in this lake. It’s amazing, when you think about it, that the Big Reed tract of virgin forest has been right here for centuries, but virtually no one has known of it. The beginning of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem Evangeline leapt to mind: This is the forest primeval. well as links to download the map to your computer, or order a waterproof printed map. The trek took us through several old beaver bogs, wet and, well, boggy. Charr had survived thousands of years just to face rainbow smelt, a fish native to some waters in Maine, but illegally introduced into Big Reed Pond. Sferra needed to make a periodic inspection of the two rustic pond-side cabins the Conservancy leases to a sporting lodge; Cutko simply wanted to visit the reserve again. “It was a very fast-growing tree,” said Sferra, looking at the core through the hand lens. Others argue that the term should be applied more broadly to forests with old trees and old-growth characteristics, even if they were harvested 100 or 200 years ago. Sferra estimated its diameter at 30 to 32 inches; Cutko puts it at 26 to 28. Big Reed Pond is located in northern Piscataquis County, about three miles north of the Pinkham Road. The cabins are leased to Bradford Camps on Munsungan Lake, whose pilot owner flies fishermen in and out in a floatplane for one-day or multi-day fishing trips. Big Reed Pond is displayed on the Beetle Mountain USGS quad topo map. Smelt caused charr numbers to plummet, competing with them for food and feeding on newly hatched charr. Located along the Mattawamkeag River in Aroostook County, Reed Forest provides important habitat for species such as Atlantic salmon, bald eagle, northern goshawk, and Canada lynx. In the years since, the chapter has taken on projects in interior Maine that dwarf Big Reed several times over in terms of acreage and cost: as just one example, the 185,000-acre St. John River Forest was a $35 million buy. Big trees, widely spaced. Most preserves were smaller and on or near the coast, especially islands. Expanded its horizons, so to speak. We continued around the pond, again climbing over downed trees through woodland populated by their towering, still-living relatives. Big Reed Pond was the site of an ambitious state-led “reclamation” aimed at restoring native populations of bluebacks and brook trout that had been decimated by invasive fish. “I should have brought a diameter tape,” he said. This location's average precipitation levels are Below are weather averages from 1971 to 2000 according to data gathered from the nearest Big Reed Pond is located in northern Piscataquis County, about … She guided us along with GPS on her iPad, but we could occasionally catch glimpses of the pond on our right. But there came a time in the 1980s when they felt like they couldn’t afford not to harvest, she said. Even as the tragedy was unfolding on Big Reed bucket biologists were creating another at Wadleigh Pond, which had been providing the best Arctic char fishing in the state. A couple of log cabins sat farther up in the woods, creating a frontier scene straight out of the early 1800s. Fraver, now a professor at the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources, spent a significant chunk of six years working at Big Reed while doing research for his doctorate on the historical disturbances that influenced the development of Big Reed’s old-growth forest. When it comes to old-growth forest, there’s debate about what the term actually means. Related terms: backwater, lac, lagoon, laguna, pond, pool, resaca, waterhole. Big Reed feels old, and it’s not just because of the imposing, ancient trees. Kinahabogang dapit sa palibot ang Reed … And as he will tell you, coring trees not just to get a quick idea of age but to really learn in detail about their history and the history of their environment – dendrochronology, it’s called – is not a simple task. Email Us Or Call: temperature measurements is CLAYTON L which is approximately 29 miles away and has an elevation of 1,000 feet (132 feet lower than Big Reed Pond). The Pingree family knew about it, of course, because they owned the land and had done timber cruises and visited the camps on the shore of the pond, said Barbara Vickery. Photo by Hal Morgan. “To traverse areas hit by wind or other natural disturbance, mature trees were fallen like pick-up sticks. The nearest weather station for both precipitation and Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the Most of the use was supported by a couple of guides that worked the water and managed their clients there. Biologists became concerned when it was realized that Big Reed Pond in T8 R10 WELS, a remote area of Penobscot County, was losing its arctic char population because of the illegal introduction of smelts in the water. In the end it was a huge, complicated deal. It is the largest contiguous piece of old growth east of the Mississippi River and contains two-thirds of New England’s remaining old growth, according to the Sierra Club Guide to the Ancient Forests of the Northeast. “I probably have seen more of that preserve than anyone else,” he said matter-of-factly. Tap, tap, tap. We were maybe 10 minutes down the trail when Nancy Sferra made the announcement. Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their To get the most out of the long, slender, fragile cores you have to bring them back to the laboratory, polish and sand them, and examine them under a microscope to determine growth rates, he said. It is centered in a Nature Conservancy old growth forest, and a mile away from the nearest drive-in access. Big Reed Pond has a surface area of 90 acres, maximum water depth of 53 feet, and mean depth of 21 feet, making it one of the shallowest and smallest Arctic charr waters in Maine. (If no species display below, there are no data for this lake in our database. “That’ll take Andy about 10 minutes to core and count,” said Sferra. The plight of Big Reed Pond’s blueback trout began several years ago when smelts were illegally introduced in the pond, according to biologists. So the thousands of contiguous acres at Big Reed truly are unique. I was in the company of Sferra, the stewardship director of the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and Andrew Cutko, the chapter’s director of science. The hike showcased for us one of the classic characteristics of a virgin forest: downed trees. Click on the MAP links to view the statewide species distributions using our Species Mapper. Big Reed is about as remote as any place in Maine, psychically and geographically. Northern Woodlands assumes no responsibility or liability arising from forum postings and reserves the right to edit all postings. There are also almost no big American beeches. It required raising $1.1 million, the largest amount the chapter had ever raised for a single purchase by far. The Big Reed Forest is north of Baxter State Park, and surrounds the pristine Big Reed Pond, a 90-acre lake. Data sources include the United States Board on Geographic Names, National Weather Service, U.S. Census Bureau, NASA, and Google. I only cored 33 of them,” he said. We were hiking in on a rough fisherman’s trail – the only one in the entire reserve. After lunch we took a boat and paddled hard, bucking a stiff headwind across the pond, on the way skirting a huge dead tree lurking just beneath the water’s surface like a woody Loch Ness monster. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife recently restocked Big Reed Pond with Arctic charr after a years-long reclamation effort. The Pingree heirs knew the tract was special because of its untouched nature, and had left it that way. ↑ top Cogbill researched the tract’s history and spent time on site, ultimately concluding that “without evidence to the contrary, the old-growth nature of this area cannot be denied.” Once they got Cogbill’s report, Conservancy staffers “became a lot more confident” that not only was it true, but it was important, even though there were no rare habitats or rare species there, she said. Cutko, bending backward, estimated 85 or 90 feet. It resembles a shiny T-shaped hand auger. That’s when it hired Charles Cogbill, an ecologist and expert on the pre-settlement forest in northern New England, to look at the records and “figure out how this could be true – that thousands of acres could have gone uncut and nobody knew about it.”, Nancy Sferra watches as Andy Cutko removes a tree core. And no big balsam firs. The first part, for 3,800 acres, was a three-way transaction involving land swaps with the state and the Pingree family. Recently, unsanctioned releases of smelt into several ponds in Maine (Big Reed, Wadleigh, and Bald Mountain) have caused worrisome declines in char populations. The lake is home to the blueback char, … The insects were among the worst I’ve ever seen, the black flies in particular. At the time, said Vickery, the chapter was focused on identifying and protecting important habitat for rare species or exemplary natural communities. Vickery, now retired, spent decades with The Nature Conservancy and was involved in the Conservancy’s acquisition of the property. This untouched acreage eventually grew to assume a special place in the hearts of the people who owned it – the descendants and heirs of timber baron David Pingree – and they didn’t go after the wood. Don't show this message again © 2018 by the author; this article may not be copied or reproduced without the author's consent. This same-yet-different forest was a reminder that everything changes, even places that seem like they should exist out of time. The pond has brook trout and a rare char species called a blue back trout. It’s pretty much of a crapshoot.” He switched trees. hemlocks. Thankfully, Big Reed Forest Rereserve in Piscataquis county (Abanaki word meaning "at branch of river"), owned by The Nature Conservancy, was protected and exists in northern Maine some 38 miles away from the nearest town. The winds could be from microbursts. “Based on the record we reconstructed into the past, there were five major budworm outbreaks and they were all equal in severity,” he said. For some shade-tolerant species it’s hard to get an actual age, because it might take decades for them to get to breast height.”