trip to sequoia

Ch.14

News

       Lee and I exchanged emails and shared items of interest that we thought were important to either of us and I always thought it was Ann and his way of checking up on me.  I having more time than they as Lee was getting his new business together and Ann was busy with the buyout of Gunnite Corp.and dealing with her brothers.  I was able to find a tidbit in the news and passed it on them as it pertained to the impending trip they were going to make . Also I had some more sculptures done over the winter and wanted Lee to take them to his new shop and finish them. So it was important that I contacted Lee .

     The news I had ,dealt with the fact that the world’s largest tree , the general Sherman sequoia in Sequoia National Park with an estimated age of twenty five hundred years old  was being considered for removal from the park as it had apparently contracted a disease and was losing its branches. It had lost one a couple of years ago as this tree shed a branch nearly 6 feet in diameter, and it came down with no injuries as these are massive limbs.  I had included the following pictures along with information the National Park Service was issuing regarding the massive giant tree considered to be the largest living thing on earth as well as the most massive organism on earth with an estimated age of 2500 years old and a height of over 250 feet. It Is over 100 ft. wide at the base of the tree. This tree was around prior to Jesus Christ walking the earth.

       In this picture  you can see the limb as an l shaped limb extending up ward on the right side of the tree. Further analysis of this  limb broke off and subsequent trips into the crown of the tree by experienced scientists revealed that in fact the tree was suffering from the effects of pollution that bothers much of southern California. It was causing the tree to shed diseased branches and was resulting in a disease that was spreading downward through the crown of the tree leading to its premature death. The worst part was due to its massive size.  If the tree fell I would take out other massive sequoias grouped around it . The question facing the park and of course the secretary of the interior responsible for the National Parks Dept. is do you intervene and try to stop the disease or remove the tree before it takes out other trees or worse yet spreads the disease to other sequoias grouped around it. The other option and one the forestry service has used in the past is to do nothing and let the tree naturally take its own course.

      All options were speculation at this point but I felt that Lee and Ann may want to step up their plans to visit this giant as it was on their list of things to do while there. It would surely be one the main things I would want to see if I was making the trip and it may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see it while it I still there.

      Lee upon hearing this news was concerned. We talked at length over the phone about their options and I could sense he was upset at the thought of the parks department not even being around when this tree started its life, suddenly having the authority to remove something so old. Nature should be the only course taken. Another giant was already taken early in its life as a massive redwood known as the Crannel Giant was taken down and sold for lumber . Lee theorized that a lumber supplier now had the park officials in fear as it spread rumors the giant general Sherman was coming down. The Crannel Giant redwood was 25-30 percent larger than the General Sherman  and would be worth  over 10 million dollars today ,  but was only worth  9000 dollars  in the mid 1940 ‘s when it was cut down. You could just imagine what any portion of the General Sherman would be worth if a lumber company could get a hold of it. Of course park officials would see any income from it as boon their coffers and would allow for more improvements at the park , maybe put in a water slide or add another wing to their museum , maybe put a few more cousins to work . Lee figured it was a done deal and this news release was a precursor to the trees fate. He wished he could do something about it but was powerless in Ohio. Who would listen to an old farmer turned wood carver who knows more about making things out of wood than saving trees.  Still the thought of losing a large tree of such historical significance in our lifetime as a black mark, not one but the second mankind has placed on this earth in our lifetime when you consider we are very adept at taking out those things much larger than us and permanently harming our environmet with out understanding the full effect of what we have done.