Jerry and Terri Update

[Che]

Beautiful pictures, Jerry. I need to get over to that side of the country sometime. Furthest west I've gotten was Montana....and that was a l-o-n-g time ago.

 

[chucky]

That's an interesting point, OM. But what's the growth rate of a Fir compared with a Redwood in an area that's favorable for Redwood growth?

Here in the Northeast an analogy is the White pine compared with White Birch and Aspen. The Birch and Aspen are first in after an disturbance, such as fire or clear-cutting, but because of the superior growth rate of the (also shade intolerant) White Pine, they soon overtake the others and flourish.

But I must admit my firsthand knowledge of Redwoods is nil. I'm only going on what I've read about them.

 

[chucky]

I wonder if Jerry is wondering if we'll get to Redwoods and GLOBAL WARMING! yet on this thread?

 

[Old Monkey]

Jerry's the one whose been around the redwoods the longest, maybe he can tell us. My personal experience is that firs outgrow redwoods.

 

[sotc]

I'm not so sure that clear cutting is the best method in dealing with redwoods. I don't know how to qualify this but my time in the redwoods and my time logging pine, fir and cedar, my gut says thinning would be best with this species

 

[stig]

Jerry's the one whose been around the redwoods the longest, maybe he can tell us. My personal experience is that firs outgrow redwoods.

Since redwoods have the ability to sprout from the stumps, I'd think that would make them able to reclaim the clearcut before the firs can move in?

 

[gf beranek]

There's some valid points and interesting questions in this tread. And I'll attempt to shed some light from my working experience with redwoods.

One is, Select cutting old growth redwood using any current forestry models is impractical. Past attempts have shown it just puts the site and reproduction back to square one. In an old growth setting it would be better to harvest the windfalls and just let the forest do the thinning naturally.

Select cutting second growth redwood is very practical as it keeps companion species at bay. And you can enter the site every twenty years and take a fifth of the trees without significant impact on the reproduction.

Redwood has it's natural range of course and on the edges of it clearcut logging invariably results in the hardwoods taking over very quickly. And on these edges the same thing will happen in select cuts if the hardwoods are not kept at bay. The take over just happens a little slower.

Although in prime habitat nothing will take over the redwood,, even if it was clearcut.

Redwood is very hardy, fast growing and long lived. That's why it gets to be so big. Of the 2 million acre redwood region the most prime specimens are in the northern parts. Just more rain and cooler environment. And though 90% of the region has been logged over, 100% of it is still growing a very fast pace.

The redwoods will be laughing at us long after we're gone.

 

[Frans]

Bay trees seem to be very aggressive in growth and shadow out other species

 

[Bodean]

We often leave the dead and rotten stems, as it provides a huge amount of valuable habitat and enviroment for a range of wildlife.

I wish we could leave more standing hulks of wood at work, just as you say.
But alas, we just stump grind them, I think of a huge trunk as the testimony of a time traveler.