ENTS,

The following images were taken late yesterday evening in fading light  Yep, I'm beginning by making excuses for the lousy pictures to follow. The location of the images is Pinyon  Ridge (my name). It is about a 20 minute drive from where Monica and I are staying. Coordinates are: Lat  37.351863 N, Long 107.863212 W. 

I think there are some very old trees on the ridge, pinyons and junipers near the top and ponderosas near the bottom. Thankfully, the ridge is in the San Juan National Forest so it is safe from development. Maybe some of you have an idea of age ranges for old pinyons. Don, Don, Lee, Neil, Will, et al.?

The Forest Service does not presently have the resources to study these old non-commercial species, although they are interested in input from others such as myself. From what I am seeing, there is a wealth of old trees out here that have not been studied, in fact, there is a treasure of ancient trees, often scattered and on very dry sites so sizes are small to modest. Dating these extremely old trees is far beyond my simple method of taking a core and trying to count rings under a microscope. The skills of the dendro-scientists are needed. However, I can help locate candidates for others to study.

I am pleased to report that o n Wednesday, the Forest Service is taking Monica and I to the site where I measured the very tall trees. They are being very supportive of what I am doing, as are others. Monica and I are being accepted by the community. Yesterday, Monica played as a guest pianist at a local Lutheran Church and of course, she got rave reviews. So, we're networking well out here and I think the future is bright for many exciting discoveries. 

In terms of the tall trees,  I just cannot believe that I walked in and stumbled onto the height record ponderosa and Colorado blue on my very first excursion. What are the odds in that? I think there are lots of isolated trees and patches, but getting to them in this incredibly rugged country is another story.

Well, we are getting ready to take Drs. Faye Schrater and Richard White out to see the ponderosa and Doug fir named for them. So, I'll conclude with two dim photos.

Gnarly old pinyon and Monica sitting on its root structure

Grandfather Pinyon and Monica (how old?)

Old juniper (age range estimate?)