. “I just might have to switch to spruce,” he said. Cutko cored a venerable cedar some 32 to 34 inches in diameter. In some instances we weren’t so much hiking as clambering over dead giants, most of them covered in deep layers of cushiony moss and slowly giving themselves back to the earth. “But there was one section here where it was slow-growing, and another here.” The spruce wasn’t particularly tall, certainly not by sequoia standards. Hiding in plain sight. Back to tap, tap, tapping. “This one is pretty hollow,” Cutko said. We have high precipitation evenly distributed throughout the year and fewer lightning strikes than in other areas of the country,” he said. Recent (2010) reclamation is intended to boost the fishing in the pond over the next few years to trophy status. That purchase was completed in 1990; the price: $287,000. Big Reed Pond is in the Lakes category for Piscataquis County in the state of Maine. The oldest spruce he cored in Big Reed had 352 rings, the oldest white cedar 329, and the oldest sugar maple 315. intended to be printed at 22.75"x29" or larger. The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) publishes a set of topographic maps of the U.S. commonly “I think it surprises a lot of people, but fire is not a prime disturbance agent in northern New England’s forests. Photo by Joe Rankin. There are purists who say that only forests like Big Reed’s, which have never been harvested, qualify. You didn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to pick out the beaver sign: the forest was studded with beaver-chewed stumps three to four feet tall, the height presumably governed by snow cover when the rodents were gnawing away. Yellow birches so big and old the brassy, peeling bark of youth had turned gray and furrowed. We landed at a small cove with a weathered dock. Big Reed Pond — one of those lakes — was under threat. There are no aspens, for instance. Reed Pond is truly unique. Photo by Hal Morgan. Photos provided by Flickr are under the copyright of their owners. Discover places to visit and explore on Bing Maps, like Big Reed Pond Maine. Browse interactive trail maps, trail descriptions, pictures, and trip reports. The largest tract of remnant old growth forest in New England. And Vickery thought again of how it is important to have places in the natural world where we can simply observe how things play out without our interference, without our attempts to manage things and play the master puppeteer, pulling the myriad strings. They’re slow growing and they’re in the understory. Some corresponded to major hurricanes. He began tapping on trees with the handle, sort of like using a knuckle to test watermelons for ripeness. Joe Rankin writes on forests from his home in central Maine, about four hours from Big Reed Preserve. topographic maps of the U.S. called US Topo that are separated into Big Reed Pond has a surface area of 90 acres, maximum water depth of 53 feet, and mean depth of 21 feet, making it one of the shallowest and smallest Arctic charr waters in Maine. differences in elevation and topography, the historic weather at the two separate locations “The scale of some of these natural disturbances included very important lessons. Clicking anywhere within a quandrant will display an info window with the map name, as “Primarily summer thunderstorms, not winter windstorms,” he said. It’s a much more dense and tangled experience.”. Beech bark disease had taken its toll and the big old beeches had come down. One hemlock Cutko estimated to be 250 years old. Box 270 This location's average winter low temps are Get directions, find nearby businesses and places, and much more. The virgin forest around it and the blue-backed trout in its depths, however, make it unique. The Conservancy doesn’t do anything to encourage visitation. “That sounds better,” said Sferra. Photo by Joe Rankin. https://www.northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/big-reed-forest-reserve It is 5,000 acres of not just old-growth forest, but virgin forest – forest that has never been logged. Because the nearest station and this geographic feature may have A sign greets people at the end of a rough fisherman's trail that leads to the shore of Big Reed Pond. Still, these trees are a lot bigger, and a lot older, than those in the rest of the Maine forest. OK. This location's average summer high temps are If those times won’t work for you, 12:00AM to 12:00AM looks promising , as does 12:00AM to 12:00AM Remember to adjust these times based on barometric pressure, and weather changes. A couple of years ago Vickery went back to Big Reed, on the same rainy trip Cutko went on. Big Reed Pond Big Reed Pond is a freshwater pond located in Montauk, New York on Long Island.A 128-acre site including the pond, brackish marshland and natural sand dunes was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1973. “Spruces are not hard. Cutko said he’s cored Big Reed spruce at 300 years, “but they’re rare.” By comparison, the average age for a red spruce in the rest of Maine today is probably around 60 years, he said. Charr had survived thousands of years just to face rainbow smelt, a fish native to some waters in Maine, but illegally introduced into Big Reed Pond. It’s not maintained, and we were constantly clambering over or skirting fallen trees to pick up the rough path on the other side. The pond is located in northern Piscataquis County, about 3 miles north of the Pinkham Road. Some people, Sferra noted, might not be all that impressed with Big Reed’s forest. There are no how-to-get-there instructions