For Labor Day — musings about fence posts and little children
Coming to terms with my 'why'
Volume 1, Number 5 - Monday, Sept. 5, 2022
Among items I keep in my office for inspiration: The section of four-by-four post that serves as part of the assemblage on the right (created by artist and archeologist Doug McIntosh) was cut from fence posts made from old growth giant sequoia trees that shattered when they hit the earth 100 years ago or so. (And yes, I think a little weird is good). — Photo by Claudia Elliott
Perspective
YOU MIGHT NOT THINK that the photo here has anything to do with giant sequoias. But if you’ve heard anything about the history of these mammoth trees, you may know that when early loggers went after them with great zeal, they found that the wood from the huge ancient trees didn’t turn out to be so good commercially.
It splintered, and they made fence posts from the wood.
About 20 years ago, archeologist Doug McIntosh made art with some of those old fence posts. His creations included this assemblage piece that I love. It does its best to remind me that not every bright idea is worth pursuing.
It also helps me clarify my why.
I’ve been working on that since my sophomore year in high school when a teacher asked, “Do the ends justify the means?
I completed the assignment, an essay. But the question haunted me for years. Eventually, I decided — for me, the answer is hardly ever.
But everyone answers that question differently, and I try to understand diverse opinions and positions.
When people write derisively about the men who dropped the mammoth trees — only to discover that the resultant lumber was only good for fence posts, perhaps they don’t understand the importance of fence posts. Maybe they don’t know that at the same time, settlers were working to tame the nearby area — the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills. They turned the valley into one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world.
Especially in the foothills and along less-traveled roads, it’s easy to spot these old giant sequoia wood fence posts. They’re still standing with barbed wire strung between them. Some have been there more than 100 years. Redwood is a very good wood for fence posts and stands up to the weather.
The flip side, of course, is that it’s sad that the old trees were cut down and also sad that there are so few remnants of nature in the San Joaquin Valley — and a continued push to subdivide the foothills. Then there’s the water issue — but no space for that here. It would be wonderful to see California as it was in the 1760s or even 1850.
Still, I appreciate those old fence posts because they remind me of the other maxim I adopted some years ago — little children eat tonight.
I spent many of my growing-up years and now live in Tehachapi, California — a town near the top of a pass at the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada that provides a way to travel between the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert.
In my younger years, there were two major employers: a cement plant and a state prison. They’re still here, along with many other employers and a growing number of commuters who work elsewhere.
Tehachapi has many attractive features, but I’ve always thought these two workplaces were pretty ugly.
The cement plant has cleaned up its act, but back in the day, the entire countryside was caked in its gray dust.
And prisons serve a purpose, but deadly fences are frightening.
The work in both these places is hard in different ways.
But some years ago, I came to terms with these ugly places because I value the fact that in addition to what they produce — cement for concrete and public safety — they provide jobs for people. The work people do there means little children eat tonight. It means families have income.
Men and women come home from jobs in these ugly places, take a shower and start giving back. They coach Little League teams, eat out at local restaurants and volunteer at special events. They build community.
This brings me back to giant sequoias...
Giant sequoias are amazing and beautiful — the blackened skeletons of once proud trees standing on bare gray soil, not so much. I think wildfires are fascinating but frightening and ugly, even though I know fire is part of nature. And I don’t like smoke at all.
I’ve just read the latest forecast for the coming winter, predicting more dry, warm weather. And we’re not through this fire season yet.
Still, when I consider the history of our planet, the history of the Sierra Nevada and the fact that people were already living there for thousands of years when the ancient trees we now revere started growing — I am humbled.
When we come together as community — as we must to solve the problems we’re facing — we come from many different places and spaces and world views. I think we have a better chance of figuring things out if we begin with an understanding that we don’t see things the same way.
Some of us think the end justifies the means — others do not. This is our world.
But remember those fence posts, still doing their job after all these years — and little children eating tonight.
The week in wildfires
Dare I say it — we’ve had some terrible fires in California this week, but at this writing, there is nothing new to report on the wildfire front for giant sequoia country. I’m hoping it stays that way — everyone needs a break.
The Rodgers and Red fires in Yosemite are both lightning-caused and are being managed jointly by the National Park Service. As of Saturday afternoon, there were 106 people assigned to the Red Fire, and it was showing 15 percent completion at 5,087 acres, burning in brush and mixed conifer timber littler and consuming dead and down logs.
The smaller Rodgers Fire to the north was at 1,913 acres, but the link to more information was broken, so I can’t tell you more.
As noted last week, instead of measuring containment, the NPS assesses the completion percentage of meeting multiple objectives when managing fires like these.
With hot weather over the holiday weekend, there was also lots of smoke to greet visitors.
Giant sequoias around the world
The website MonumentalTrees.com has an excellent page providing an overview of giant sequoias growing outside their natural range. Giant sequoias have been cultivated around the world since the mid-19th century and there are reportedly thousands of them growing in Europe.
In this article, for instance, I learned that in Switzerland in the 1800s people planted sequoia trees alongside their mansions as a symbol of wealth and prosperity.
Because the giant sequoias planted elsewhere are still young — the oldest are only about 150 years old or so — they don’t approach the size of the monarchs of the Sierra Nevada. But in many places they are the tallest tree in the area.
Giant sequoias in the news
I continue to be amazed by the amount of ink — digital or actual — that giant sequoias get, not just in California but around the world.
Here are some stories I think you might like:
• This LA Times piece has been published many places and is definitely worth a read — “As forests go up in smoke, so will California’s climate plan” is the headline. Among the takeaways: Improving forest health is now a significant element of the California Air Resources Board’s draft climate plan. Plenty here about giant sequoias, too.
• The Pacific Crest Trail Association opposes the “Save Our Sequoias Act” — the organization that champions the needs of the Pacific Crest Trail spells out its opposition to the bill introduced by Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) on June 23.
• Sequoias emergency response presented: Sequoia ForestKeeper expresses concern (I wrote this for the Porterville Recorder. If you visit their website often you will be asked to subscribe; yes, that’s a thing — and a way to support journalism).
• Here’s a report from California Department of Fish and Wildlife — Among $15.82 million in grants to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat throughout the state is a a $1.59 million grant to Great Basin Institute for a cooperative project with National Park Service and Sequoia Park Conservancy to enhance forest health and protect giant sequoia groves located in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks approximately 50 miles east of Fresno in Tulare County.
• Lightning strike obliterates giant sequoia tree in Oregon — this is from May, but just popped up in my feed. The giant sequoia in question was 50 years old but pretty big. It’s worth your time to click through and see what a mess this tree made in the yard of a home when lightning hit it.
• Giant sequoias in Smithsonian Magazine — the magazine’s website included an article about the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite reopening after the 5,000 acre Washburn Fire.
Want more?
GIANTSEQUOIANEWS.COM is also a website where you can find more information about giant sequoia trees, wildfire, the public land management conundrum and more.
Happy Labor Day — and thanks for reading!