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Michael Kauffmann
Exploring and understanding wilderness brings me extreme joy. This blog is intended foster a greater understanding and stewardship for the place that is the Earth. One means to that end is understanding the native biota that have always lived in the regions we choose to visit. Our visits should ultimately be about them -- the other biota -- not us.
Field Notes From Plant Explorations: Featured Comments
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It is great to see there is great interest in the botanic uniqueness of Northwestern CA. My wife and I made a few excursions into the Western form Happy Camp in the mid 1970. How delightful and interesting it was and still is I'm sure. I remember entering a pure Brewer Spruce stand north east of Preston Peak and I obtain a Abie's procera cone due east of Preston Peak. I say it was a noble fir because of the pointed bracts just like you showed in your well done (not cooked) conifer chart. I wanted to always go back and explore the high windward side of the western Siskiyous, other areas too, and perhaps find the type species of Abies procera, not a hybrid. I believe the genetic type may be found there. I applauded the information and the way it is displayed in this site. Keep it up!
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Michael is not just filling a niche here, he is creating one. And doing so without drama, just letting these trees speak for themselves without gushing. Great stuff.
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Thanks for sharing. Very thorough and thoughful with wonderful photo's too. Kalmiopsis leachiana survival response to fire was also evident after the 1987 Silver Fire. When some populations were found to be dying, one theory for the cause was the absence of periodic fire due to fire suppression activities. Although I did notice populations slowly recovering before the Biscuit Fire. Also glad you got to experience that wonderful ridgetop extreme between the west and east side. I have seen sun and heat and fog and dew meeting on that ridge. Oh also about serpentine/peridotite, I believe it also has a high water table. Note the numerous small springs and the presence of Port-Orford Cedar. Thanks again for a great article!
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Michael, thanks for the impressions. Jude and I also enjoyed veg in Kona, on Mauna Kea, and the south side of the Big Island last year. We did a tour with a guide named Garry who's with Hawaii Forest & Trails. Didn't know what to expect but it was really good, and we recommend him. While in the Hakalau NWR (protected and regenerated forest on ne. slope of Mauna Kea) we had an ohia lehua pointed out to us which was perhaps forty inches in diameter. Garry said that the ohia grow only millimeters per year (radially) at most after their youthful flush, and that this tree could have been a thousand years old. I stood there gazing at stout limbs where, quite likely, long-extinct birds such as the Hawaiian 'O-'O, Mamo, or Akialoa may have foraged. Spending minutes with this giant was the equivalent of seeing "the big Doug" on a nw. CA hike. As a birder, I listened to the songs of half a dozen native species--trills, whistles, and other semi-tropical utterances--and had to wonder what that forest chorus would have sounded like pre-Captain Cook+ with the extinct birds also chiming in.
// Speaking of big dougs, did you know there is a ~100" dbh Douglas-fir along Hwy 101 in Del Norte Redwoods S.P. that is easily seen from the highway? Park at the entrance to Mill Creek CG and walk back south about a few hundred feet; the big boy stands west of the road about 75' off it and is obvious. Aside from diameter it is not an especially heroic tree, but it's the largest non-redwood I have seen in the park. Rave on. JOIN THE SPOTTED OWL PARTY. U.S. OUT OF NORTH AMERICA! NO FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012 / Fix
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