Stratosphere Giant

[Knotahippie]

[ QUOTE ]
That Dury Tree is healing over an undercut. There must be a good story to go with that.

You don't need to blow the tops out of the redwoods to see what happens. That is just plain nuts. There are thousands upon thousands of examples right at hand in the groves already. From the most recent storm breaks to the oldest. You want to see what happens? It's right in front of your face. Look up!! Nature does a perfectly fine job of that.

Blow the tops out for research purposes? Pure craziness,, and a waste of time and money to boot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point Jerry,

There is alot of storm damage, etc...every year.

Seems easier and more cost effective to study trees broken by nature?

Plus it's natural...more to study there, why did it break? What are the pioneers doing..?

Seems like a different model to study.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Basing what Sillett is considering, as far as I can tell, only verbally and in discussion, it is really unfair to paint with such a wide brush and dismiss his ideas without at least attending one of his lectures to get a better understanding of what he has found out about old growth forests. Much of what he's published is available either on the web or through reprints. His research has pushed the understanding of what is going on at altitude further than anyone previously.

After having dinner with Steve and some others in Boise, I would say that he is at the 'hmmm?' or 'I wonder...' or 'What if...' stage right now. Before any top removal is actually considered he has said that there is much more that he needs to understand.

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

With all due respect towards Mr. Sillet's research and efforts towards understanding the redwood forest ecosystem, but I can't help but feel he is ignoring a lot of practical knowledge already gleaned by others just to put himself on a pedestal.

Just my opinion. Born, raised, worked, played, climbed in the redwoods throughout my life. And have taken many notes and made records of my observations, Though my degree is not academic it's just practical.

And I will stick firm to my feeling about his proposal of blowing the tops out of redwoods, just for research purposes, to be shear nonsense.

 

[AxeKnot]

I've been to a Sillet lecture, he's an excellent communicator and one of the most enthusiastic scientists I've ever seen, he also seems to have a deep love of his work. Just can't see this guy trying to 'put himself on a pedestal'. In fact to even suggest it is total nonsense.

At this particular lecture he asked if we(the audience) had any ideas on how those tiny shrimp like creatures(forgot the name) might have got so high up into the canopy of the redwoods where they lived in small pools in cavities? No-one had any ideas, well if they did they were so ridiculous I can't remember them(tornados, aliens etc).

Well.....I didn't think of it at the time, but prior to discussing the tiny shrimp like creatures, he mentioned the salamanders that also live hundreds of feet up in those pools in the cavities of the redwoods. As I was getting the bus home that evening after the lecture it occurred to me that the tiny shrimp like creatures may have hitched a ride on the back of the salamanders and inadvertently ended up in those pools way up in the canopy. Anyway that was years ago now, hopefully they've worked out how the shrimps got up there.

One thing I did notice about Sillet, was during the question and answer session at the end of the lecture someone brought up the name of the German scientist Claus Mattheck in reference to Sillet's ideas on re-iterations(new stem growth on storm damaged trees). I think the question was in relation to Mattheck's 'Axiom of uniform stress' and the notion of the tree as a self optimising structure. Sillet didn't really seem too interested in the question for some reason or other, maybe he hasn't read much of Mattheck's brilliant work or maybe he was just too involved in his own research and din't want his line of thought being disturbed by another theory at that time. It shall remain a mystery no doubt.

Anyway, it was great lecture, very inspirational, there was also another guy there who measured big trees with lasers and did the most incredible pencil drawings of the big trees of the pacific north west. Wish I could remember his name.

 

[mdvaden]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, it was great lecture, very inspirational, there was also another guy there who measured big trees with lasers and did the most incredible pencil drawings of the big trees of the pacific north west. Wish I could remember his name.

[/ QUOTE ]

Beefy guy ??

Robert Van Pelt likely. Seen his book?

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

In my own early days of accessing the old growth canopy and taking pictures, and notes, and sharing with others my findings... some of the very people I shared that information with took it and credited themselves for finding it.

It kind of chaps my buttocks.

 

[mdvaden]

[ QUOTE ]
In my own early days of accessing the old growth canopy and taking pictures, and notes, and sharing with others my findings... some of the very people I shared that information with took it and credited themselves for finding it.

It kind of chaps my buttocks.

[/ QUOTE ]

You remind me of something now that you mention being up there. And this is not to do with you, so much as that people have been up there, or others have ignored what's up there.

But in Preston's book for example, he conveyed that forest scientists thought of the redwood canopy as like some desert or something - just branches and needles.

If that's right, I ask myself when I walk through the redwoods, "were those scientists' minds active - while in the forest that is? Did they even enjoy the forest, or were they just lab rats?

If you get under Kronos and Rhea in the Atlas Grove, you can see the epiphytes with the naked eye. Elsewhere in the park, Big Tree I think, has shrubs like huckleberry in plain sight. Likewise under hundreds of trees.

Last winter, El Viejo Del Norte dropped a huge chunk of wood and canopy soil, and it's laying right there for the observation. Could even be dissected from the ground. And all the lichens that drop down after rain and wind.

By the way Steve ...

If your are still reading the thread, I named the small trees sprouting from El Viejo del Norte as "GENESIS". I've watched them through the year, and am continuing. The photo was August, after a dry year. By October's end at first rain, the stems were even taller and healthy. Good chance of survival.

Please don't break them while climbing. Those are genetic offspring of a titan, by other than seed germination.

Attached, is "Genesis" tree.

 

[mdvaden]

Here is part of the chunk that fell ...

Epiphytes, lichens, thick canopy soil and wood - even with roots inside.

 

[Knotahippie]

Cool pics Mario,

What a rare gem...