Management Guidelines of Natural Monuments Old Trees through an Ananlysis of Growing Environments II -A Focus on Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi provinces-

생육환경 분석을 통한 천연기념물 노거수의 관리방안 II -서울·인천·경기지역을 중심으로-

This study was conducted to formulate management guidelines for monumental old trees in Korea through analysis of growing environments. A total of 20 old trees designated as natural monuments in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi provinces were surveyed for biological characteristics, surrounding environments, root collar conditions, tree health, and soil characteristics. Relationships among root collar conditions, tree health, and soil characteristics were analyzed by correlation. The old solitary trees designated as natural monuments included Pinus bungeana(4 trees), Juniperus chinensis(3 trees), Ginkgo biloba(3 trees), Poncirus trifoliata(2 trees), Actinidia arguta, Wisteria floribunda, Thuja orientalis, Quercus variabilis, Sophora japonica, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, Zelkova serrata, and Pinus densiflora. The tree height ranged from 3.56 to 67m, and root collar diameter ranged from 1.01 to 15.2m. The monumental old trees were growing on the various sites ranging from gardens, historical sites, open agricultural fields, mountain hills, to near the ocean beaches and streams. The coverage of bald land ranged from 50 to 100%, and depth of filled soil around the root collar ranged from 0 to 50cm. Tree health was expressed as the amount of branch dieback, cavity development, detachment of cambial tissue, infliction by diseases and insects. The branch dieback ranged from 5 to 20%, cavity development ranged from 10 to 100$cm^3$, detachment of cambial tissue ranged from 5 to 45%, and infliction by diseases and insects ranged from 5 to 20%. Soil pH ranged from 5.9 to 8.3, organic matter contents from 12 to 56%, phosphorus contents from 104 to 618ppm, while soil compaction ranged from 7 to 28mm. Results of correlation analysis showed that coverage of bald land was the most serious factor to deteriorate the cavity development and detachment of cambial tissue. In addition, chemical properties of soils seemed to be related to the health of the trees.