National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay emerges from a hellish hike down Little Lost Man Creek in Redwood National Park. In 2008, Fay and hiking partner Lindsey Holm finished the first comprehensive transect of the redwood range, covering 1,800 miles of Pacific coastal forest. (Photo: Michael Christopher Brown / National Geographic)
There are redwood trees on the coast of California today that lived when Jesus walked. But not many.
In 1850, two million acres of the ancient giants towered along the Pacific coast. Today, less than five percent of those old-growth forests remain.
In the 1990s, redwood country was a war zone, as environmentalists chained themselves to treetops to battle logging companies.
Now, there’s a kind of truce, and a new hope that maybe the forests can come back.
This Hour, On Point: We talk with Mike Fay, who’s just hiked for National Geographic from Big Sur to Oregon, in the land of the redwoods.
You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:
Joining us from Ketchikan, AK, is Mike Fay, National Geographic Explorer-In-Residence and conservationist at the Wildlife Conservation Society. In fall 2007, he started on an 11-month, 1800-mile walk from Big Sur to Oregon, the entire range of the coast redwood tree. You can read his essay about redwoods here.
Joining us from Wilmington, NC, is Joel Bourne, contributing writer to National Geographic. His cover story in the October issue, featuring Mike Fay, is “Redwoods: The Super Trees.” It’s on newsstands now.
Joining us from Arcata, CA, is Scott Greacen , executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), a nonprofit activism group that’s been vocal about protecting redwoods.
Joining us from Berkeley, CA, is Kevin O’Hara, professor of Silviculture at UC Berkeley.
Extras: You can see some amazing photos and a map of Mike’s transect, at National Geographic.
What kind of sandals did Mike wear?
Posted by jess, on October 9th, 2009 at 11:12 am EDTIn 1993, I walked with my family in the Muir Woods, a small grove of the giant redwoods outside of San Francisco. My thought at the time – which I have never revised after all these years: This is where God comes to worship.
Posted by Dee, on October 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am EDTI was anxious to be approaching my half-century, 50th birthday back in 2004. My husband said to me, “what would make you feel better about turning 50? Tell me, and I will try to give it to you.” I replied, “I’m an East Coast girl. I would love to travel to the West Coast and see the redwood trees. The really, really old trees. That would put this birthday in perspective.” And we did. We visited the Big Basin State Park in Central California on the day I turned 50. I’ll never forget it.
Posted by Sarah Merrow, on October 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am EDTBut wait…how can forestry be sustainable when you’re taking all the nutrients out of the forest when you cut and remove the trees? Where do the nutrients come from to grow new trees? That doesn’t sound like permaculture.
Posted by Tim Nitz, on October 9th, 2009 at 11:38 am EDTI was a reporter in Me3ndocino county during the 1980s and got to know many involved in the fight to save the old growth forests. frankly it was difficult to watch the destruction; but just as difficult was to see the tactics of Earth First which at times bordered on the violent. I wonder what they are doing now?
Posted by Jim Esslinger, on October 9th, 2009 at 11:53 am EDTA century or so ago, the tallest trees in the world were not the California Redwoods but trees of a different sort in Australia that grew to heights of over 400 feet. They are all gone, mostly because businesses were not countered by other forces that saw the value of preserving some of these trees. Our posterity deserve to experience this Old Growth World. Can we trust businesses to protect it, even in alliances with environmental groups? Can we trust governmental regulatory bodies to enforce the rules that accompany such agreements? Since the Exxon Valdez incident, what oil tanker companies have implemented the recommendations for double-hull tankers? “On Point” just featured a discussion on protecting the food supply, specifically hamburgers, from the predations of cheap manufacturing practices that put us in danger. Who can we trust to protect the public good, with redwoods or otherwise?
