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 ...
Cut and hole and rename the place 99 giants. What a bunch of idiots.
LOL, what a bunch of freaks!
Looks like global warming got to it ... er, I mean climate change, ... or rather global climate disruption. Whatever it is, trees don’t just fall down without it being the fault of mankind’s rapacious lust for internal combustion.
Back when men were men, and trees were scared.
You could walk thru the forests, and the trees would slither out of your way...because Paul Bunyan was a hero.
IT’S DEAD TYRONE!!! IS THIS RUDE TOO?
“Human beings are to the Earth what fleas are to a dog. That’s just the way it is...”
Dogs are sentient. The planet isn’t, unless there is a brain somewhere deep inside.
I love trees. The 2 acres I live on in southern AZ had a dozen when I moved here 6 years ago, and now we probably have 75+...and I dug the holes in the caliche and limestone rock by hand.
I love having trees, but I do not worship them. My trees have never seen anything. They don’t have eyes. I’ve planted a lot of trees, and watered them, but they don’t thank me. This isn’t Fangorn, or Middle Earth.
When a tree dies, it is lumber.
Cut a slab of this tree for visitors to see, then chop up the rest for lumber. If the wood is damaged, sell it for firewood.
since it is in a park, it would be very imaginative and cool to carve steps right into it
A huge tree like that is amazing to see, even on its side
or build a bridge over it
I would also suggest getting it up off the ground to retard rotting
We can certainly differ on opinion without lowering ourselves to childish insults, can we not?
I am not wringing my hands, or crying as I type, or planning any kind of Mother Earth ceremony.
I also have a fire in my wood stove as we speak, a wooden house with wooden furniture, and live on land that has native trees as well as hard woods and fruit bearing non-natives that I have planted. People would be super screwed without trees. So yes, I kind of like them.
But what I do not understand is the vitriol of some of you regarding posts that express love, respect and wonder at the ways of the natural world.
Being conservative and being amazed at the complexity of the Earth are not mutually exclusive.
I also don't give a crap what you teach your kids. However, I am the mother to three as well and I teach them everything I can about plants, animals, and the planet we live on, and how best to admire, protect and live in a symbiotic way. I homeschool, and science is a big part of our curriculum.
I have a compost pile and an organic garden that is full of chicken manure, supplied by our own chickens. I thought having chickens would be fun, so our kids can learn the importance of life cycles and the food chain,too.
If I am good to my plants and animals, they are good to me. If I treat them like crap, I get crappier products from them. Now, expand that to a world view and maybe you will begin to understand my admiration for a giant tree that lived for hundreds of years and during that time cleaned the air that we breathe, filtered toxins, provided shade, gave habitat to numerous animals and insects, and on and on. Honestly, the more I type the more I cannot understand why or how people can belittle or minimize the intertwining of relationships of living things. I also figure that I have just written a lot of what you think are super boring words so I'd be surprised if you have read this far. If you have, I hope you are a little less pissy at this point. :)
Clearly, I must be a liberal!!!!!
You two need to chill out a bit with the hate. Sheesh.
Ya, but your trees in Florida are skinny little toothpicks full of swamp worms and mold.
Has anybody suggested drilling cores? A 7-ft core with every year ring? You could make millions.
Nope, he’s idiotic, and now so are you.
make a s*!t load of pencils and sell them at the park.
Their just jealous...The trees in their states are puny little sucker weeds, which wouldn’t qualify as a branch on a giant California redwood.
Ummm, maybe it was your post about trees being better off without mankind, accusing Conservative who don't share your passion of being jerks, or the resort to disagreement as being hate?
Just a thought.
I disagree with that. Trees do lots of things for you in return for your care.
When a tree dies, it is lumber.
I agree with that too, but this is no ordinary tree. Do you not differentiate between a scrub elm and a thousand year old sequoia? I think it is amazing that something can live that long. It doesn't happen often, and when something like that dies I think it is kind of a big deal.
One thousand years. How is that not incredible?
But then again perhaps I am biased. I would rather hang out in a forest with all those stupid useless trees than hang out in a city filled with oh-so-wonderful, always clean, super intelligent humans.
People kind of gross me out. Trees are awesome.
Care to explain why or are you just spoiling for a Saturday night fight after your first six-pack?
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