The center of this valley is mixed hardwoods - white oak, cherry, red maple, red oak, elm, hickory, and walnut.  This is our deepest forest and is extremely diverse as you travel the many trails.  Full Vigor management is gradually making this woods even more spectacular to visit.  Ferns are tall in summer.

A perfectly formed "crop tree" gives me goosebumps.  Here is a nice red oak that is 'as good as it gets'.  If the camera could catch the whole tree, you would see a nicely proportioned crown, that funnels the suns energy  down to this clear butt log.  A productive hardwood tree should be shaped like a funnel - catching the light, converting, and concentrating the available energy for growth of wood.  If the tree's crown is too small, not enough light is captured to be able to grow or even survive.  This 22 inch dbh tree has 400 board feet of lumber - and represents the annual growth of each acre of forest in this valley.

A hardwood tree should have a crown width equal to one third of its total height to achieve optimum diameter growth.  This also gives an approximate guide for spacing between good crop trees in the forest.  Be sure your trees have room to grow!!                          Lets climb out of the valley