<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6245" face="Calibri"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6233">Heather and I have been walking the Appalachian Trail and
other trails searching for American Chestnuts (@ 2900 so far).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While doing so we observed an interesting
segregation of plants by seed type.<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6411" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
narrow ridges with steep cliff-like sides have a different assortment of
plants, native and non-native invasive than the nearby less steep sided and
broader parts of the ridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The seed
bearing plants are in 3 distinct groups: hitchhikers, berries and windblown
samaras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are apparently no nut
bearing trees such as oaks, walnuts and American chestnuts.</div><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6408"></o:p><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6233"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font>The hitchhikers appear to be mostly the non-natives garlic mustard
and Japanese stilt grass with similar native plants which stick to the shoes of
hikers and animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Berries are
apparently eaten by birds and carried up the ridges before being defecated as
they leave roosts and perches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
non-natives are Japanese barberry, mile-a-minute, Russian olive, autumn olive,
the bush honeysuckles (primarily <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">L.
morrowii</i>) and some Japanese honeysuckle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The most common native is poison ivy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The windblown samaras are mostly the native maples and non-native
Tree-of-heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter I saw at
Tucquan Glen in Lancaster County, PA at the top of a cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My guess is that an occasional strong
updraft develops on the mountains with cliffs which blow seeds to the top of
these ridges.</div><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6398"></o:p><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6233"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font>Admittedly the soils are poor, thin and often dry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, that does not account for all the
missing plants such as oaks, hickories and similar which can be found close by on
broader parts of the ridges and the fact that all of the invaders are found in other
situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My thinking is that nuts are
too heavy to be carried by the birds and mammals which normally travel through
and inhabit these narrow steep sided parts of the ridges with trails.</div><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6395"></o:p><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6233">What really made this obvious is that yesterday as we
ascended the AT north from I-81 near Swatara State Park, there were American
Chestnut trees scattered along the trail until we reached the top of the ridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there were no more trees until we
started following a creek with a gentle slope and broad valley down the
mountain a few miles later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time
we found a small cluster within a couple hundred yards of the ridge.</div><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6393"></o:p></font><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6233" dir="ltr"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6257" face="Calibri">What really made this obvious is that yesterday as we
ascended the AT north from I-81 near Swatara State Park, there were American
Chestnut trees scattered along the trail until we reached the top of the ridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there were no more trees until we
started following a creek with a gentle slope and broad valley down the
mountain a few miles later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time
we found a small cluster within a couple hundred yards of the ridge.</font></div><o:p></o:p><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436212117052_6233" dir="ltr">
</div></div></body></html>