Posted by Alan Shulman, on October 9th, 2009 at 12:24 pm EDTFrom: gloria [rayglo@roadrunner.com]
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 9:00 PM
To: ‘membership@savetheredwoods.org’
Subject: Redwood Memories
4 September 2009
Save-the-Redwoods League
114 Sansome Street, Room 11200
San Francisco, California 94104-3823
“MY OTHER LIFE-LONG LOVE AFFAIR” was the title I gave to a little five-minute talk I was asked to present at a meeting (Democratic Club of Camarillo) last night. I have been wanting to share my thoughts with other League members, so having finally written them, with a bit of editing, here they are.
This wondrous affair actually began when I was 16, having been asked by a very good friend and her family to join them for a trip to Sequoia National Park where I fell immediately in love with the giant redwoods. I had never in my life seen anything so magnificently beautiful. Fast forward five years to my marriage to Raymond (my other life-long love affair). We loved to drive and especially to visit natural scenic areas and after a few years, with our two daughters. We went to Sequoia National Park and our whole family was awestruck by the great redwood forests. Our travels took us up and down coastal California where we returned again and again to the coast redwoods. We were not campers, but we hiked, walked with the park rangers, attended the evening fireside talks, swam in the Eel River, stayed at Hartsook Inn and many other places. We were especially impressed by a ranger in Richardson’s Grove who described his battle with state officials over a proprosed 4-lane highway right through the middle of the park, destroying hundreds of virgin redwoods. We asked him how we could help, telling him that we were long-time members of the Sierra Club. He replied that they did much good work, but if we wanted to support the redwoods directly, join the Save-the-Redwoods League, so we did. That was the early 1960’s.
As the years sped by, we were fortunate enough to travel the world, but always returned to our beloved redwoods. We chose to make a bequest for a grove dedication in our wills. Unbelievably soon, our 50th wedding anniversary was approaching. We knew we did not want to give ourselves a big party–then thought “why wait until we are gone to dedicate a grove?” We contacted the League. With their help, a delightful three years followed. We paid for the grove in three annual installments, using the time to visit groves up and down the state which the League thought would meet our wishes. They made appointments for us with staff in the parks we agreed to visit and we were treated like visiting royalty in each park, great fun for simple people like us. By the time we met Chief Ranger Gary Strachan at Butano State Park, we knew what we wanted and we found it there, with Gary’s generous help. As family and friends found out what we were doing, we heard “we want to be there!” and our non-party for the four of us on 20 February 1999 turned into a grand weekend for 40 people in Santa Cruz, Butano Park and Año Nuevo State Reserve to see the elephant seals. It rained, but that was part of the fun, too. It had rained on our wedding day, exactly 50 years earlier.
Of all my wonderful redwood memories, this has to be the best one.
gloria kornberg kahn
Posted by Gloria K Kahn, on October 9th, 2009 at 1:55 pm EDT10/9/09
Tom:
It is unfortunate that Capitalism and the profit motive is destroying what God placed on our Earth.
As a former staff member (late 60’s) of Pacific Lumber Company (Redwood Company), the organization definitely has a conservation policy in place. For every Redwood Tree cut down, a replacement was planted. The heritage, conservation and of the Redwoods was definitely the order and mindset of Pacific during this period.
Unfortunately, as time passed, mergers, consolidation, along with the profit motive and capitalism changed the landscape and future of the Redwoods forever.
Without a doubt, it would take considerable work with Lumber Companies, Conservationists, Environmentalists and Heritage groups to regain or replenish, if possible, what God placed on Earth.
Lin
Posted by Lin Blessings, on October 9th, 2009 at 2:56 pm EDTHaving stood there an looked up at them about 10 years ago, all I can say is that they are utterly magnificent and awe inspiring. Their loss would diminish us all. Beyond that, words fail…
Posted by Mark S., on October 9th, 2009 at 3:00 pm EDTYou no grok why save big sticks?
You drive “Avenue of the Giants”, slightly North of Garberville, off Highway 101 in Northern California.
It’s 32 *very* scenic miles.
Stop a moment. Say, “Hello, Tree. Can we talk? Got a name? What’s news, in the last millenium, since we spoke?”
Then you grok. You REALLY gonna chop off your new friend at the roots? Didn’t think so.
