Tag: Calaveras Big Trees

Sadly this is not the work of a beaver chew, but a redwood poacher  at Redwood National State Park. Folks have apparently been sneaking into the park at night and cutting out burls to sell or carve. The problem has gotten so common that they are closing the state and National park at night.

I hate the idea of these big trees being hunted like rhinos for their horn. I hope closing the park does the trick, but it may come down to some hidden security cameras on trees to find the bastards. My favorite trees in all the world are the Giant Sequoias they have at Calaveras, where I visited every summer as a kid. They are shorter and more massive than coastal redwoods, gnarled old giants that look like something from animation. Just standing under them makes you feel older and wiser. I think of Legolas visiting the ent forests in Tolkein:

“It [the forest] is old, very old,” said the Elf. “So old that almost I feel young again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children. It is old and full of memory. I could have been happy here, if I had come in days of peace.”

― The Two Towers, “The White Rider”

This is as good a time as any to tell you beaver-trackers that Bruce Thompson of Wyoming is printing us a set of track and scat scarves that will look like this. They should be ready for you to snap up in 6 color choices by Earth Day. Bring your checkbook! Looks like we will be working together to design just a wetlands track scarf soon.