Zoar Valley "Gallery of Giants"

Seems a group of forest explorers and tree enthusiasts have found giant trees in one isolated western New York state valley just south of Buffalo. The valley is part of a Nature Conservancy /state conservation project. This landscape, which spans the Cattaraugus Creek Valley in Erie, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties, features hemlock-hardwood forests and some truely unique trees. Six hundred acres of old-growth forest have been surveyed.

• More on Zoar Valley from Championtrees.org
• More on Zoar Valley from Zoar Valley Nature Society

Forest expert Bob Leverett who has measured more than 10,000 trees in the eastern U.S. and knows big trees describes the Valley as "just an extremely unusual, atypical and exemplary example of an old-growth, bottom-of-the-gorge habitat with rich growing conditions".

Outside of the Great Smoky Mountain Park, this valley has produced some of the tallest trees in the United States. The isolation and presence of nurturing Cattaraugus Creek give these trees the best environment in the East for growing tall.

The largest of the Zoar trees are:

• A yellow popar there has grown to 156 feet, twice the average "tulip tree" height. More on yellow-poplar
• A black walnut in Zoar Valley has grown to 150 feet where normal walnuts only grow to 80 feet. More on black walnut
• An American basswood believed to be the tallest in the World at 128 feet. More on American basswood

Zoar Valley Nature Society Photo