[at-l] For the love of trees... WAS: Wood stoves: a threat to the trail?

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> Having done some research on the subject, I can tell you how
> upsetting it is to see illustrations from the 1500s showing
> cypress trees here as large as giant sequoias...and by the 1940s,
> they'd all been cut down to make barrels, crates, and shingles
> for houses.

If you really want to be depressed, you can drive down into southeastern
Louisiana and witness hundreds of square miles of dead cypress trees.  There
premature end was brought about unwittingly by various Corps of Engineers
projects.

To tell of an experience that none of us can any longer have I invite you to
read this passage:

>From The Land of Dead Giants by Greg Guirard

"At that time logging crews lived in floating camps and didn't come out of
the woods for weeks at a time; it was a rough life. One morning, when the
crew was nearing the end of its work in that area, they came upon a cypress
tree that was considerably bigger and taller than the rest of the giants
among giants ­­and the men looked at it with wonder; none of them had ever
seen a tree that size. They delayed cutting the tree, which was near the
center of a small clearing in the swamp, purposely leaving it for last.

"Because it was not badly crowded by the other trees, it had grown straight
and tall, and its massive branches extended far out in all directions. Like
many of the biggest trees, this one served as home for all kinds of birds
and animals. Squirrels ran and jumped from branch to branch. Raccoons hid
behind moss and leaves, peeking down on the men as they worked the saws and
axes, always coming closer. Owls perched on the lower branches, watching
quietly. Hawks on the topmost branches looked over a scene totally
unfamiliar to them ­ miles and miles of trees that had always towered to
great heights above the swamp floor now lay flat and useless. Egrets and
ibis came and went nervously, and songbirds with no other trees to land on
filled the branches of this last tree. The air itself around the giant
cypress was a swarm of birds and butterflies."

> I spent yesterday on a trail in a forest that has remained mostly
> untouched since the 1830s. The high point of the trail's end is a
> single live oak so ancient and large it would take at least 8
> people holding hands to ring its circumference. Less than 100
> feet away was the cut-to-the-ground stump of a similarly-sized
> tree. All I could think was "How could anyone do that....?"

Fortunately, most live oaks are useless to loggers.  There are some real
beauties down here.

Shane