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 ...
“BTW, how do you cut and split a 17 foot diameter tree?”
36” chain saw, wedges and a sledge. 3 men 10 hours. Easy.
Cut a 6’ path right through it. Easier if its dead and dry.
And make a new song called “99 Luftbaum”!
“Sierra Nevada’s famed Trail of 100 99 Giants”
Best post of the thread. LMBO.
Pretty soon those trees will have Constitutional rights!
I did! And, boy, did it bring the house down!
# 6 Ask Rick Perry
You can’t harvest old growth redwoods even if the wind knocks them down. They will never rot into the ground either. Eco-nazis own the forests.
Pray for America
Following a tragedy of this magnitude only one course of action is possible.
Close the park.
Close the state.
Close the Earth.
There will be counselors in the cafeteria for the poor, the women and the children.
do
buildtable()
while wood = true
We can indeed all respect the story of this grand old tree without holding a teary candlelight vigil. Mocking the misplaced emotions of tree-hugging hippies is one of FR's core directives - it's probably written in our vision statement.
Our realistic attitude towards trees doesn't make us Saruman: we are stewards of the earth, not its chief mourners.
“I say, bore a big olhole in it and make it a natural bridge/tunnel that people can just stroll through.”
I say leave it in place, tunnel under it, and make picture/word displays for why the tree fell, and how the fallen tree recycles itself, into nutrients on the forest floor, etc.
IOW an educational nature display.
Out West we have big trees, big mountains, big canyons, and they are worth protecting for people to marvel at the majesty, and learn about things in nature.
That was along my line of thinking. Other than reserving the scientific and some cultural pieces, I'd maybe try to make collector's sets out of the pieces set to historical happenings. "This piece includes growth during 1776!", "This section grew when there were no Kennedys in office!", etc
"Collect Them ALL!"
Are you familiar with oxygen?
Are words like erosion, photosynthesis and phytoremediation in your vocabulary?
How about more simple words, like lumber, firewood and aspirin?
Thats what I say. Just cut hole in it and let everyone walk through.
Yes.
Dear Tyrone13. It is a tree. It is dead. Trees die. Get over it. And before you start your enviro-preaching about what I should teach my kids, you may want to check that you aren’t on DU.. this is FR.
Can’t we make sure it’s cut into large flat pieces and made into conference tables for large corporations?
*ducking to avoid incoming flak*
We should wear black to show our mourning, Las Vegas Ron. We should light a candle to remember its passing soul. I will never again look at a toothpick the same way.... a tree gave its life for it. BOOHOOOHOOOOO! (I will add the /s tag like I really have to?!)
Actually, that won’t work because of radial cracks, otherwise they would have cut it as you said, and made altars to Gaia for all the Sierra club chapters.
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