We have people that stop by our office and ask questions about Redwood National and State Parks.  Most of the questions revolve around where different trails heads are, food options in the area, how to get to Fern Canyon, where is the dive through tree etc.  However, inevitably the conversation ends up focusing on two items: 1) Where is the Biggest Tree in the World and 2) Are there Mountain Lions?

The article below addresses both questions.  The author, Mario Vaden, is a tree expert and very passionate about Redwood Trees.  Has put in countless hours (years?) studying and documenting old growth Redwood Tress here in Redwood National and State Parks.  Please check out his web site for great information and some spectacular photos.  www.mdvaden.com

Hyperion ~ World’s Tallest Redwood

In the hills of Redwood National Park

Copyright 2009 by Mario Vaden

Hyperion coast redwood, discovered 2006 by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor in Redwood National Park, is the tallest in the world. 2009 measurment 115.61m or 379.1′ high, 15.88′ dbh. The meaning of dbh is diameter breast high, 4.5′ above grade.

Access is not limited to one direction of approach. There are several ways to approach this tallest redwood in the world, depending on whether the area is approached from redwood creek far below, or mountains that flank the valley, logging roads and cat tracks, horse trails, or a combination of those. Presently, my favorite story of a search by other folks is a 2007 Metroactive Redwood article. It sounds like they may have picked the Redwood Creek trail trailhead with the parking lot off Bald Hills Road, near Highway 101. That redwood article opens with them weighing options in hours and pints of blood.

This area has been nicknamed Fog Valley too, in a book by Richard Preston, describing Steve Sillett and Michael Taylor heading downstream into the rugged region. Again, not headed up a brook, but downward.

Hyperion is on a hillside, but I saw no vague resemblance of a “keyhole” in the natural landscape, a description used for the area. The location will of course be as broad as the imaginations of the few who know where it grows. The area is not neccessarily uncharted or lost because virtually all of Redwood National Park is on a map: the mountains and valleys. But “lost valley” is fitting.

Near Hyperion, were scads of fresh bear footprints, claw marks on logs and scat. By far the most bear signs I’ve seen in redwood groves during the past few years.

My entrance into the remote area involved several wet episodes. Sometimes, crossing water, its hard to tell what is ankle deep or waist high. Eventually the search focused solely on hillside and forest. The wooded habitat near the tallest redwood Hyperion had diversity: Mahonia, sword fern, alder, sorrel, tan oak, bigleaf maple, some huckleberry and plenty of moss. The Bryophytes, or moss, added to the scenic beauty of this forest area.

As with other redwood groves, Hyperion withstood forest fire, evident from a few burns on the trunk. The lower trunk has no significant damage like large Goose Pens. The circumference of the lower stem a plentiful wrapping of cambium and bark. The trunk base has a quick taper for the first 14′ or so, then a gentle taper and no significant lean. It is a single stem: slightly elliptical. The bark furrows are more vertical than spiral like some other redwoods.

The forest floor around Hyperion redwood and grove is thickly covered with thick organic: leaves, needles and twigs. Its like a sponge. There is substantial coarse woody debris as well. I had trouble finding this redwood again the 2nd time, because the vegetation is pretty thick in some spots around it.

Some folks consider Hyperion as the holy grail of redwoods. One naturalist wrote in reply to once that they would not set foot on that earth because it was sacred ground. That sounds imaginative. But it was not like frogs and bears there genuflect. Hyperion redwood is a rare and unique component of the park. For now the location remains secret. Hyperion is very remote. My edge was mainly decades of professional arboriculture work and being able to read the forest. Maybe it’s location should be called Hyperion Hill since it’s up on a hillside. Most folks won’t recognize redwoods like this. Note that I photographed lichens on Lost Monarch and did not realize which redwood it was until 6 months later. These redwoods are more obscure than some folks realize

The traces of bear near there reminded me of Blue Ledge Mine east near Applegate Lake, where in 4 visits I saw black bears twice and traces once. One time coming back down from the mountain, fresh prints were in snow overlapping mine: the bear had sniffed my tracks, but left. Another visit approaching a cliff, a black bear was up a trunk just below, looking for food. 6 months later I saw another bear running into the forest. Again, that was east near Red Buttes Wilderness.

