Trees I've encountered

[Oww My Back Hurts]

I thought it'd be fun to post a few of the noteworthy trees I've encountered in the past few years. None of these ended up in my wood shed, but hopefully it's ok for me to post this on the wood shed forum anyways.

If you have any interesting trees you've encountered, please respond to this thread with them!



Location: Petrified Forest National Park, NE Arizona

Don't take your chainsaw to these trees! While they look like (and once were) wood, they won't produce many btu's in your stove.

In ancient times, downed trees accumulating in river channels were buried by sediment containing volcanic ash. This protected them from oxygen and organisms, so they did not decay. Then groundwater, rich in dissolved solids such as silica from the volcanic ash, flowed through the sediment into the logs where it formed quartz crystals that gradually replaced the organic matter. (Much time passes). Eventually erosion uncovered them, and now we can enjoy them!

We should confirm with nrford, but I believe these were once Araucarioxylon arizonicum, an extinct conifer.

Obligatory picture of the nearby Grand Canyon.

Location: Mojave Desert, Nevada

This is called a "Joshua Tree". I first heard of that because when I was a kid the band U2 had just released an album of the same name.

The name originally came from a group of Mormons crossing the desert who were reminded of the Biblical story of Joshua reaching his hands up to the sky in prayer. This is the only place in the world that they are found. Growing in the desert, they are a slow growing tree, averaging 3 inches of height growth per year for the first 10 years, and 1.5 inches per year after that. Apparently they do not have growth rings so its tough to know their age but they can live for hundreds or even a thousand years.

Location: White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, near Bishop California

These are bristlecone pine trees. Those pictured here are at an elevation of around 10,000 feet. The oldest living non-clonal organism we know of lives here, at an age of over 5,000 years. How are trees able to live that long?

At this elevation the soil has very little moisture. There is an average of less than 12 inches of precipitation per year here, mostly as snow in winter. The summers here have a growing season as short as 6 weeks. The soil is not dirt but dolomite, a limestone substrate with few nutrients. A bristlecone pine may add less than an inch to its girth per century!

Since the environment is so brutal to life, there is very little competition for nutrients or water. Also, since there is so little vegetation, there is very minimal risk of fire here.

The tree has a dense highly resinous wood that's effective at protecting it from insects and bacteria. The cool, dry climate also keeps rot-causing fungi at bay. Dead bristlecones sometimes stand for several hundred years before falling!

When a major root dies, the sector of the trunk above that root also dies (along with branches served by that sector) and over time the bark for that part falls off. Some gnarled old bristlecones have only a thin strip of living bark which sustains a single living branch and its needles. As that part grows, the tree becomes more twisted looking.

While we were here they were doing some construction on the visitor center and had to take down a few trees. The ranger got the idea to cut some of the young bristlecone pines into slices and sell them as a fundraiser. Here's a picture of the piece I bought. It was amazing how close together the growth rings are. I guess that is what happens when the growing season is so short!

Location: Yosemite National Park, California

These giant sequoias are among the largest trees in the world. There are simply no words to describe how enormous they are. Pictures really don't do it justice! Also here is the obligatory picture of half dome.

Location: San Francisco, California

This tree is right near the Pacific Ocean and situated between two small dunes that seemed to funnel the wind right at the tree. I posted this a few years ago and was informed it's a Monteray Cypress. Crazy how it grew!

Location: Snoqualmie, Washington

This is called a Nurse log. An old tree has died (probably due to logging) and begun to decompose. The rotten wood holds moisture well, and being slightly elevated, it is above competing vegetation layers on the forest floor like moss, ferns, herbs, and shrubs.

Sometimes a new tree sprouts right there! Or in this example, two trees are growing out of the stump of an old one.

Also here is the obligatory picture of Snoqualmie Falls.

Location: Glacier National Park, Montana

I'm not entirely sure how this happened, I wish I could have seen it happen. Also, obligatory picture of how beautiful G.N.P. is

Thanks for reading!

 

[HisTreeNut]

Some pretty cool pictures there...

 

[lost in the woods]

very nice article! do you work for the travel channel?

 

[baseroom]

Beautiful!

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Thanks for the post
Enjoyed it