Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Ascending the Giants


While visiting our friends Sophia and Casey over the Thanksgiving weekend, Corby and I met some of their friends who were pursuing their passion. And what a passion it is! Two young arborists, Brian and Will, were in pursuit of a 30-foot (diameter of trunk) madrone tree somewhere in the woods of Southern Oregon. Armed with two snapshots of this giant taken in 1991, they and two friends wandered the woods for some days seeking the old one and showing the photos to locals in hopes of finding and documenting this wonder.

You see, nowadays, we seldom see really large old trees. We cut them down before they can reach elderhood. So these men at Ascending the Giants, "dedicated to the documentation of champion trees," travel the world in search of these special beings. That's what these trees are called: champions, those who surpass all rivals. When searchers locate one of these trees, they do not publish its whereabouts out of respect for its age and concern for their survival. Brian claims -- and I believe him -- that there's much to be learned from mature trees. He traveled throughout Indonesia from January to August seeking big old trees native to that region.

Wherever you are in the world where there are trees, if you know of one that's exceptional in size and age, take a photo and note its whereabouts, then send the information to the folks at Ascending the Giants.

And where to they get their high-tech tree-climbing equipment, you might ask? They get them from New Tribe.

4 comments:

Pitch313 said...

I recall that back in the 50s-60s when clearcutting all the Coastal Redwoods was in corporate vogue, the lumber companies learned--from public outrage when clearcuts ran right to highway edges and folks could actually SEE the utter devastation--to leave cosmetic barriers of tall trees along highways.

So we couldn't see what they were doing.

Tall, beautiful, inspiring Coastal Redwoods and the industrial trash and slowly departing stumps (and spirits of felled trees) are one of the chief reasons that I am a life-long Neo-Pagan Crafter.

I have written about this at:

http://pitch313.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-10-13T07%3A51%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=3

Cailyn said...

This is so cool! Trees are so beautiful and yet it seems like hardly anyone stops to just look at them or sit under them let alone climb them ( i tried once...long and hilarous story) but it makes me really happy to see an entire organization that sees this beauty.

Heather said...

They probably are already aware of the Sequoia giants in Yosemite's Mariposa Grove, since they are no secret.
The ancient 'Old Grizzly' Sequoia there may not be the tallest but is certainly one of the THICKEST trees in the world, and is my personal favorite. 'Ol Grizzly' simply oozes with character.

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