Black bear attacks are exceptionally uncommon but trend predatory when they occur. So far no face to face for us in Redwood National Park, but I heard that Michael Taylor encountered a bear near Atlas Grove, and others have seen them yearly. One part of Hyperion Valley had a couple of Mountain Lion tracks. Although I didn’t see Mountain Lion around Hyperion, I watched 3 Mountain Lions running in the same Redwood National Park, not far away. These cats can leap 16′ vertical and 30′ horizontal. I’ve also seen Mountain Lion tracks in the next park to the north: Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park The image at right below is one of those Cougar tracks from Prairie Creek, to show how large their prints are. About 3.5″ to 4″ wide. Black Bear tracks I’ve seen look much more even around the front, but the Cougar toe digits seem pronounced.

Mountain Lion notes in case you find tracks in Redwood National Park:

The Parks office may appreciate a report about sightings of the Mountain Lions.

• Look for overall round shape of the track, common to most felines. The mountain lion’s front foot has 4 toes and heel that registers, which means they make an imprint.
• The front foot is larger and more asymmetrical than the rear.
• The palm of the track is almost twice the size of the digits, unlike canine tracks.
• The heel has a dimple in the middle at the top of the pad just under the two middle toes.
• Between toes and palm pad, is a curved ridge, which some trackers call a linked ridge. Canines have a diamond or pyramid shape in this area.
• Toe shape is oval, and the most striking characteristic is that toes are offset. They point in a different direction from the heel pad with one toe ahead or forward of others.
• One of the outer 2 toes is forward of the other. Dog toes point straight or slightly toward each other.
• If you try to draw an X between a mountain lion’s toe pads, note that the X crosses into the heel pad.
• If you draw an imaginary X between dog toe pads, the X does not go into the foot pad. Sometimes you can see claw marks left by a dog above toe pads of the print, not always obvious.

The X trick is not really needed. It’s doubtful you will be casting fresh tracks: but just hiking.

How important of a find was the discovery of Hyperion, the tallest tree in the world? I think if you ask that question to ten different people, you will probably get ten different answers. Here in Redwood National and State Park, the discovery of Hyperion has been a double edge sword. On one side, the increase in public awareness of the Redwoods from this discovery has boosted tourism revenues and increased funding for scientific research. On the other side, there has been an onslaught of people trying to see, find, and climb this tree. Most of the seekers have the best intentions, however most are unaware of the fragile environment the tree exists in. These giants are extremely sensitive to impacts from human interaction due to their shallow root systems. The exact location of Hyperion has, for the most part, been kept a secret. With the increase of more precise GPS and Google satellite images available, it is probably possible to figure out where the tree is. But why? There is no need to trample off trail to find these trees there are plenty of big trees to look at from the trails of Redwood National and State Park.

The Guinness World Records website (www.guinnessworldrecords.com) is allowing those with an insatiable hunger for unbelievable feats and facts to vote online for their own personal favorite record from the decade. Once the votes are tallied, Guinness World Records will announce the public’s choices early next year.

“This is the first decade of the new millennium and one of the most exciting and interesting that Guinness World Records has been around to chronicle,” said Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief. “As we get ready to mark the next ten years ahead, we’d like to take a look at the past with all our fans and remember some of the best.”

TALLEST LIVING TREE: The tallest tree currently growing is Hyperion, which measured 115.54 m (379.1 ft) in September 2006. This coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) was discovered by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor (both USA) in the Redwood National Park, California, USA on 25 August 2006.

For more records to choose from and to vote online please go to: http://2010.guinnessworldrecords.com/top100.asp.

Coming to visit Redwood National Park with your kids? Are you interested in learning about Redwoods? As a professional guide who spends a lot of time trying to come up with ways to teach people of different ages and educational backgrounds about redwood ecology, I am constantly looking for new ways to present the information. One of the best web sites I have found for information about redwood trees is from the San Francisco-based Save the Redwoods League www.savetheredwoods.org. Save the Redwoods League’s web site offers a wealth of online resources on just about everything redwood related. Save the Redwoods League has put a lot of time in to teaching kids about the Earth’s tallest beings. One of their new features is the online Redwood Transect Kit for Educators. It is fun to navigate and encourages visitors to learn about the redwood forest and then spend time outside exploring using a transect activity. (www.education.savetheredwoods.org) Somewhat like a treasure hunt, this method asks kids to follow a real or imaginary transect line through an area of forest and keep track of what they find such as leaves chewed by insects or other animals, seed pods, signs of fire or footprints. The website features a photo album to share images kids captured along the way as well as their redwood inspired artwork and poetry. Kids Ecology of the Redwood Forest is a teacher created site that serves as a mini-photo guide to the flora and fauna of the redwood forest. You can view photos of fern or conifer types before heading outside to look for these on your walk.

