The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save th

As long as you are included in the "non elite" group along with me, Gerry, I'm fine with that:lol:
 
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  • #28
It will be interesting to be in a forest or a place where tree climbing can be prevented. I've never run into that during a rec climb, anywhere in Canada. Be it a National, Provincial or a city park.

I remember lending that Wild Trees book to my old boss and mentor. He put it down after the first chapter, being thoroughly disgusted with the mentality that only the scientists and those around them were deserving of the ability to climb the trees. The rest of us cannot appreciate the subtle beauty of the forest or would be prone to destroying it, it seems. Yet wasnt' Sillett the one who proposed topping some redwoods to study the way in which the standing stem might react to a natural 'calving' event?
 
Professor Sillet should read some ISA pubs first, or at least ask a few aborists for their insights before doing such a deed. But even at that the evidence of the outcome from topping trees is everywhere, if you just look. His ambition to top trees just to observe what happens, is right in front of him everywhere in the forest. Every possible example.

He must be blind, or not thinking.

Oh yeah, I'm not part of the elite club, Stig. By any stretch.

In my up coming book the issues of what the scientists and media are doing in our heritage trees is presented. As well their elitist attitude and the dirty finger pointing that goes on against the arborist for climbing our old growth trees.

Bound to raise hackles with some, I'm sure.

Always remember, Professor Sillett says, "Recreational climbing is damaging our old growth trees and forest ecosystem."
 
"Recreational climbing is damaging our old growth trees and forest ecosystem."

Whatever.jpg
 
I'd like for him to show "Damage" on those Sequoias, I've climbed.

Except for the spur marks, of course:lol:
 
Making such a statement is analogous to, "A butterfly beating its wings in the Amazon rain forest is going to start a hurricane in the Caribbean."

Some people believe actually believe it.
 
Making such a statement is analogous to, "A butterfly beating its wings in the Amazon rain forest is going to start a hurricane in the Caribbean."

Some people believe actually believe it.
The good doctor should also cop to the fact that his work up there "damages" the trees as well. i talked to him about attribution for the below, but they would not share images for the article--even after i gave $100 to his foundation. pretty elitist yeah; whadja expect?

In his 2008 keynote talk at ISA’s international convention, canopy
researcher Steve Sillett issued a challenge to arborists around the
world. (The 2010 conference will be keynoted by another electrifying
canopy researcher, Nalini Nadkarni.) Sillett’s assignment to us,
echoed by most tree owners, is to apply arboricultural approaches
to maintain stability, sustain contributions, and extend longevity.
Restoration pruning follows trees’ tendencies to optimally harvest
sunlight, which along with soil improvement can produce upward
spirals of recovery. Trees are resilient; after all, they grow in urban
soils and air, surviving damage from saws, storms, and the strains
and insults of aging and living with people. By discovering and
collaborating with trees’ abilities to sustain themselves, we can meet
Sillett’s challenge, and further our facilitation of the coexistence of
people and trees, one branch at a time.
 
I'm glad he can so humbly challenge our profession to be professional. Thanks, Sillett...my contempt grows!

um well "challenge" was my word not his, alil literary license mayhaps, or thats how i thought it should be heard. and "professional" is your spin.

whether his data will inform tree care, that's up to us to find out.
 
Personally I feel professor Sillett should challenge himself to learn a little from the arborist first. After all, it's not like our profession started yesterday.

Good idea; actually did send him some stuff (after sending the check) but even then got no reply. Maybe i lack the proper letters after my name. o well. There must be more positive interaction on this.
 
Maybe he'll come around.

I hope so too, Gerry, but he's not the only one who maybe oughta reconsider positions after getting informed. ;) What should we learn from observations like

The main trunk, which is 5.6 m in diameter at the base and still over 3 m in diameter at 65 m, is devoid of branches for 54 m. Above this height, its crown becomes a forest; there are a total of 148 resprouted trunks arising from the main trunk, other trunks, or branches. Five of these trunks exceed 1 m basal diameter, and twelve of them are between 0.5 and 1 m basal diameter. The largest resprouted trunk is 40 m long. Many of the trunks are fused to other trunks and/or branches. The tree's crown, which begins above 50 m, is over 25 m diameter 100 m above the ground.
 
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  • #43
whether his data will inform tree care, that's up to us to find out.

I think that he is doing canopy research on some extraordinary trees. Something which researchers are doing worldwide and have been doing for decades. To consider that he is a pioneer 'scientifically' due to his observations of the redwood and giant sequioa may be true, but certainly there have been many others who have contemplated the tree and its nature...as well as its role within the environment at large. Not to mention others who have spent years climbing them while working...or having fun. It's, as you say, a matter of the letters behind ones name.
 
Good idea; actually did send him some stuff (after sending the check) but even then got no reply. Maybe i lack the proper letters after my name. o well. There must be more positive interaction on this.

There's been times I have not got an email back. But no surprise sometimes, as maybe he gets a few hundred more emails than I do.

Also, he and the folks he networks with are sometimes away from internet for days or weeks at a time. They do sleep in the forest occasionally.

...
 
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