The giant sequoia lies across the popular Trail of 100 Giants at Sequoia National Forest, Calif. No one was hurt when it fell. (Sequoia National Forest / September 30, 2011)
Posted on 10/29/2011 12:26:50 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The giant sequoia lies across the popular Trail of 100 Giants at Sequoia National Forest, Calif. No one was hurt when it fell. (Sequoia National Forest / September 30, 2011)
Along the Sierra Nevada's famed Trail of 100 Giants, the mammoth sequoia had stood sentry since King Arthur's knights gathered at the Round Table.
It witnessed the arrival of the first European settlers and the flurry of miners in search of gold. The onset of the Medieval Warm Period and the passing of the Little Ice Age. It stood, unperturbed, through the Great War and the one that followed.
Then a month ago, as a handful of amazed tourists looked on, it toppled — crushing a bridge over a small stream and blocking the path.
Now, the U.S. Forest Service must decide what to do.
Slice a big hole in the 300-foot-long roadblock? Go around it? Over it? Under it?
When you're dealing with a 1,500-year-old sequoia in a national monument, the questions aren't just logistical. They're environmental, emotive and potentially legal.
Officials closed the popular tourist trail, cleared the debris and solicited ideas from the public on how to deal with the fallen giant — actually two trees fused at the base.
Among the 30 or so suggestions: Reroute the trail. Tunnel under the trunks. Carve steps and build a bridge over them. Sell what would be one heck of a lot of firewood.
"This has not happened in the Sequoia National Forest before," said public affairs officer Denise Alonzo, explaining the indecision.........
In considering its options, the Forest Service wants to keep the paved path accessible to the disabled and make sure nothing is done to damage the root systems of surrounding trees, Alonzo said........
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
As Rush says, the most beautiful thing about a tree, is what you can do with it once you cut it down.
I do! I see trees that once cut down give us homes, furniture, toys, warmth from firewood and paper, lots and lots of paper.
I see this dead tree and envision all of the above............now lets get the darn thing off the path and move on!
Let me ask this: if this was a prime Texas steer found dead in the middle of the path, would you be so sad about its passing and engaging in an online conversation on how to deal with it or would you be thinking about a bar-b-que?.....
Don't know about the aspirin thing but the outcome of this dead tree should definitely be lumber or firewood........
So what do you do with YOUR dead plants Teeny? Do you bury them or cremate them?
God made trees and all other plants to serve man, man has dominion over them, yes, Man has the responsibility to take care and nurture them, but solely in Man’s best interest.
Mine too........I need to move but I'm trapped in a big city environment with no place to go alone.....
Go old school on it....
There are shops along Hwy 101 in humbolt county where you can buy burls that have been cut off of redwood trees. If you place one in a bowl or bucket of water they will shoot off new sprouts in a short time, and then roots.
Sequoias are hearty trees.
Hey Huck, go get Tom Sawyer and paddle your ass down the river..do us all a favor..
Although some on this thread would have you believe I worship trees as gods or treat them as human, that is not the case. I just think that the passing of a thing that has been alive that long is something rare and unusual.
I also think that most humans are idiots and incapable of appreciating the magnitude of anything being able to live for over a thousand years. Their tiny brains are just not able to comprehend anything being more important than beer, sex, and taking a good crap.
It is much more fun to be a sarcastic asshole and make fun of anyone who finds something that old to be an awesome thing.
As to the aspirin thing, I suppose I could be like some on this thread and call you an idiot for not knowing what I am talking about, but I won't. One person can't know everything.
Thank you for your service.
It's not that rare at all, it happens continuously in the sequoia forest......it's just that that particular dead tree fell across that hiking trail and nobody knows what the hell to do about it.........nobody with common sense that is.
Dead trees, even in the sequoia forest is not an unusual event Teeny, it's a regular event. So stop patting yourself on the back and attempting to declare yourself an elitist simply because you happen to have an affinity for trees that do die and fall down.
The only difference between you and us is that we know what to do with fallen trees..........
America's epitaph right there.
I feel sorry for any kids that have parents that teach them to mourn and boo hoo over a tree...like us, they are all going to die at sometime. Should kids also cry over carrots and tomato’s. IT IS A TREE.....AND I WILL REPEAT...IT IS A TREE. DO YOU HAVE ANY WOOD FURNITURE IN YOUR HOME....THAT IS ALSO A TREE... geeze..
LOL trees use carbon dioxide to make oxygen and it has been deemed by those that think like you to be a pollutant...So they want all the trees to die by starving them of carbon dioxide that they need to make oxygen...What a bunch of idiots.
post 214 should have been to you and teeny. I put in momofthree, don’t know who she is, but will be surprised to get the post..blame it on old age, thats good for something..:O)
I didn't.
those that think like you ...What a bunch of idiots.
You know, I have tried to be pleasant through this exchange. So you and I have different opinions. Big deal.
Holy crap I hate people, buncha nasty jerks typing mean crap over the internet. Honestly, I have no idea why people take the time to be assholes.
Must have had one hell of a telegraph system in order to witness something that happened a half a world away.
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