Guided only by candlelight, experience the stillness and beauty of the ancient redwoods on December 5th, 2009.

One of the best events put on by the California State Parks and the North Coast Redwood Interpretive Association is the Candlelight Walk in the Redwoods. There is nothing like hiking through the forest lit only by candlelight.  The trees look very majestic and the shadows are very spiritual.

Begin the evening at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center with hors d’oeuvres from Klamath and Orick restaurants before the Candlelight Walk.  Then take a short “interpretive” walk from the Visitor Center  to the Campfire Amphitheatre to hear the North Coast Storytellers entertain with stories for all ages including local lore.

After an hour of storytelling around a campfire, the event concludes back at the Visitor Center for mulled cider, cupcakes.

Dress warmly and bring a candle that is enclosed in a plastic cup (along with a flashlight for the walk back from the campfire.)  In case of rain, the entire program will be held in the Visitor Center.

Additional information is available by calling the North Coast Redwood Interpretive Association at (707) 488-2169 or (707) 465-2144.

Sponsored by California State Parks and the North Coast Redwood Interpretive Association.

This is the time of year on the North Coast when the rains fall and the mushrooms pop up.  We have the perfect climate for mushrooms.  They grow all year long, but when we get early fall rains and mild temperatures, they seem to explode everywhere on the forest floor.

Personally, I am not an avid mushroom eater.  What I do love to do, is to walk the Redwood and Spruce forest in Redwood National and State Parks and try to identify the hundreds of different types of mushrooms or fungus.

Let’s start with the question “What is a fungus?”

According to the Journal Of Wild Mushrooming:

“A fungus is an organism whose body consists of a mass of root-like threads, each only one cell thick. When the fungus feels that it’s grown enough and needs to reproduce, it sends up a mushroom, which functions for the fungus the way a fruit does for a plant. If a mushroom is shaped the way you’re used to, the underside of the cap is covered with radiating blade-like structures called gills. On these gills, the mushroom produces millions of spores. These are essentially single-celled seeds.  These spores are microscopic, so small that they blow away on the wind. Eventually (hopefully), they land on a suitable substrate, to grow into another fungus.

Fungal fruits come in all sizes and shapes, not just the medium-sized “mushroom” body-type that you know and love. And just as the fruits of plants include things that we don’t usually think of as fruits, like the winged fruits of maple and beech trees, fungal fruits include things that look nothing like “normal” mushrooms. In fact, we usually refer to fungal fruits as “fruiting bodies”, so as not to get them mixed up with those sweet things that grow on plants. But when a mushroom is up, we often say that the fungus is fruiting, just like one would for a plant. “

The essential way to identify mushrooms is to have a good field guide with lots of pictures. There are several good reference books out; I think the best one is by David Arora.

Mushrooms Demystified, 2nd ed., by David Arora, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, 1986, 959 pages, $39.95 paper. ISBN 0-89815-169-4.

I also carry a small digital camera to take pictures of the ones I cannot identify.  I then e-mail them to my ‘master mushroomer’ friend and she sends back more information or resources to help identify it.

If you hope to eat what you collect, the best way of staying out of the emergency room - - or the morgue - - is to collect with an experienced mushroom hunter, and use a reliable field guide. The best way to find experienced local mushroomers is to get in touch with your local mushroom club(s). Here locally, ours is the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society. Also, it is illegal to pick mushrooms in Redwood National and State Parks.

Collecting mushrooms is allowed in many recreation areas managed by BLM, but the rules, restrictions, and permit requirements vary depending on the area. Contact the appropriate field office for specific info.

It’s never okay to pick mushrooms on private land without permission—always ask first.

