FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] balsam fir stand in Johnson County

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

In case no one has noticed before, there is an impressive stand of Balsam
Fir trees (probably Frasier Fir) on Tester Road in Johnson County, TN just
north of Butler.  It is an old Christmas tree farm that has been allowed to
grow up.  The trees are on a two-acre tract purchased by the owner in Feb
1996.  The firs are estimated to be 10-inches in diameter and stand maybe 40
feet tall.  A good guess is that the trees cover most of the tract.

 

Ron Harrington and I discovered the trees while exploring for new habitat
today in Northeast Tennessee.  They are located on the road frontage at 2500
ft. elevation and the stand stretches almost 400 feet along the
right-of-way.

 

These trees suggest two points of interest:

 

1.      How many similar stands of commercial Christmas tree farms have been
allowed to grow towards maturity in the lower slope areas of mountainous
Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia?  Could such stands be easily
spotted from low altitude surveys made from light aircraft as we have done
so many years for both waterfowl on area lakes and rivers as well as
wintering Bald Eagles?   Do we need to keep our eyes open?  What is the
potential?

 


2.      Could such stands attract breeding siskins, kinglets or even
crossbills?  Do the trees produce good cone crops in the winter?  Are these
good places to check on Christmas Bird Counts and at other convenient times?

 

The owner does not live on the property where the fir trees are located.
Ron and I got his name and hunted him down on his job at Mountain City to
learn more about the stand.  He told us he bought the property from an
association or agency which had acquired it from a medical doctor.  The
trees had been growing there before he owned it and that he was under the
impression the doctor may have planted them.  He had no idea how old the
stand was but he did suggest that he thought some or all of the trees were
Frasier Fir.

 

The trees are located at 36° 27.03'N, 81° 54.82'W.  You should be able to
click the URL words     FIR
<http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=17&n=4034305&e=418133&datum=nad83&u=7>  TREE
LOCATION NEAR BUTLER  for a link which will open a map and display a red
asterisk or x where the stand is located.

 

Let?s go birding?..

 

Wallace Coffey

Bristol, TN