introduction

Smith River Redwoods

pre-trip blog

the trip starts...

NYC pied-a-terre

Manitou Springs, CO

Philadelphia, PA

January 26 -- Prairie Creek Redwoods, CA

Just north of the Trinidad/Westhaven area, on what's referred to as the North Coast, lies Prairie Creek Redwoods Park, where the Redwoods almost run into the ocean.

Somewhere during all my travels to the North Coast are day pilgrimages to the old-growth Redwood forests so unique to California, to our country, to the world.

It is in woods like these where I can get close to God; get close to what are huge, ancient, sacred beings themselves.

And in this particular park, there's the Pacific Ocean to join in the chorus of hallelujahs. Wow, my kind of place for prayer and meditation.

The Roosevelt Elk like Prairie Creek, too. They were reintroduced to the area some years ago and continue to thrive in the Park's watershed.

January 27 -- Freshwater Redwoods (near Eureka, CA)

This day brought a trek to a different old-growth Redwood forest, the Freshwater watershed; one whose fate is not as lucky as Prairie Creek's protected one.

I went to visit two tree sitters in Freshwater that I had visited & supported during previous trips to the area. Two courageous women, I only know them by their forest names, Remedy and Wren. I usually bring them some food and provisions, and some conversation. There are roughly a dozen tree sits going on in Freshwater.

The Freshwater Redwoods watershed sits above the town of Eureka, CA. One of the last remaining intact old-growth Redwood watersheds in the world, the forest is owned by Pacific Lumber Company and they plan to clearcut & harvest it all. The trees you see in this photo, some hundreds of years old, will no longer exist in a few months unless something is done to stop the planned clearcut.

The photo above was taken by Remedy, who occupies a thousand-year-old Redwood nicknamed Jerry. Remedy hoisted my camera up to her perch and took a few pictures. She ascended Jerry almost a year ago, in an act of civil disobedience, to save this ancient tree as well as protest Pacific Lumber's 'clearcut' timber harvest plan in the Freshwater watershed. And she has not come down since. Remedy pledges she won't come down until Pacific Lumber agrees to not cut Jerry down.

Remedy managed to take a picture that shows her home in Jerry's canopy, some 180 feet up in the air. You can see her tent, her platform, some tree sitting gear hanging from rock climbing cords, and even see a few of her toes. She gets all of her provisions hoisted via that small, blue-green drop bag; her refuse lowered in one of the plastic pails.

Here is a blurry picture of the service road that Pacific Lumber has put in near the Freshwater tree sits. This marks the beginning of Pacific Lumber's intent. Not good. It is very sad to see. One can only hope this ancient, pristine watershed is somehow saved from destruction.

The photo above gives one the sense of how steep it is in the Freshwater watershed. If clearcut occurs here, the watershed's streams will surely fill with topsoil & mud slides, destroying the delicate terrain and native habitat.

Next, travelling to the Smith River Redwoods.

previous

next