Wonderful photos and excellent tale of your western adventure! I'd love to get out there and walk among the Giant Trees, too, someday...
It is amazing how even a "modest" Redwood, Douglas Fir, etc. is just so BIG!!! On Nov 18, 3:39 pm, "Dale Luthringer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > AWESOME !!! > > Great pics and report, Will. > > I'm also embarrassed to say I've never seen the redwoods out there > either. It's on my must see list. When I visit my sister in Seattle. > that'll be my opportunity. > > Dale > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > Behalf Of Will Blozan > Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 9:08 AM > To: [email protected] > Cc: Aven Blozan; Benjamin Blozan; Benjamin Brown; Riley, Brian; Carl and > Kathie Blozan; Chris Earle; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Harley Erickson; > Kent Priestley; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Marie Antoine; Richard > Preston; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Dillard, Robert L; Steve Sillett; Tobe > Sherrill; Tom Remaley; William Hascher; Woody Bousquet; Yolanda Hall; > 'Chamberlin, Joe'; 'Nick Blozan' > Subject: [ENTS] Big Basin Redwoods State Park, CA > > ENTS, > > In October I was invited as a guest speaker to a corporate meeting in > Santa Clara, CA. I was honored to be paid to fly out (with my wife > too!), get picked up in a limo, three nights in the Marriott, gourmet > food and drink. Well that part is over, unfortunately. BUT I was able to > spend a day on "free time" to meet for the first time the superlative > coastal redwoods. From our hotel we could look to the west and see the > redwood spires on the Santa Cruz Mountains, and to our east the > mountains were bare and covered in scrub and grass. The fog influence > was very pronounced and we dried up quickly in the arid 15% humidity of > Santa Clara. What a difference a few miles and elevation make! > > I was a bit embarrassed as a big tree hunter to have never seen the > redwoods- and the tallest I have ever personally measured being a twig > on the Montpelier Estate in VA. Well, I bumped up my personal best to a > hair under 300' tall. My wife Heidi and I spent several hours in Big > Basin Redwoods State Park, CA which was the first park in the state. > Although much of it appeared to have been selectively logged many fine > trees remained which had over 100 years of growth since park > establishment in 1902.http://www.bigbasin.org/ > > Heidi and a "big" redwood > > I was immediately struck with the height and density of trees but also > with the low diversity of canopy trees. The canopy was mainly composed > of two species, redwood and coastal Douglas-fir. A mix of tanoak > (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii), and > various shrubs filled out the bulk of the mid-canopy and understory. The > ridges made for a quick forest transition to unimpressive (as in small > trees) dry site species of oak and twisty madrone. Well, they could have > been impressive but I had no idea what species I was looking at. The > visitor's center was surprisingly lacking in useful guides to trees, > unless I purchased a book. The madrones were awesome and looked like > huge rhododendrons. > > I was truthfully more impressed with the Dougies and tanoaks than the > redwoods. I knew I had no chance of any new records for any species, > specifically redwood so my interest was drawn to other species. I > roughed out many heights all day and was impressed my laser battery did > not die. I focused on the Dougies but soon took notice of the tanoaks. I > had never seen the species before and was interested in them because > they were not conifers and likely have not been intensively sampled due > their obvious sub-canopy stature. Several quick shots indicated that > these slender members of the beech family were in excess of 120'- which > is admittedly pretty impressive for this family in NA. I spotted one > that although winding its way beneath the redwood and Dougie canopy > reached 144.3 feet. Their wood must be seriously strong since this tree > was only 6'10" in girth! > > Tallest tanoak > > My goal for the day was to find a tree over 300 feet tall. I know, an > arbitrary number but it was a goal nonetheless. As Heidi and I traversed > several trails and explored small coves and ravines I measured and > measured and measured. The website I looked at before the visit > indicated trees up to 329 feet tall in the park. As the day went on I > had a hard time breaking 240 feet. Near a campground we came across a > small, sheltered cove with really impressive redwoods towering above > huge cut stumps. I figured the remaining trees would have bolted to the > sky- and they looked it. The packed redwoods were very dense and had > burned bark up to 120 feet up the trunks. The charcoal contrasted > beautifully with the red unburned bark and the green foliage. Beautiful > and thrifty as they were an hour of searching and measuring a dozen > trees or so did not yield a single 300 footer. I hit 294.6' and 296.7'. > Perhaps elsewhere in the park a 300 footer can be found- maybe closer to > the ocean. After all, there are 18,00 acres of forest and I only saw a > tiny bit. > > The tallest redwoods measured > > Also near the campground grew what to me was the most impressive tree of > the day. It was a Douglas-fir that shot like an arrow from the side of a > small stream. I shot the laser to the top and thought it was reading > erratic. Holy moly! this tree was roughed out to be over 250 feet tall! > Few redwoods had been seen all day that tall so it deserved some more > detailed attention. Heidi helped with a basal target and the impressive > tree turned out to be 22'4" cbh and 269.1 feet tall. This one tree was > worth the trip! > > Huge Douglas-fir > > Upon returning to the visitor center to meet our ride we discovered that > the 329 foot tree- listed as the tallest in the park- was right by the > parking lot. We quickly found it and in true ENTS style I set about > measuring it as carefully as possible. I used a repeatable trunk flare > spot as a reference to base all shots upon. I found two solid sightings > very close to 180 degrees apart so as to provide a good replicate for > height determination. This giant tree, 15.3 feet in diameter is called > the "Mother of the Forest". I don't think it is the biggest tree by > volume that we saw but it is a huge beast with a straight trunk and no > obvious reiterations. The top appeared well formed but due to the > relatively short distance I was able to move away from the tree and > still see it I could have missed the highest point by a few feet (see > photo below). I explored the top intently for a long time with the laser > and the two shots yielded heights of 287.4 and 287.7 feet. There is no > possible way this tree could be 329 feet tall- even with the "tangent" > method :-). I'd like to know how this tree was measured but needless to > say, not accurately! > > The "Mother of the Forest" taken from the first laser measuring point. > Maybe in a century or two the sign will be correct. > > After we were picked up by our gracious hosts- my dad's cousin and > family- we drove to Santa Cruz to see the Pacific Ocean and watch seals > and surfers. The placid scene was accented by the gnarly Montezuma > cypress dangling over the cliffs. An awesome day! > > Will F. Blozan > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > > > image001.jpg > 72KViewDownload > > image002.jpg > 45KViewDownload > > image003.jpg > 97KViewDownload > > image004.jpg > 66KViewDownload > > image005.jpg > 88KViewDownload > > image006.jpg > 94KViewDownload > > image007.jpg > 104KViewDownload > > image008.jpg > 33KViewDownload > > image009.jpg > 94KViewDownload > > image010.jpg > 94KViewDownload > > image011.jpg > 18KViewDownload- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
