Tuesday, December 21, 2010

We're #5?

Well this list of the fastest growing trees puts Nuttall oak at number 5, behind:
1. Paulonia
2. Hybrid willow
3. Lombardy poplar
4. Hybrid poplar

Considering the above trees have a combined life span of about a decade, number 5 for a long-lived oak is pretty dang good.

Paulonia produces very valuable wood, and the willows/poplars have important uses as well in windbreaks, stream bank stablization, and pulpwood production.  But Nuttall oak produces high value timber while feeding legions of wildlife - and us if we let it.

This site uses the same dubious math:  7 to 8 feet per year in growth = 25 to 30 feet in three years. 
I must have skipped that day of Forest Inventory (highly likely, since I skipped most days of Forest Inventory) when this type of growth modeling was discussed!

No comments:

Post a Comment