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 ...
Nice link, thanks!
We have a winner!
You guys are really gonna piss off Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and
Meriadoc, not to mention Gandalf, he is really a great respector of the Noble Ents..
Granddaughter says I should get one of those. BTW she is the granddaughter that stacks my wood in the shed as I cut and split so she has skin in the game.
Patio furniture.
Cut it up for lumber, build some exclusive houses with it and sell the 'special' houses.
Um...with Arthur, the round table and the knights being mostly fictional...when exactly was that?
A wire saw could be used to cut it into managable sections, however I do like the above suggestion of selling little cubes of it. At ten bucks a pop you could make some serious bank.
Lookin’ at the weather, today’s probably a good day to have her haul some into the house.
Nice change of pace thread CW;)
#1 Cut a pass through with hand rails etc.,
#2 Sell the wood as one poster suggested - in 1” squares. Should raise $millions for the State.
#3 Send slices to other National Parks - showing the rings - and climate changes throughout the centuries.
#4 Allow furniture manufacturers to bid on what is left and make more money for the State treasury.
#5 Make a documentary of the disposition of this natural treasure and sell to HGTV.
In sections — go in as far as possible each time with a chainsaw. Use the lumber to erect a building in memory of the tree.
I would say it is better than even money that this happens before it's over.
Yeah...my thought too....maybe it is/was an Ent.
Would it help similar trees to enclose the base in a ground retaining wall, filled with more soil? Deep enough that allowing people on top of it would not hurt the trees’ roots?
Great photosgraphs - thanks for the link.
From back when most Americans had a “Can Do” approach to life.
These men cut a 26’ diameter redwood tree into logs with hand tools and they didn’t have even one government financed study to tell them why it couldn’t be done.
(photo says 26’, text says 36’ - either way it’s huge)
Most dangerous occupation in America.
Hire illegal aliens to do it.
Already burning, been snowing since 1.
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