I'm shocked by those photos—and you were correct to suggest I lacked insight into the changes in the grove. When I visited the grove, I had never seen coastal redwoods before—much less any of that size. So I had no idea what to expect. When I said the grove didn't look trampled, I wasn't referring to the base of the trees themselves so much as the surrounding area generally. The paths leading to the grove weren't wide and dirt-bare. (I could have easily missed them had I not been looking for them.) It was also just after dawn when I was there, so there wasn't much light at the forest floor.mdvaden wrote:Scott, I don't think you know exactly what you are talking about, or maybe lack insight into the changes in the grove.. I'm sure you appreciate natural beauty. But what you wrote sounds off the mark.SWriverstone wrote:
And while the grove was by no means "trampled," it was obvious that plenty of people had been there, as evidenced by several faint footpaths beaten through the ferns around the grove.
Scott
For what it's worth, when I was researching the location of the grove, I did read (possibly on one of your sites?) that stepping on the roots or bases of the redwoods harms them—so I went nowhere close to the trees themselves. I didn't need to do that to appreciate them. (But clearly plenty of others have.)
I'm saddened by this (and beyond shocked at anyone who would cut burls off a redwood—in my opinion, that should carry a mandatory life sentence). At the same time, while it certainly is worthwhile to try to prevent mobs from descending on special places like this...expecting the locations of these places to remain secret indefinitely is unrealistic. It also strikes me as a band-aid solution (which is admittedly better than nothing).
Because the real problem isn't someone leaking information onto the web. The real problem is our steadily growing population, our society that rewards sensationalism, our lack of appreciation and understanding of natural ecosystems that comes from an increasingly urbanized population, etc. These are the issues we should all be fighting.
But again, I realize those larger issues (which are the real problem) can seem insurmountable...hence the desire to "put a finger in the leaking dike" by trying to keep these places secret.
As long as the only protection for these places is the honor system (meaning as long as there are no widely-publicized criminal penalties for even going there), they are at great risk. The only solution I can see at the moment is for people like Steve Sillett to not publish their scientific work at all. I don't mean to deflect blame from the people who have trampled the Grove of Titans...but it's very likely that if Sillett had never published his work...and if Richard Preston had never written The Wild Trees, that grove would still be unknown today.
Scott