According to the Journal Of Wild Mushrooming here are some tips on collecting mushrooms

Dos and Don’ts

Don’t put mushrooms into plastic bags. Plastic bags condense moisture inside them and this will rot your mushrooms very quickly. To prevent decay, carry your mushrooms in individual paper or wax paper sandwich bags, loose in a basket, or in twists or newspaper, wax paper, or aluminum foil. On a sweltering day, mushrooms will survive better in a cooler.

Don’t get lost.

Do tale along a whistle and a compass to use when you get lost.  Some people also use the whistle as a mushroom call…

Do Join a mushroom club and take advantage of the willingness of more experienced mushroomers to share advice and information.  Don’t ask successful mushroomers to pinpoint where they found their prized mushrooms.

Do ask successful mushroomers about the habitat and elevation where they found their prized mushrooms.

Don’t ever serve mushrooms raw- -some people will have allergic reactions.  For example, raw morels will send many people to the emergancy room.  The common button mushroom seems to be the exception, but why take chances?

Don’t worry about how you pronounce the scientific names of the mushrooms.  Those names are Latin, and they are pronounced differently by:

1. American Mycologists

2. British Mycologists

3. Other European Mycologists

Your way (#4?) is bound to be close to 1, 2 or 3.

Advice for You

When Mushroom the Journal asked experienced mushroomers what advice they would give the beginning mushroom hunter, the top five items were:

1. Buy and use good field guides.

2. Join a mushroom club.

3. Take a mushroom identification course.

4. Go out hunting with an experienced mushroomer.

5. Keep a good journal in which you take good notes on what you find.

An experienced mushroomer also recommended:

Look for specific edible mushrooms. When you go berrying, you collect blueberries or blackberries. You don’t pick every berry in sight, mix them in a bag, and then expect some ‘expert’ to tell you which are edible.
Walt Sturgeon

So remember “Have Fungi, but Be Careful”

One of my favorite things to do here is to go whale watching.  We are very lucky here on the North Coast, he whales come very close to shore.  I have seen them many times with in 10 feet of the sand.  It is a very special feeling to be so close to these genital giants.  In Redwood National and State Parks, there are two great and reliable places to see the Gray Whales: The mouth of the Klamath River and on the sand spit of Freshwater Lagoon Beach.  Summer is the best time see the whales due to calm seas and  light wind.  Just look for the spout and dark gray backs slowly rolling out of the water (also a good indicator is other people gathered around and pointing out to sea).  People often ask about the natural history of the Gray Whales.  Below I have found a great article that I have posted below.

Bruce Mate, an Extension Sea Grant marine biologist, Oregon State University.  Provides some scientific information on the Gray Whales

Length: 45 feet
Weight: 35 tons

Migration: Bering Sea to Baja California, Mexico, and back, up to 10,000 miles. Southbound migrating whales move past the N.W coast Dec. through early Feb. Northbound pods pass by in late Feb. through early June. Pods may be seen off the N.W California and Oregon coast any time.
Time of round trip: approximately 3 months

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The Gray Whale is the most common large whale seen from shore along the west coast of North America. Gray Whales are found off the N.W California and Oregon coast all year. They feed in shallow water near shore during the summer and fall, migrate south for breeding and calving during the winter, and migrate north in the spring.

The Gray Whale gets its name from its blotchy color pattern. Some of this pattern is present at birth, but most of it is caused by barnacles growing in the skin or by depigmented areas where barnacles have been.

Gray whales reach 45 feet (14 meters) in length and weigh 35 tons (31.5 metric tons). For comparison, a cross-country bus is 40 feet (12 meters) long. Adult females on average are larger than males.

Whales are mammals. They are warm blooded, breathe air, have hair (single hairs around the front of the head that are visible on calves), and give birth to live young that suckle on milk from their mothers.

Gray Whale Feeding

Mid-spring to mid-fall is the gray whales’ feeding season. Most of the population spends this time in the Bering and Chukchi Seas off Alaska, although every summer some whales are observed feeding from British Columbia to Mexico. The summer population off the Oregon coast often numbers 200 to 400 animals, with many of the same individuals returning year after year.

