In the 1880's loggers felled many ancient and giant sequoia trees in an area that is now in King's Canyon National Park. The wood from these majestic trees is brittle, and mostly wasted when the trees would shatter upon impacting the ground. The 50% or so of the timber that did make it to the mills was probably used for shingles, fence posts, or matchsticks. High tannin levels make sequoia wood resistant to decay, so remnants of the fallen giants remain to this day. I visited Big Stump Grove on Saturday while clouds shrouded the tops of the living trees and drips of rain fell from the skies. Giant blackened stumps were like ghosts and piles of sawdust like blood stains.
(These pictures were snapped from my little Mino Flip Video camera because I forgot to take my still camera. I like this little video camera more and more, the more I use it.)
3 comments:
I remember seeing footage from the days when giant trees like these were felled. The journalistic angle - and I suspect the take in the general population - was that nature was grand, but that the awe was of the human power that could topple these tallest living beings. It was a time of great optimism, I suppose.
I remember seeing footage from the days when giant trees like these were felled. The journalistic angle - and I suspect the take in the general population - was that nature was grand, but that the awe was of the human power that could topple these tallest living beings. It was a time of great optimism, I suppose.
Bjorn - Yes I agree. I think people were proud to have achieved such enormous power over the environment. They hadn't yet fully realized that with such great power comes great responsibility. (a la Spider Man). They probably still underestimated their own power, not fathoming that they could actually completely wipe out species like sequoia.
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