Giant sequoia falls, raising questions about what to do next

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 29, 2011 | Bettina Boxall

[dfwgator]

As Rush says, the most beautiful thing about a tree, is what you can do with it once you cut it down.

[Hot Tabasco]

look around and marvel in God’s beautiful creations.

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?.....

[Hot Tabasco]

How about more simple words, like lumber, firewood and aspirin?

Don't know about the aspirin thing but the outcome of this dead tree should definitely be lumber or firewood........

[Hot Tabasco]

If I am good to my plants and animals, they are good to me.

So what do you do with YOUR dead plants Teeny? Do you bury them or cremate them?

[dfwgator]

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.

[Hot Tabasco]

The smell of burning leaves is one of my childhood.

Mine too........I need to move but I'm trapped in a big city environment with no place to go alone.....

[DouglasKC]

BTW, how do you cut and split a 17 foot diameter tree?

Go old school on it....

[editor-surveyor]

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.

[Fedupwithit]

Awwwww...it soun ds like Huck wants to leave the little twee where it is...

Hey Huck, go get Tom Sawyer and paddle your ass down the river..do us all a favor..

[teenyelliott]

If the steer in question had been living for one thousand five hundred years I would be equally wistful. I hate to use that word because I find the word itself annoying (kind of like "whimsical", which about makes me puke), but that describes it best. Anyhow, there ain't no way I would eat a thousand year old muscle; I imagine it would be pretty tough.

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.

[Hot Tabasco]

I just think that the passing of a thing that has been alive that long is something rare and unusual.

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..........

[Texas Eagle]

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.

America's epitaph right there.

[goat granny]

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..

[goat granny]

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.

[goat granny]

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)

[teenyelliott]

So stop patting yourself on the back and attempting to declare yourself an elitist

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.

[TASMANIANRED]

Must have had one hell of a telegraph system in order to witness something that happened a half a world away.