Saying Goodbye to Some Friends

I took a walk down to the creek this afternoon. At a certain point, I realized there was a lot more sunlight getting through the canopy than normal. I looked down and saw the newly cut stump of a tree. I continued walking and found at least two more stumps a little further on. I’m not even certain what kind of trees they were… I think they might have been Incense Cedar (Calocedrus sp.). You see, they had all been heavily burned in the major fire that ripped through the canyon in 2003. I do not believe that any of them had had any growing foliage and perhaps they were not long for this world. I honestly do not know the fine points of when and how to responsibly care for burned or damaged trees. I do know (from experience) that those trees that occur along the road are also a possible hazard in potentially falling on power lines or across the road itself. We do not own this property and I try not to presume the motivations and necessities of such actions.

All that being said… I was quite sad.

These trees were blackened and stunted, but they still held so much life as far as I am concerned. How many Gray Squirrels had I watched scamper up that one? When was it that I had photographed that interesting fungus growing at this one’s base? Remember the striking contrast of the red Poison Oak against the charcoal bark?

And just recently… Just recently, I photographed several of these trees in order to document the many bear claw marks I found. (This is the same stretch of creek as I wrote about in my recent bear post.)

This is my small homage to these once great fixtures along my regular walking path. I will miss you.