Summer feeding is better at higher latitudes because the long days produce lots of phyto-plankton (small marine plants), which are eaten by zooplankton (small marine animals). Together, these are the basic food for all ocean life, stimulating the growth of the marine food web, including bottom-dwelling amphipods, the primary prey of gray whales.

There are two basic types of whales: toothed and baleen. The gray whale is a baleen whale. Instead of true teeth, a row of 138-180 baleen plates grows along each side of the upper gum line. The baleen is made of material like a human fingernail.
Appearing quite stiff and solid at its outer edge, each piece of baleen is “fringed” inside the mouth and tapers from 3 inches wide at the gum line to nearly a point at its bottom. These plates are separated by approximately 1/3 inch (6 to 10 mm) inside the mouth, where their fringes overlap to form an effective screen.

Gray whales feed primarily on benthic (bottom-dwelling) amphipods (shrimp-like animals). They go to the seafloor and suck up an area of the bottom about the size of a desktop and a foot deep. Sometimes this makes conspicuous pits on the bottom.

The amphipods are trapped on the baleen filter inside the mouth, while mud, sand, and water pass between the baleen plates. This is the way the whale washes the amphipods clear of sand and mud. It then uses its tongue to suck the amphipods off the inside of the baleen fringe, much the way you might suck peanut butter off the roof of your mouth.

Since gray whales filter animals from mud and water, their baleen is stiffer and has coarser fringes than that of other baleen whales, which filter animals from water only. Sometimes you can see muddy water near the gray whale’s head when it surfaces from a feeding dive.

From time to time, gray whales feed along rocky headlands on swarming mycids, swimming shrimp-like animals about 3/4 inch long. Sometimes their feeding takes them into very shallow water just outside breaking waves along shallow, sloping, sandy beaches. This often results in false stranding calls from people who assume the animals are in trouble. In fact, they are feeding in the furrows you sometimes can see in these areas during low tide.

Southern Gray Whale migration

After feeding during the summer and fall, the entire gray whale population heads south. Late December along the N.W California and Oregon coast is the beginning of the southward migration in the Pacific Northwest. Along the Oregon coast, the migration usually reaches a peak during the first week of January at a rate of 30 animals per hour. By mid-February, most of the whales have left N.W California and Oregon waters.

Pregnant females are the first to migrate, followed by mature adults of both sexes and then by juveniles. Whales travel at a rate of up to five miles per hour during the southbound migration. It takes them about three weeks to get to Mexico.

Examinations of the stomachs of whales during the whaling days indicated that gray whales eat very little while migrating and while in calving areas. Thus, many whales may go without food for three to five months.

The pods travel south to the three major breeding and calving lagoons on the west coast of Baja California, Mexico: Laguna Ojo de Libre, adjacent to Laguna San Ignacio; Guerrero Negro Lagoon (also known as Scammon’s Lagoon); and Magdalena Bay. Captain Charles Scammon charted many of these areas in the mid-1800s as he hunted gray whales. His book, Marine Mammals of the Northwest Coast, has been reprinted in paperback and makes interesting reading.

Gray Whale Calving

When the whales arrive in Mexico, births take place in lagoons as well as offshore. Births begin around Christmas and peak in early February. Females give birth to a single calf once every two years after they become sexually mature (at about eight years old). They mate in years when they are not bearing a calf.

Going south into temperate or subtropical waters to calve is typical of most baleen whales and presumably helps the newborn whales conserve body heat. Pods may favor lagoons because they are protected areas of calm, warm water. Mexican fishers also report that there are very few sharks in the lagoons when the whales are present.

The 15-foot (4.5 meter) calf is born tail first and weighs approximately 1 ton (0.9 metric ton). The calf’s breathing is awkward at birth, but within several hours the animal is making smooth dives. It breathes about twice as frequently as its mother for the first several weeks.

The male takes none of the responsibility for newborns. Calves nurse from their mothers for approximately six to eight months, acquiring more independence during the last third of the suckling period. Females have two teats, one on either side of the genital slit. Their milk is 50 percent fat. This conserves water for the mother and makes the milk a compact “glob” that sticks to the calves’ baleen.

Gray Whale Breeding

It is not unusual to see more than one male vying for the attention of an estrous (receptive) female. There are no long-term bonds between males and females. Females have been seen breeding with three males in 45 minutes.

