@deborah-carey I'm in the East Bay, so that's why I said I wasn't overly worried. As you said, the forest management programs here are top-notch, especially in the old-growth forests. Those old guys (and gals?) were here long before us, and will be here long after we're gone. ?
I thought I would post a quick update on the big basin fire. It was a pretty good night for the fire fighters here in the bay area. There is no fire in the park now, but the surrounding ares is not yet cleared. The trees for the most part appear to be OK,but the infrastructure will have to be rebuilt. Check out the link for more pictures... were there are green leaves.. there is life.
Mercury News reported on Friday that while “the vast majority” of the park’s redwoods are still standing, several have fallen, including one ancient redwood that had a base “more than a dozen feet across.” The News also reported that nearly every one of the park’s redwoods had been “scorched.”
“We are devastated to report that Big Basin, as we have known it, loved it and cherished it for generations, is gone,” the Sempervirens Fund, a nonprofit whose mission is to protect and preserve redwoods, said in a statement. “Early reports are that the wildfire has consumed much of the park’s historic facilities. We do not yet know the fate of the park’s grandest old trees.”
https://time.com/5882581/redwoods-big-basin-california-fires/
BOULDER CREEK, Calif. — When a massive wildfire swept through California’s oldest state park last week it was feared many trees in a grove of old-growth redwoods, some of them 2,000 years old and among the tallest living things on Earth, may finally have succumbed.
But an Associated Press reporter and photographer hiked the renowned Redwood Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Monday and confirmed most of the ancient redwoods had withstood the blaze. Among the survivors is one dubbed Mother of the Forest.
“That is such good news, I can’t tell you how much that gives me peace of mind,” said Laura McLendon, conservation director for the Sempervirens Fund, an environmental group dedicated to the protection of redwoods and their habitats.
But an Associated Press reporter and photographer hiked the renowned Redwood Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Monday and confirmed most of the ancient redwoods had withstood the blaze.
As I expected. ;-) It will take more than a fire to take down the ancients.
The New York Times Magazine has an article up called "The Social Life of Forests", on the work of Suzanne Simard, professor of Forest Ecology. @jeanne-mayell , i think you would be interested in this. It talks about how trees communicate and share resources, and things like how dying trees can "will" their carbon to other trees, even different species. How the forest is one lifeform, and not just a collection of individuals. It hits on the idea that Darwinism, and it's "survival of the fittest", is as untrue as it is ugly.
“There are no individuals. There aren’t even separate species. Everything in the forest is the forest.”
And here is a TED Talk by Dr. Simard- "Nature's Internet: how trees talk to each other in a healthy forest: https://youtu.be/breDQqrkikM
@unk-p. Love that you brought up Simaud's work. I think of the trees as our caretakers too. Ever since she called the bigger trees "Grandmother Trees," it changed the way I think of the world.
We can also be grandmother trees for each other.
I love how you describe the significance of her work, the falseness of Darwin's survival of the fittest.
I love listening to trees. When I was a little girl, our backyard was filled with apple trees (sixteen in all) that backed up to a great pine forest. My friend and I would gallop like colts through that forest. We pretended we were horses living among Indian tribes. I don't know where we got this notion, but we were half wild and so happy.
No matter what chaos was happening at home, I was healed in the forest. Yesterday I read these lines from Shelley:
...in solitude or in that deserted state when we are surrounded by human beings and yet they sympathize not with us, we love the flowers, the grass, the waters and the sky. In the motion of the very leaves of spring in the blue air there is then found a secret correspondence with our hearts. — Percy B. Shelly
Wow, Jeanne, that is really beautiful. You know, my yard is completely forested. There are multiple layers of canopies- some of the trees were ones i planted 30 years ago, when this was a rental house that i was helping someone fix up (i had no idea that i would ever live in it, or even in this state). But it is a small lot, inside the loop. I have often had to remove small saplings, just because there are so many, or too many of one variety, as i don't want a monoculture. But whenever i do this, it feels like the older trees are not relieved to have more resources available to them (water being a big one). Instead, it feels like my whole forest is just aghast that i could do such a thing. After reading Simard, i can see why. Wondering if i should write her and ask her about that?
...........I love listening to trees. When I was a little girl, our back yard was filled with apple trees (sixteen in all) that backed up to a great pine forest. My friend and I would gallop like colts through that forest. We pretended we were horses living among Indian tribes. I don't know where we got this notion, but we were half wild and happy.
No matter what chaos was happening at home, I was healed in the forest. Yesterday I read these lines from Shelley:
...in solitude or in that deserted state when we are surrounded by human beings and yet they sympathize not with us, we love the flowers, the grass, the waters and the sky. In the motion of the very leaves of spring in the blue air there is then found a secret correspondence with our hearts. — Percy B. Shelly
Thank you Jeanne & Unk!!!
Love love this ?????
You made my whole day (night)!
Jeanne, I did the same thing as a wildchild living near a national forest in CA ???
The great mycologist Paul Stamets has written a series of books on mushrooms, their beneficial presence and interconnectedness with the forests and decribes the fragile intricate ecological.system.... maybe a Druid in a former life.
" We must tread softly on the web of life, or else it will unravel beneath us ...Living in harmony with our natural environment is key to our health as individuals and as a species "
~Paul Stamets (Mycelium Running)
Wow, Jeanne, that is really beautiful. You know, my yard is completely forested. There are multiple layers of canopies- some of the trees were ones i planted 30 years ago, when this was a rental house that i was helping someone fix up (i had no idea that i would ever live in it, or even in this state). But it is a small lot, inside the loop. I have often had to remove small saplings, just because there are so many, or too many of one variety, as i don't want a monoculture. But whenever i do this, it feels like the older trees are not relieved to have more resources available to them (water being a big one). Instead, it feels like my whole forest is just aghast that i could do such a thing. After reading Simard, i can see why. Wondering if i should write her and ask her about that?
