July 14, 2008

old and young


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Well, here is a pleasant grove of redwoods that very few people venture into.   Not that they don't pass close by...   Busy Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is up a steep slope on the other side of the canyon that contains my beloved Lagunitas creek, and running parallel to this strip of redwoods is a well-used bicycle and jogging trail that 100 years ago was the roadbed for a narrow-guage railroad that delivered people and goods to Samuel P. Taylor's resort and paper mill, and then beyond to Point Reyes Station.

Of course, the redwood trees were heavily harvested just prior to 1900, and Mr. Taylor put a pretty good dent in the fir trees for his papermill.   In the intervening 100 years the trees have made a fine comeback -- fir trees grow like weeds, and redwood trees have an amazing ability to regenerate themselves from roots around stumps.   Life, although quiet, goes on...


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6 comments:

photowannabe said...

Ahhh, one of my favorite places to be is among the gentle giants. Great shot with all the textures and tones of green.

Rune Eide said...

I have never seen a Redwood-tree as far as I know, but I am fairly used to seeing forests. The picture gave some of the feeling you get in one - the stump and the new life coming.

I had a quick look around - you seem to master the macro-technique very well. I'm struggling, but still trying :-)

I appreciate your pleasant comment! Not everyone would have gone to the trouble of first translating the original from Norwegian to English and then the other way for the comment!

Maybe I should have written this in Norwegian too?

Marvin said...

It's hard for me to imagine walking among trees as large as redwoods. Your photo does a great job of conveying a sense of regeneration.

Anonymous said...

Great contrast between the old and young; the once was and what now is in this photo. Nice photo. Forests are always difficult to compose because of the overwhelming vertical nature of the scene. Here, you've done a nice job with the stump and younger trees in the mid- and background.

The once magnificent chestnuts in Appalachia still regenerate themselves from roots (one can still find some old stumps--the wood is nearly rot resistant), but they always get the blight within a couple of years.

Now the Frazier firs are gone and the hemlock wholly agelid threatens millions of acres of hemlock trees. The whole landscape and ecology of this area might be totally different in another 100 years.

Jim

kjpweb said...

Fitting depiction! New growth and old sins.
Good shot!
Cheers, Klaus

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Quiet life is the best kind, in my humble opinion! You live in a beautiful part of our state!

I'll have to go see your KittyBLOG; my can (Miss Kitty) also has her own blog (which you can find on the sidebar of my Much Ado About Something blog). Cats these days are quite talented, don't you think?

 
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