My buddy Mike found some American Chestnut burs on the tip-top of Blood Mountain, GA. This was confirmed by the president of the American Chestnut Foundation and they'd like to collect pollen this summer!
I finally made it to Big Trees Nature Preserve in Sandy Springs, GA to explore and hunt for.. well... big trees! I found some very nice Virginia Pines up on the ridge:
found a state co-champion Shumard Oak on the property of Brookwood Hills Community Club:
this led to a very interesting series of events, including making contact with the community landowners, exploring an extensive mature floodplain forest along Clear Creek (a large tributary of Peachtree Creek), and the discovery and nomination of numerous (new) city and state champion trees!
Big Beech along the floodplain:
Clear Creek:
Champ Sweetgum:
Celtis spp. (probably Sugarberry, but could be Hackberry):
Finally, i got an increment borer and finally started coring some trees on the Fernbank property. I've only just begun and it's quite a challenge. So far I've done 2 Tuliptrees and a Northern Red Oak (this one threw my back out for 4 days!):
zoom on Tuliptree core:
