Coast Redwood Parks Forest
Scouting, Bushwhacking, Exploring, Learning
This page is an off-shoot of Largest Coast Redwoods
Copyright 2009 by Mario Vaden.
The year of 2009 provided a few opportunities explore with Chris Atkins and Professor Steve Sillett in Redwood National Park and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The days were strenuous, yet enjoyable exploration. Miles of deep forest exploring. Bushwhacking is a figurative name sometimes used for exploring off the trail without carrying a machete'.
The work and effort that they put into scouting and research is almost inconceivable. This was also an opportunity to see how meticulous they are with data and equipment, and how they work together as a team and network of professionals.
Although our focus was redwoods, one find was 2 Port Orford cedar side by side, mostly surrounded by Sequoia sempervirens. One of the Port Orford cedars looked promising for a tallest ever-recorded of any cedar-like species according to laser readings. That was deep within Jedediah Smith redwoods. On a repeat visit with Dr. Robert Van Pelt, another fine Port Orford cedar was spotted. Its a small grove of Port Orford cedars secluded within redwood country. We wrapped up one day with a cross country bushwhack to another part of the park where a tall redwood soars overhead: a new 2nd tallest known coast redwood within that Jed Smith park. A few photos from the bushwhacks will be added to the photos. The new 2nd tallest redwood became part of a new study grove.
The amount of time to measure a single tree can be substantial. It was surprising in Redwood National Park, to see where Atkns and Sillett set up a tripod: across a ravine and about 200 feet upward on steep slope coated with sword ferns. It took hours for just 2 redwoods next to each other. This image at right shows the terrain. Sillett's head is level with Atkin's knees, and likewise Atkin's head level with my knees, taking the photos.
This led to an opportunity for me to help Chris Atkins measure some of the tallest redwoods. Every 8 weeks or so, I drove down to the parks near Crescent City and Orick, for 2 or 3 days of work. Equipped with GPS for navigation, Atkins packs in a Laser Technology rangefinder and Leica Geosystems surveying prism. My part is to accompany him since the forest is loaded with hazards, help set up tripods, photograph tree tops and other odds and ends. The latest gadget that I stuffed in my pack, is a climbing throw bag with 40 feet of line. If low branches block a measuring window, we can toss the bag over them and pull for a momentary view. Flashlights are essential: at least twice we ran out of daylight in thick woods on slopes. Moving through the hilly parks is an art, virtually a trade secret once you master it. An entire chapter could be written about it.
The trees we looked for, and will look for, are LIDAR trees. Funding from Save the Redwoods League, and I believe from Kenneth L. Fisher, funded a plane to fly over some redwood parks and read points on the ground with a laser. About 80,000 points per second. The data is used to make a type of map, which suggests possible tall redwood hunting grounds. Atkins and I, would go to those locations in many wild rugged locations within the parks, spot the tops, then measure them. Wherever he took his first reading - his "windows" - is where I would take a zoom photo of the redwood top. We worked our way to the base of the tree, finally measuring high and low grade and averaging the difference. The measurement and photo, are kept on file for future measurements to learn about the tallest of this species. This was a good learning experience, and I had a chance to see many parts of the park where people just don't go alone, if at all.
2008 included an interesting explration as well. November, 2008, I met Michael Taylor for the first time, at the prairie of Prairie Creek redwoods along Drury Parkway. We traveled to the forest around Lost Man Creek and Larry Dam Creek. We found a pretty good size redwood, now called Dog Soldier: approximately 21,000 cubic feet. And Michael spotted a very tall redwood that he came back for again later, to measure.