Murrysville's Duff Park home to 'old growth' trees

A patch of old growth trees has been identified at Duff Park in Murrysville.

The patch, which covers about 5 to 7 acres, contains about 30 different species of the tree.

According to Tony Quadro, a forester with the Westmoreland Conservation District, for a forest to be considered an old growth it must be undistributed, or not cut, for about 150 years or more.

"We identified as many species as possible that would be interesting to the public to show the existing trees," said Pia van de Venne, president of Friends of Murrysville Parks.

The identification project began in late 2009 when the municipality asked a Friends of Murrysville Parks committee if there was anything they wanted done in Duff Park.

According to van de Venne, the group had the identification project in mind for some time.

"We wanted to do this for educational purposes. The feedback so far is very positive, people are very interested," the Murrysville resident said.

In addition to identifying the trees' species, van de Venne and a group of volunteers have measured the trees and have estimated their ages.

That wasn't an easy process, Quadro said.

"I spent two days with Pia providing technical assistance. I helped identify the species and measure the diameter and the height of the trees.

"There is no exact way to get the age of the tree without cutting it down or causing some damage, and we didn't want to do that," Quadro said.

Quadro took two measurements -- the height of the trees and their circumferences.

To determine the height of the trees, Quadro used an instrument called a clinometer.

"You walk about 100 feet from the tree and use the instrument. It gives you a direct measurement," he said.

According to van de Venne, the tallest tree they identified was a Red Oak. It was 145 feet tall.

So far, van de Venne and several volunteers have installed metal identification signs by 30 of the trees. Each sign is different, and they describe the fruit, leaves and bark of the tree, and include illustrations.

There are plans to label more trees, and van de Venne said they plan to create a brochure that details the locations of the trees in the park.

Both Quadro and van de Venne hope that the public will see the importance in such a find.

"Old growths are pretty rare, especially in Westmoreland County," Quadro said.

"Hopefully more people will become aware of this and will appreciate it more."