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I was out turkey hunting in the Gallitzin State Forest close to my house in an area known as Pot Ridge. This area was strip mined for about a good 25 to 30 years and has finally been backfilled. DCNR has been planting many different types of trees. Since it was too foggy and windy to see or hear any turkey, I decided to get some pictures of the plantings.

This is the area that was planted. They did an excellent job in posting the types of trees planted.





Anybody ever hear of Gambel Oak?



Stoney Hill Pear.



Hear are the other trees they planted.

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trapperrick@comcast.net

Cool!! Nice to see the land turn a new page in its use. Looks like 10-15 years from now, you might be able to gather enough goodies to make your own jam or wine

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"And God said, Let us make man in our image …and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, …the fowl of the air…and all the creatures that move along the ground.
Genesis 1:26

Looks like a freaking cemetery . What are the white pipes for, hold water? I suppose it's a good idea maybe. What grew there before the mining? Any girls?

Looks like a freaking cemetery .

That was the first thing I thought of, also.

Those are plastic tubes that the tiny trees grow up through and keep the deer from eating them. If they didn't do that, the deer would wipe them out. That is a common practice done in this area.

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trapperrick@comcast.net

I've tried to get by with using green colored chicken mesh and tall tomato cages around my little trees and shrubs to keep the deer from clipping them off. I've had mixed results especially with the chicken wire because they can get moved around by heavy snow or the wind after a while. Maybe I should go for the cemetery look...

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"And God said, Let us make man in our image …and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, …the fowl of the air…and all the creatures that move along the ground.
Genesis 1:26

The tubing also causes the tree to grow quicker in an attempt to reach the sunlight.

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"The bitterness of low quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" ----Benjamin Franklin on duke traps

This all makes sense and has probably been the results of a study, but I will agree with Trappintime, it does look like a cemetery. That is a wide variety of trees.

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Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Rick, you done it now. Showed this thread to my wife[she asked what's funny ] and after reading it all we discussed the use of the pipes. How do they keep the deer from rubbing velvet after they remove the pipes? How long do they leave the pipes on? I'm liking this idea for a few reasons and one of which is to make the pipes with a cross section on so they look even more cemetery like, with names engraved and everything, this will be like decoys to keep the criminal element outta the yard as well as protect the trees from porcupines, deer and rabbits.

To my understanding of it, once the tubes come off there really is no protection, so the only deer protection that I see most people use around here are the high deer fences, some electric fences along with that. The tubes protect and allow the tree to get up big enough that deer don't clip off the tops as deer love the fresh "chutes" (sp?). Normally I see longer pipes then what they are using to do this in the photos. Normally like 5-6 foot. By that time the tree is usually big enough a deer won't try to eat it, although fresh branches are usually fair game, but that doesn't normally kill the tree. The best protection for rubbing is keeping them out in the first place.

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"The bitterness of low quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" ----Benjamin Franklin on duke traps

I believe they do not remove the tubes once they get large enough where danger of being damaged. These plastic tubes are fairly flimsy and will break away once the trunk gets large enough. As the tree grows, the branches will stick out above the tubes and the deer will browse on them but by then that will not damage the tree. They also do fencing around here but only do it after an area has been clear cut. Wood prices must be increasing because the timber activity has increased significantly.

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trapperrick@comcast.net