Goodbye California Coastal Fog, Goodbye Redwoods

[CountAllVotes]

5. Fog in San Francisco

Last edited Wed Mar 11, 2015, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)

I can remember the days when the fog was so thick you could barely drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and wow how those old fog horns used to blow, so loud you'd almost jump out of the car seat if you happened to drive under one of them when it went off like a sonic boom. They were replaced c. 1990 or so with these crappy whistle type things that are still there and the fog horns in San Francisco lost their lure for me. As for the fog itself, I don't know how much less it has become in S.F. but when I left, I had noted a decline in those good old "Jack the Ripper" nights that were so very frequent at one time.

In the north of the state, the redwoods are still growing quite well and luckily the ones in the preserves are being fairly well cared for and the recent attempt by CalTrans to cut down some of the old growth that runs along the freeway that goes through Richardson Grove State Park failed alas and CalTrans had to give up on their attempt to open up highway 101 by cutting old growth trees down so more commerce can travel northwards. Hence, it seems that no one much is just dying to relocate north because thanks to what the timber industry has done, there is no work to be found. If it weren't for the two colleges up north, this region would be close to being a near ghost town environment as there are few old growth redwood trees left to cut down and the second growth trees look like toothpicks against one of them.

As for the climate, there is a decline in the fog in the north of the state but there are still plenty of those "Jack the Ripper" nights and fog as thick as pea soup is still often seen.

As for the trees, some are as old as 4-5,000 years old, well some do eventually die of natural causes which brings the Dyerville Giant to mind. That was the largest tree around for a long time and it went down in a huge Alaskan storm that hit the region some 15+ years ago.

More about the Dyerville Giant can be found here:

>>The domino effect that caused the champ's demise actually began a week earlier, when a venerable redwood standing 50 yards from the Dyerville Giant finally surrendered to gravity. On the way down it glanced off a second 1,000-year-old tree, causing it to lean. One week later, that tree went down, taking the Dyerville Giant with it in a thunderous finale. The assaulting tree's momentum carried it to the ground first, and the champion, as if in revenge, collapsed on top of it.

Considering the fate of most old-growth, the Dyerville Giant was lucky to meet a natural end. Germinating 1,000 years before Columbus, enduring centuries of floods, storms, fires, and earthquakes, it was spared the axe in 1926 by the efforts of the Save the-Redwoods League. The League purchased 9,000 acres of redwood forest with contributions totaling $2 million (equivalent to $300 minion today). Two years later the area was designated as the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. In 1931 the League honored its founding members by naming Founders Grove, a small section of the park that included the Dyerville Giant.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+fall+of+the+Dyerville+giant.-a011830826

Fear not as the Californians in the north aren't about to let anything ruin the remains of this jewel of a place, people and jobs or no people and no jobs. Who cares? The redwood trees are more important is a widely held view unless you are a unemployed logger or an old codger that worked in the timber industry and just loved cutting down those old growth trees. Luckily, this is a dying breed of cat and few still think as they did during the days of the spotted owl controversies which greatly impacted this region on a social and political level c. 1990 and many did not care to admit that the hey-days of cutting down old growth trees was long gone already. It took the demise and greed of the timber industry for them to open their eyes and see what has been done and gee, no pensions seem to be around anymore. They packed up and left is what they did, leaving their damage and contamination behind as evidence that cannot be ignored nor destroyed.

If writing about forests in the north, look to Oregon where there is that 1/4-mile rule for clear-cutting from human sight and the roads that are traveled or so you cannot see the devastation that the clear-cutting over the years has done. It is shameful and it is quite sad at best.

& recommend.

ON EDIT: The Mark Twain quote cited should read: The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent Was a Summer in San Francisco

I believe Mark Twain was writing for the Morning Call at that time, the year my great grandfather was born in San Francisco: 1864!