Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Big Basin Redwoods State Park, CA

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TOPIC: Big Basin Redwoods State Park, CA
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/t/9c3b7a0e275830e0?hl=en
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== 1 of 12 ==
Date: Sun, Nov 16 2008 6:08 am
From: "Will Blozan"

ENTS,

In October I was invited as a guest speaker to a corporate meeting in Santa
Clara, CA. I was honored to be paid to fly out (with my wife too!), get
picked up in a limo, three nights in the Marriott, gourmet food and drink.
Well that part is over, unfortunately. BUT I was able to spend a day on
"free time" to meet for the first time the superlative coastal redwoods.
From our hotel we could look to the west and see the redwood spires on the
Santa Cruz Mountains, and to our east the mountains were bare and covered in
scrub and grass. The fog influence was very pronounced and we dried up
quickly in the arid 15% humidity of Santa Clara. What a difference a few
miles and elevation make!

I was a bit embarrassed as a big tree hunter to have never seen the
redwoods- and the tallest I have ever personally measured being a twig on
the Montpelier Estate in VA. Well, I bumped up my personal best to a hair
under 300' tall. My wife Heidi and I spent several hours in Big Basin
Redwoods State Park, CA which was the first park in the state. Although much
of it appeared to have been selectively logged many fine trees remained
which had over 100 years of growth since park establishment in 1902.
http://www.bigbasin.org/

Heidi and a "big" redwood

I was immediately struck with the height and density of trees but also with
the low diversity of canopy trees. The canopy was mainly composed of two
species, redwood and coastal Douglas-fir. A mix of tanoak (Lithocarpus
densiflorus), Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii), and various shrubs filled
out the bulk of the mid-canopy and understory. The ridges made for a quick
forest transition to unimpressive (as in small trees) dry site species of
oak and twisty madrone. Well, they could have been impressive but I had no
idea what species I was looking at. The visitor's center was surprisingly
lacking in useful guides to trees, unless I purchased a book. The madrones
were awesome and looked like huge rhododendrons.

I was truthfully more impressed with the Dougies and tanoaks than the
redwoods. I knew I had no chance of any new records for any species,
specifically redwood so my interest was drawn to other species. I roughed
out many heights all day and was impressed my laser battery did not die. I
focused on the Dougies but soon took notice of the tanoaks. I had never seen
the species before and was interested in them because they were not conifers
and likely have not been intensively sampled due their obvious sub-canopy
stature. Several quick shots indicated that these slender members of the
beech family were in excess of 120'- which is admittedly pretty impressive
for this family in NA. I spotted one that although winding its way beneath
the redwood and Dougie canopy reached 144.3 feet. Their wood must be
seriously strong since this tree was only 6'10" in girth!

Tallest tanoak

My goal for the day was to find a tree over 300 feet tall. I know, an
arbitrary number but it was a goal nonetheless. As Heidi and I traversed
several trails and explored small coves and ravines I measured and measured
and measured. The website I looked at before the visit indicated trees up to
329 feet tall in the park. As the day went on I had a hard time breaking 240
feet. Near a campground we came across a small, sheltered cove with really
impressive redwoods towering above huge cut stumps. I figured the remaining
trees would have bolted to the sky- and they looked it. The packed redwoods
were very dense and had burned bark up to 120 feet up the trunks. The
charcoal contrasted beautifully with the red unburned bark and the green
foliage. Beautiful and thrifty as they were an hour of searching and
measuring a dozen trees or so did not yield a single 300 footer. I hit
294.6' and 296.7'. Perhaps elsewhere in the park a 300 footer can be found-
maybe closer to the ocean. After all, there are 18,00 acres of forest and I
only saw a tiny bit.

The tallest redwoods measured

Also near the campground grew what to me was the most impressive tree of the
day. It was a Douglas-fir that shot like an arrow from the side of a small
stream. I shot the laser to the top and thought it was reading erratic. Holy
moly! this tree was roughed out to be over 250 feet tall! Few redwoods had
been seen all day that tall so it deserved some more detailed attention.
Heidi helped with a basal target and the impressive tree turned out to be
22'4" cbh and 269.1 feet tall. This one tree was worth the trip!

Huge Douglas-fir

Upon returning to the visitor center to meet our ride we discovered that the
329 foot tree- listed as the tallest in the park- was right by the parking
lot. We quickly found it and in true ENTS style I set about measuring it as
carefully as possible. I used a repeatable trunk flare spot as a reference
to base all shots upon. I found two solid sightings very close to 180
degrees apart so as to provide a good replicate for height determination.
This giant tree, 15.3 feet in diameter is called the "Mother of the Forest".
I don't think it is the biggest tree by volume that we saw but it is a huge
beast with a straight trunk and no obvious reiterations. The top appeared
well formed but due to the relatively short distance I was able to move away
from the tree and still see it I could have missed the highest point by a
few feet (see photo below). I explored the top intently for a long time with
the laser and the two shots yielded heights of 287.4 and 287.7 feet. There
is no possible way this tree could be 329 feet tall- even with the "tangent"
method :-). I'd like to know how this tree was measured but needless to say,
not accurately!

The "Mother of the Forest" taken from the first laser measuring point. Maybe
in a century or two the sign will be correct.

After we were picked up by our gracious hosts- my dad's cousin and family-
we drove to Santa Cruz to see the Pacific Ocean and watch seals and surfers.
The placid scene was accented by the gnarly Montezuma cypress dangling over
the cliffs. An awesome day!

Will F. Blozan

President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.

== 2 of 12 ==
Date: Sun, Nov 16 2008 9:20 am
From: James Parton

Will,

Going out west to see the redwoods have been a dream of mine for
years. One of these days I hope to make it out there.

Wonderful post. I think those are taller than the " Boog "!
~Laughing~!

James P.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Big Basin Redwoods State Park, CA
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/t/9c3b7a0e275830e0?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Dec 5 2008 9:41 pm
From: mdvaden

Glad you enjoyed the visit to our coast.

Interesting that I'm reading your post, having seen your name for the
first time, maybe in the last two weeks. In fact, posted on a Flickr
dot com image of you up in a big hemlock. May be that I was just up
the north coast a bit from you, having driven to the redwoods in
October, as well as August and just 2 weeks ago or so.

Got some photos of a new mystery giant in the Orick / Redwood Creek
area. It's not an already discovered redwood. "Dog Soldier" seemed
like a good name for it. A tape wrap at DBH (which is shin high due to
a 9' drop in back) showed roughly 23' diameter. And it's about 9'
diameter at 175, soaring out of sight into the canopy.

Dark afternoon, had to scram. It will still be there in weeks ahead.

Nice sunset shot in your pics. At least you got some variety in the
weather. Good time to have traveled out west.

Cheers,

M. D. Vaden of Oregon

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