on the chapter’s website. Kind of like a believed-to-be-extinct species found along the roadside in a suburban neighborhood. Vickery championed the idea of buying that, arguing that this uncut forest needed a bigger buffer from the managed forestland around it. To ensure a respectful dialogue, please refrain from posting content that is unlawful, harassing, discriminatory, libelous, obscene, or inflammatory. While a hollow-sounding watermelon bodes well for your picnic, with trees it’s the opposite. official weather station. She bunked in one of the cabins on the shore of the pond with other team members, putting in 10 days or two weeks at a time before returning to civilization for a few days. Big Reed Pond’s blue-backed trout, a fish rare in Maine, are the draw. | Terms of Service | Privacy PolicySite by eBree Design, Big Reed Forest Reserve: A Place Out of Time. The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) publishes a set of the most commonly used They would have an influence, ultimately on what was harvested or … That last species really stood out. “That’s a pretty nice spruce,” someone said. No white or gray birch. In the mid-nineteen-seventies, the log driving era came to an end. The sale was completed in 1987. “That’s pretty old for that species,” he said. She remembers talking with the first Conservancy staff to visit Big Reed. And so they reached out to the Conservancy. Join us as we discuss the Maine Fishing License options, fishing rules and fishing regulations. He found no history of fire, but said that makes sense. It means the heart of the tree is rotten and the corer will only yield sawdust. The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) publishes a set of the most commonly used topographic maps of the U.S. called US Topo that are separated into rectangular quadrants that are printed at 22.75"x29" or larger. He found a yellow birch with 249 rings, a beech with 210, and an American hophornbeam with 281. Find outdoor events happening around the state. It also taught us that the stereotypical image of an old-growth forest of stately cathedral-like trees is more of a myth. The map now contains brown squares outlining nearby US Topo Map quadrants. Big Reed Pond has a surface area of 90 acres, maximum water depth of 53 feet, and mean depth of 21 feet, making it one of the shallowest and smallest Arctic charr waters in Maine. lower than 95% of other locations on record. Big Reed Pond T8 R10 WELS, Piscataquis, Maine MIDAS 2842 Fish. When big spruce became sought after later in the century, it was apparent that getting them out of the Big Reed Pond basin was just too much of a chore: the outlet stream wasn’t big enough to drive logs down. By the purist metric, Big Reed constitutes 75 percent of the old-growth forest in Maine. A semi-circular insert will then be slipped inside and used to draw out the pencil-sized core. Through Cutko’s hand lens the core showed 226 rings, but again the heart was rotten, so we could only hypothesize as to the tree’s impressive age. These maps are seperated into rectangular quadrants that are Big Reed Pond is a lake located just 36.4 miles from Ashland, in Piscataquis County, in the state of Maine, United States, near Pine Knoll, ME. Alien smelts were discovered there in 2006. The rustic cabin is leased by The Nature Conservancy to a sporting camp operator who rents it out, mainly to fishermen who want to ply the pond for its rare blue-backed trout. If you have additional data, please contact us. Balsam fir were especially vulnerable. Photo by Joe Rankin, He concluded that Big Reed’s disturbance history was mainly one of small gaps being formed in the canopy and “every so often a pulse of disturbances that might take up to 20 to 30 percent of the canopy.”. Sferra took on the task of coring a spruce while the guessing game went on. It took a few moments for the mind to grasp the differences. Big Reed Pond is the largest (90 acres, 36 ha) and is home to a wild population of land-locked Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus oquassa). Big Reed Forest Reserve. (This number does not include subalpine dwarf old growth, which for practical reasons have never been harvested.) They described a very messy forest of big, but not huge, trees, many damaged, lots of trunks on the ground, and “‘oh, by the way, we spent a whole day wandering around this place and didn’t see a single aspen or cherry and hardly any birches.’ Then the difference between that and the surrounding forest became apparent.”. Another thing we noticed traipsing around Big Reed is what’s not there. bosoms. Fraver’s research involved coring trees from 36 research plots representing all the major forest types found at Big Reed. “We’re now officially in old growth.”. known as US Topo Maps. It made for long, tiring days, “especially if you wanted to get to more remote parts of the preserve,” Widoff said. Tap, tap, tap. “It was physically difficult, but despite that I really loved working up there. And every day the scientists got more intimate with the land. To our right was the pond, to our left another silted in beaver bog. Two rare Arctic charr waters, Big Reed and Wadleigh ponds, were recently reclaimed to remove nonnative smelt.

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