That's interesting. I had a mirror-image experience a few years ago when we had to take down seven enormous, dying laurel oaks on our semi-feral city lot. This species grows huge but only lives 70 to 100 years and these were at the end of their lifespan, rotting inside and dropping branches during every storm. Two different arborists said they were likely smash someones roof in, if not kill somebody.
I grew up in a forest and have a really hard time seeing trees cut down, but these had to go. I went to work the day it was done so as not to have to witness it. (My husband stayed to watch the crews.) When I returned I was quite surprised to experience a feeling of freedom, ease, and breath. I don't know if that was my subconscious being relieved I wouldn't be smashed by a falling tree, or whether it was the younger, smaller trees being happy to be out of of the shade and competition. Probably a bit of both.
@stargazer Love Paul's work. I take numerous Host Defense products of his as well. I find them efficacious .
So about 8 months ago I asked a question about trees - and I mentioned one that was growing too close to the house and my wife's desire to remove it. While we have not reached a consensus on that, my description of why it was problematic was puzzling, so I have attached a picture of it here for all to see :-)
You can see it is growing very, very close to the foundation. It's all a rock foundation below it (no basement access, we call these a Michigan Basement) at this point but my wife is worried about how the roots will grow and affect the foundation at this corner of our house. (It was built in 1865 when the builder returned home from fighting in the Civil War). No further additional advice needed at this time, I just wanted to show you what we were dealing with.
And now, for no reason, a pretty picture taken right across from that at one of my favorite spots in the spring - when the lilacs bloom :-) No lilacs right now, but this snowfall this weekend was incredibly pretty! It's "zen" over here at the moment.
@dannyboy That is so pretty, I love trees! I never like taking trees down, but those seem a little close. When they're big you might have issues with branches falling on the roof, if your area gets windy at all. But they are beautiful. I'm sure they're lovely to see through the windows.
@jeanne-mayell - Yes! They DO look like two trees! It's one of those trees that immediately branched off after growing about a foot. We're not certain on the kind. Interesting enough I was in the safe the other day and pulled out the inspection on the house the year we bought it - it wasn't even there in 2005, so whatever it is it grows quickly.
In the summertime, its branches are covered with leaves that almost look like the walnut tree we have out back, but - our yard is comprised solely of weed plants and trees so it's probably something different. (Plus, no walnuts from this one - yet at least, maybe it's still too young)
Those branches shield the living room windows in the summer, and when taken in combination with the large Poplar tree just outside (so big it would take three of me to go around it linking arms) our house stays 20 degrees cooler than the ambient temperature outside during the summer months. That poplar has to go too - it's still alive but it has a massive hole in it that my wife worries about.
This is exactly the stupidest thing for me to be worried about, two trees at a house. I just have an odd affinity for both of them specifically - as if they're kind of ensuring that we're protected. We get MASSIVE winds out here and the large Poplar is right outside our bedroom window so my wife is convinced it's going to fall on us someday. It's the tallest tree in the area - I often use it as a landmark when giving directions.
I've stalled their removal for the next year or two at the least, given that I had a quote from a friend on what it would cost to remove them. Obviously I could do the mystery tree myself, just not the poplar. It's cost prohibitive at the moment, so I told my wife she'd have to save up to afford the removal ?
@dannyboy I am an Arborist, so you know I love trees. That said, I would be very concerned about a fast growing, volunteer tree so close to my house. It could cause major foundation problem, as well as pipe problems if it is near the water or sewer lines. The root system of most trees is similar to the size of the crown. So it may be easier to remove it before it causes major damage to your house.
On a separate note, it looks like you have a beautiful piece of property and a lovely favorite spot to enjoy in the spring. ?
@dannyboy, I remember that! Was just thinking about it:-) I agree that it does look it can cause damage... When you talk about cost of removing are talking about hiring people to chop it down? (even typing it feels horrid:s)
@mtgal99, Would it be possible to move a tree like this to another spot? Not sure if Dannyboy would want to or even can, but perhaps that is also an option if done very carefully with enough help to dig it out?
Okay! I have a spring project now :-) Though being country we have septic and that and our well are on the other side of the house, but I know - unfortunately - that you are all correct. I just love that tree.
For the big poplar tree we were quoted about $2500 which, given its size, actually seemed cheaper than I thought, but more than I have to spend on one thing, especially while the tree is alive.. I'll try to get a good picture of that one later. It's really impressive. Really, really impressive!
@mtgal99 - Volunteer tree is exactly my entire yard :-) I love this phrase and will now call ALL my volunteer trees by this name.
@dannyboy You've been given sound advice. I have a near-Druidic reverence for trees, but sometimes they have to go. This is one of those times.
It might be nice if you talked to the tree before it comes down and tell it thanks for the shade and protection, but its roots are undermining your house.
And, If you can get any seeds off the trees, it would be a sign of respect if you could help the tree continue on in a way. You could try to sprout them in small pots and then plant the seedlings in a more appropriate spot on your property. (Plant a lot of seeds because usually only a minority will germinate, at least in my limited experience.) Or maybe you could take cuttings and root them if the tree isn't making any seeds. (I don't know if that will work or not.)