Sad news! http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...st-cypress-trees-the-senator-burns-in-florida Video: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...s-tree-burned-011712-20120116,0,4477999.story
I've been away for a couple weeks in Tenerife, Canary Islands and just saw this news. It's really to bad. On mammoth sized older trees like this, the Redwoods also can have an issue with heart rot as referenced in the article. The idea that a slow burning fire can go on un-notice for a long time should not be a suprize. I have experience with massive stumps which have silently smoldered as long as a month after a fire went through an area. A couple of decads ago I remember a photo taken by an environmental group opposed to destruction of redwood habitat. One huge tree was chopped down and rejected by the logging company because it had a big heart rot problem. They went on to relate that test could have been done to determine if the tree indeed was a viable looging candidate before felling it. It could have lasted hundreds of more years producing seed and providing excellent wildlife habitat, but now worthless to both human and many[but not all] lifeforms which would have benefited from it's being left alone. I'm curious about that photo of the tree. The photo there shows what looks to be a great giant, but article mentions something about a historical hurricane in 1925 snapping 65' off the top of the tree, but the photo doesn't really reveal this.
Yes, it was arson. Update below. One might even say murder. I will refrain from typing epithets, but I most certainly am thinking them. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/the-senator-burns-fire-sara-barnes-arrested_n_1308513.html
As elsewhere. Naturally fallen trees are infintely preferable to those hastened to their end by human carelessness.
Amazingly, the loss of this tree had one odd positive. There is an undisclosed grove of redwoods in northern California, and everybody who has seen those, has kept their lips sealed. All but one, who posted clues hoping to drive more traffic there. Even his family who looked with him withdrew association on that matter, their names on his blog being switched to fictitious. After months and months, no reason got through to this guy. But following news of the demise to The Senator, he wrote that his beliefs were undermined by the event, and withdrew his clues. And does not issue maps now. That returning the searches to how it used to be, that the most appreciative would look, find it, but with a more moderate flow, and less impact.