Northern Gray Whale migration

By March, whales already are returning northward along the Oregon coast. The northbound migration begins with immature animals (some of which may not have gone all the way to Mexico), adult males, and females without calves. These animals pass the Oregon coast from early March through April. Breeding sometimes is observed at this time.

Calves usually are rambunctious but stay close to their mothers as they become more coordinated and develop an insulating blubber layer. Calves are at least a month old before they migrate north with their mothers. Mothers and calves are the last to leave the lagoons and move somewhat more slowly, passing N.W California, Oregon and Washington from late April through June.

During the spring migration, if the weather is good, you can see whales within a few hundred yards of coastal headlands.

The full round-trip migration from the Baja calving lagoons to the Bering Sea and back is 10,000 miles (16,000 km), the longest known for any mammal. Other whales also are known to migrate between summer high-latitude feeding grounds and more temperate low-latitude breeding and calving areas. However, researchers know more about the gray whale because it moves so close to shore. This nearshore movement has led to speculation that gray whales navigate by staying in shallow water or keeping the surf noises to one side or the other, depending upon their direction of travel.

Exploitation and conservation

The regularity of the gray whales’ movements made it possible for whalers to exploit them heavily along the migration route and in the calving lagoons. Around 1855, shore processing stations were set up in San Diego. At that time, navigation inside the bay was judged hazardous because of the abundance of breeding whales.

By 1873, gray whales had been so reduced in number that these shore stations closed. Whaling continued within the Mexican lagoons, and the gray whale population was further depleted until the lagoons were closed to whaling by the Mexican government in the early 1900s. Full protection was extended to gray whales in 1937 by the League of Nations, and in 1946 by the International Whaling Commission.

After 57 years of protection from commercial hunting, the gray whale population had recovered sufficiently to be removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994. At that time, the population was estimated at 23,000, which is thought to be close to the pre-whaling population.

A quota of 176 whales a year is harvested along the Siberian coast. That number was determined by the average number that had been taken throughout the last 20 years of the recovery period, during which the population continued to grow.

Gray whales are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act by National Marine Fisheries Service guidelines that require boaters not to approach within 100 yards of the animals. Inappropriate tourism can be a harassment that affects the animal’s use of important habitats. Industrial development in some of the breeding, calving, and migration areas may be the greatest threat to the gray whales’ future.

The only natural predators of gray whales are killer whales and large sharks. Killer whales tend to show up along the Oregon coast during late April and May and may target females and calves migrating north.

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National Exposure

Redwoods are a fact of life for Southern Oregon and Northern California coast residents, who can see the world’s tallest trees anytime they like.

But for those that don’t live in the narrow strip of land from south of San Francisco to just over the Oregon border, the redwoods are a vacation destination.

They also frequently attract writers and filmmakers.

This year, the redwoods and those who strive to protect them are a point of interest for the likes of National Geographic Magazine and famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

“Things pop up at times,” said Rick Nolan, chief of interpretation for Redwood National and State Parks about the national attention the redwoods are about to receive. “A culmination of projects have come together at once.”

This exposure could inspire more Americans and foreigners to visit the region, and local tourism officials are looking at ways to draw those people to this neck of the woods.

From top to bottom

The October issue of National Geographic Magazine will feature conservationist and explorer-in-residence Michael Fay’s year-long, 700-mile-hike through redwood forests.

A spokesperson for National Geographic said that a “big cover story” on redwoods will be coming out in October, but declined to give more details.

Local officials have heard that the entire edition may be devoted to the redwoods, and that its unique cover will fold out into an eight-page flap to show an enormous tree from top to bottom.

Known as the Redwood Transect, Fay’s trip was modeled after his 2,000-mile Megatransect through central Africa in 1997.

In September 2007, Fay started at the southernmost redwood tree south of San Francisco and worked his way to the northernmost tree in Southern Oregon, near Brookings.

“He hiked the entire coastal redwood range,” said Steve Chaney, Redwood National Park superintendent.

Fay’s article will be about the ecology and history of redwoods and the effects of logging on the giant trees, Chaney said.

