On 3/8/2013 12:10 PM, Mike Lazzari wrote:
> ... And yes it is a giant sequoia. They do fine here. I have one in the field.
> Their problem is competing with the doug fir and hemlock which they
> don't have to do down south.
Not quite right, at least in their native habitat. There, they grow in highly
mixed forest, including Doug Fir, Sugar
Pine and other large/tall species of conifers. It's very much unlike the growth
patterns of coast redwoods, which tend
to be in groves of like trees, although Doug Fir, in particular, aren't
uncommon in groves with redwoods that I've visited.
Looking over a natural Sequoia 'grove', one sees tall, mixed forest, with the
mature Sequoias sticking out above the
rest less than one might imagine. Likewise, walking through a Sequoia area,
they are generally separated from each other
by more or fewer other large species, and often some distance apart from each
other. But there is nothing else anywhere
near their massive bulk. At least that's the way in the groves in Yosemite and
in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I
don't know if the parklike setting at the top of the Mariposa Grove, with
relatively closely spaced Sequoias and no
competing species or understory is natural, but the lawn around them makes me
think not. Really lovely spot, though.
I've spent time wandering about in both. It sure is hard to make a photograph
that captures them at all well.
They do have a problem in reproduction and early growth from the shade of other
species. Before we came and tried to
outlaw forest fires, the relatively frequent, low intensity fires started by
the frequent summer thunderstorms in the
Sierra both burned off the understory and caused the Sequoia cones to open and
drop their seeds.
Big Tree Moose
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What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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