A Tree Moves No Longer

In my last entry, The Movement of Trees, I briefly described a family drive down the Old Redwood Highway. I said “On the drive through Northern California we passed a logging operation where hundreds of old growth trees had been logged. My 8-year-old son turned to me and said, ‘Daddy, someone murdered those trees and I said ‘Yes, that’s exactly what they did.'”

The picture I included needs some explanation. The original image appears on a Library of Congress web page here.

The sword-like chainsaw is eloquent but something appears to be missing. The image looks curiously dark to me so I’m going to take a look at it in Photoshop. It is immediately apparent that the shadow detail was artificially darkened. One click reveals the missing shadow details. Note that I haven’t retouched anything. All I’m doing is the equivalent of shining a light into a shadowy area to see what’s really there. I’m adding nothing to the image. Now the deep heartrending almost bloody gouges made by the chainsaw are visible.

The loggers look pretty happy and satisfied with the destruction they are wreaking on a forest giant that may be as old as 2000 years. It might be as tall as the United Nations Building. Let’s zoom in on the loggers and take a better look.

Yes, these tree huggers are absolutely thrilled. Someone in Mill Valley or Atherton is going to have a beautiful headboard or new fence soon.

When a 200-foot-tall giant falls in Washington’s Olympic rain forest life immediately begins to grow out of it and derive energy and nourishment. Likewise, a Redwood tree gives birth to a family of Redwoods that grow from its giant roots and growths called burls. That is life. What you’ve seen here isn’t life. It’s a disregard for life and our natural heritage. It’s wanton destruction.