Terry Hofstra, the chief of resources management and science for Redwood National and State Parks, met Fay when he spent the night in Orick, Calif., on his way north. Fay passed through Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Jedediah Smith State Park and the Mill Creek acquisition area – it took him months to do this, Hofstra said.

Fay’s focus during the Redwood Transect was on the conservation of redwoods and sustainable logging, Hofstra said.

“His goal was to try to support protecting the redwoods and finding a way to contribute in an economic way,” Hofstra said.

The article should cover the whole range of redwoods, he explained, from old-growth to second-growth trees, those in protected areas and those still being logged. But, it’s difficult to know what exactly will make it into the magazine.

“I don’t know what to expect,” Hofstra said. “I suspect he was getting a feel for what’s in the entire range of redwoods.”

Capturing the moment

Tourists check out a fallen giant at Simpson-Reed Grove off Highway 199 in Del Norte County.

Michael “Nick” Nichols, a staff photographer for National Geographic, spent about a year operating out of Orick, shooting photographs of redwoods for the magazine. Nichols also documented Fay on his Megatransect in Africa.

Richard Stenger, media marketing manager for Humboldt Conference and Visitors Bureau, met Nichols while he was living in Orick. He said the cover art is expected to be an eight-page foldout of a redwood from top to bottom that Nichols shot in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. It’s a “fantastic photo,” Stenger said.

“Fantastic” is a word that pops up a lot in conversations about Nichols’ photography.

Both Fay and Nichols climbed redwoods with Humboldt State University Professor Steve Sillett while learning about tree-top ecology. Hofstra said Nichols got some “fantastic shots from tops of old growth.”

Nichols also spent time in all of Del Norte County’s redwood parks, Hofstra said, in order “to capture the resources Mike Fay had encountered.”

Stenger said Nichols set up remote cameras in the forest to capture wildlife, including mountain lions, bears and a few smiling locals from Orick who figured out where the camera was located.

Before Nichols left Orick a few months ago, he gave a slideshow presentation showing some of his photos taken locally and all over the world. Stenger said Nichols “fell in love with the community.”

Nolan also got a peek at some of the photos.

They were the typical “spectacular” photos one would expect to see in National Geographic Magazine, he said.

“(Nichols) is one of those true adventurers willing to get out before dawn to hopefully get a photograph,” Nolan said, “to do just about anything, dragging through the wilderness, to get the photograph.”

Stenger said Nichols not only capture photos of redwoods and wildlife, but of the people deeply invested in the ongoing debate about about the logging of second-growth trees.

“He really got a good sense of how polarized the debate over redwoods is,” Stenger said. “He was sympathetic to both sides and reflected that he had never seen an issue so much on the left and the right and neither was wrong.”

One photo in particular captured that dichotomy, Stenger said. It was of the head of a logging company and of a tree-sitter.

“He captured the respect they had for each other,” Stenger explained. “He did a good job of documenting all walks of life and more importantly seeing when they were united.”

Television documentary

About the same time National Geographic Magazine’s redwoods issue will hit newsstands, the Public Broadcasting Service will air filmmaker Ken Burns’ documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” in late September.

“It’s very exciting,” Chaney said. “It’s expected to be a good documentary series.”

It’s definitely not a “nature film,” he added.

The 12-hour series will be shown on PBS in two-hour segments over six days, Nolan explained. Some of the filming was done about a year ago in Redwood National Parks, Chaney said.

Burns has been working on the documentary for the last 10 years. It is about the history of national parks and features a short segment on Redwood National Parks.

“It highlights the idea that national parks are a uniquely American idea,” Nolan said. “All people own these parks and have stake in them.”

It also shows the variety of natural beauty within America’s boundaries and the efforts to preserve those places, Nolan said, such as the redwoods.

“The profile of Redwood National Park is one of the highlights – it’s a special resource people can see,” Nolan said.

The documentary doesn’t have a larger segment on Redwood National Park because it traces the history of national parks only until the late 1960s and early 1970s, which was right before the parks were expanded to preserve more redwoods.

“It doesn’t get into the contentious period of expansion,” Chaney said.

Regardless, Nolan is planning a movie night to show PBS’ one-hour synopsis of the series in Crescent City sometime in early September. Redwood National Parks has also been working on its own hour-long film, which is expected to be done in August, Nolan said, which he would like to premiere locally.