(Wiki Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenue_of_the_giants )
(Google Ref: http://www.google.com/search?q=avenue+of+the+giants+photos )
(Google images ref: http://images.google.com/images?q=avenue%20of%20the%20giants%20photos )
Pics of redwoods are great for giggles! Entities 400 feet tall, tops literally literally invisible, lost in the clouds, 20 or 30 foot diameter, displayed on-screen, in living color, 6 inches wide.
It is to LAUGH!
It is to Laugh out loud, rolling on the floor at the sheer comedy of a 6-inch-pic of a 400 foot tree!
Posted by JRL@SFO-BKK-MSP-MKE.COM, on October 9th, 2009 at 9:07 pm EDTIn response to Tim’s comment on the sustainability of forestry and depletion of soil: unlike food crops (vegetables, fruits, grains) trees are largely made of carbon. This comes from carbon dioxide in the air. Trees actually pull very little from the soil and most of this goes to the leaves (or needles) which fall back to the ground each season. In the respect, forestry is quite sustainable.
When redwoods are taken from virgin forests, however, this is a different story. Most of the logging in the United States is done on tree farms where the complicated ecosystems that exist in untouched forest have not existed for decades.
Posted by Tyler Beals, on October 10th, 2009 at 10:41 am EDTSomeone asked what kind of sandals Fay wore. That’s a good question. I was curious about that too. A few weeks ago, I thrashed a pair of boots in Redwood National Park exploring some valleys. Not sure if sandals are up my alley, but am interested to consider it.
The .kmz download is intereting to view in Google earth, and see where they meandered.
MDV / Oregon
Posted by M. D. Vaden of Oregon, on October 11th, 2009 at 10:54 pm EDTHi-
This was a wonderful show! I teach a Graduate MBA Introduction to Environmental Management course at UMass Boston and plan to use this show in our class this week in tandem with our readings from Lester Brown’s book Plan B 3.0. Thank you so much for producing these incredibly educational shows!
Professor Marc Fournier, LEED AP
Posted by Marc Fournier, on October 12th, 2009 at 1:59 pm EDTCollege of Management
University of Massachusetts Boston
They wore CHACO sandals, dudes! Nothing but the best. Went through 4 pairs each. Check your label if you have a pair, see if it says “Made With Love” in Colorado.
Posted by Greta Montagne, on October 15th, 2009 at 11:47 pm EDTTo answer your question Jim E.:
Earth First! Humboldt is actively tree-sitting in the McKay Tract east of Eureka(Cutten). Green Diamond wants to clear-cut a beautiful 2nd growth forest that is recovering to “rain forest” status. I have witnessed multiple visits from spotted owls in that grove. The local community loves the grove as it is, and it is used by local residents for hiking, horseback riding and cycling. Check out efhumboldt.org for more info.
I have been involved with many wonderful campaigns in the past. You may have heard of them, such as Fern Gully and Nanning Creek. They were technically spared by HRC after the deconstruction of PL. The reason why you may not have heard of these actions is the fact that they were non-violent, and tree-sitting became a game of waiting for the THP to expire. Not only did the THP’s expire, but so did Pacific Plunder(PL).
Green Diamond is not a “green” timber company, nor do they utilize sustainable forestry practices. Green Diamond believes in “horizontal” forestry, where the term “clear-cutting” was replaced with “even aged management” and “hard-wood hack and squirt herbicide management” with “rehab”. The FSC certification is a joke, put in place by timber lobbyists. The “Saved the Redwoods League” is a group of compromisers, who rarely take a stand on forest issues because they are sell outs. The only reason that they still exist is to line their pockets with donations. I must ask, what have they done lately?
Remember, where many of you reading this would like to think that there are Old Growth trees outside of Parks and the scenic strips along the highways, why not check out google Earth. Stumps and satellites don’t lie…and the desertification of our “rain forests” is a reality that the timber companies don’t want you to know about.
Posted by Jeff Muskrat, on October 21st, 2009 at 4:55 pm EDT