Visit the redwoods!

Local tourism officials are hoping that the National Geographic cover story and Burns’ documentary on national parks will entice more people to visit the redwoods. A boost in tourism could mean more tax money for local governments and bigger profits for businesses.

“We’re working to respond and to take advantage of what National Geographic is doing,” said Tony Smithers, executive director of the Humboldt Conference and Visitors Bureau.

For Smithers, that means making sure that when people Google “redwoods,” Humboldt Conference and Visitors Bureau’s Web site is one of the first on the list. The Web site then directs people on where to stay, go shopping, visit or eat.

Smithers said about $50,000 of Humboldt Conference and Visitors Bureau’s annual budget goes towards paying Google for the privilege. The money has paid off: www.redwoods.info has risen in popularity and gets anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 visitors a day, Smithers said.

“The hope is that more people than ever will be aware of the redwoods and desire to see them for themselves,” he said.

While the majority of the Humboldt Visitors Bureau’s marketing is dedicated towards Humboldt County, some is also directed toward Del Norte, he said. That’s because the two counties have the common denominator of the Redwood National and State Parks, Smithers said.

National Park Service Superintendent Steve Chaney announced today that
after 22 years accommodating travelers from around the world, the Redwood
National Park Hostel will close its doors indefinitely on January 18, 2010,
due to a lack of available funding for necessary repairs to the historic
former pioneer homestead.

The hostel is in need of extensive reconstruction, including seismic
retrofitting as well as renovations to bring the building into ADA
compliance. Preliminary assessments estimate the cost of these repairs at
more than $1.5 million.

The closure is the result of a joint decision by the National Park Service
at Redwood National and State Parks, which oversees the building and the
site, and the Golden Gate Council of Hostelling International USA, which
operates the hostel. HI-USA Golden Gate Council, a nonprofit organization,
hopes to raise the necessary funds to complete the renovations and reopen
the hostel in the future.

The Redwood Hostel has hosted more than 75,000 travelers since it first
opened in 1987. Over the past three years, overnight stays have increased
by 40%, and the hostel has become one of the highest-rated in the world.
The Lonely Planet travel guide U.S. and Canada on a Shoestring lists it as
one of the “Five Best Hostels” across the two countries, and in 2008 the
hostel tied for first place (with the Shin-Osaka Hostel in Japan) for
highest customer satisfaction ratings worldwide, according to the
International Youth Hostel Federation.

“As word of the hostel’s potential closure spread, our guests, as well as
members of the local community, expressed an overwhelming disappointment,”
said hostel manager Kaci Elder. “It’s heartbreaking. Yet they have
encouraged us not to give up, and to remain optimistic that funding will
come through to retrofit the hostel for another generation of travelers.”

Superintendent Chaney said that “in light of all the positive results
coming from Hostelling International’s management of the hostel, the just
completed award of a seven-year concession contract to HI, and the simply
remarkable character of this hostel, it was devastating to learn about the
building’s serious structural deficiencies.
While these problems are forcing us to discontinue use of the existing
building, we are hopeful that HI, with assistance from the NPS and other
regional interests, will find a way to continue to offer a hostel
experience to park visitors.”

The site where the Redwood Hostel stands today was established as a pioneer
homestead in 1877, when Swiss-born Peter Louis DeMartin and his family
built a log home and began raising crops and livestock. Even during these
early years, the home was open to travelers, who were offered a bed for 25
cents per night. In 1889 the DeMartins built a new home and hostelry, with
more space for travelers.

After Louis DeMartin passed away in 1907, his children undertook a complete
reconstruction of the house, including the addition of a second story. The
house remained in the hands of the DeMartin family until 1944, when it was
sold.

By 1985, the house was vacant and boarded up, and locals questioned whether
it should be torn down. HI-USA Golden Gate Council undertook major
renovations in partnership the National Park Service, the Coastal
Conservancy, and the California Conservation Corps, and the Redwood
National Park Hostel opened its doors to travelers in June 1987.

The Redwood National Park Hostel is operated by the Golden Gate Council of
Hostelling International USA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
promoting intercultural understanding, environmental stewardship, and world
peace through travel. The hostel is an authorized Concessioner of the
National Park Service, Department of the Interior.