The dramatic moment a pair of 250ft giant sequoias that have stood for 1,500 years fell to the groun

This to me ( although I am not a tree hugger) is fascinating. A pair of sequoia trees that were joined in their lower section have fallen to the ground after a life span of 1500 years. The size and age of the trees are amazing the lady in the video says 350feet high. twenty feet round. They are not sure what to do with them as they are blocking the trail. Please watch both videos.

These incredible pictures show how a pair of 1,500-year-old giant sequoias - whose branches are the size of normal trees - dramatically fell to the ground.

A German tourist watched the two 250ft trees fall to the ground at the Trail of 100 Giants in California and captured the amazing moments and the crushing sound on video.

The trees lay the length of a football pitch and their diameter of their torn roots and base was 20ft.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
It can't be possible,' Gerrit Panzner, who watched the tree fall, told Catholic Online. 'That tree has been there thousands of years and then you realise the tree is falling and you had to run.'

He heard loud ‘crinkling’ noises before they eventually fell - but nobody was injured. The trees are believed to have fallen over because they could simply not support their weight anymore.


They fell on the Trail of 100 Giants in the Sierra Nevada, which is a route accessible to wheelchairs that allows visitors to view more than 100 huge sequoia trees.

Now Forest Service officials are deciding what to do with two of the world’s largest trees, as many conservationists have suggested they should be left alone.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

I hope they let those trees just lie there, rebuild the path over them, as they would provide a nice habitat for detritivores and other little animals for a very long time.

It's the three I've always been fascinated by... They should let the threes where they are, and simply drill through them so people could see its inside, while walking the trail, and put staircases to climb on it.

It would be a magical sight!

That's amazing.

At first, they looked like ordinary average trees lying on the ground until you notice the tiny people walking on top of them to give you a sense of the size of those things.

I hope they don't cut them up or anything. If they need to clear the trail, they should cut a tunnel through the trees to let people pass through. That would help people to appreciate how really gigantic those trees are.

Now Forest Service officials are deciding what to do with two of the world’s largest trees, as many conservationists have suggested they should be left alone.

They were also taking suggestions from the General Public. I watched an article on this. First, how about the guy's luck who got to capture this on video, talk about "right place at the right time" huh?

Of the suggestions that I heard from the people they interviewed, I thought there were some rather good ones:

"Leave them be"
"Cut a tunnel through"
"Build a Bridge over"

...all of which would still allow for people to marvel at their grandeur.

Kinda sad, to see something that has been there for sooo long, to fall, There arent many of these beautiful trees left, pretty soon they will just be a memory, only spoken about in history books. Id like to go and see the remaining Sequoias, before humanity kills off, the remaining trees. And No im not a tree hugger, just respect nature and what is has to offer. Wish everyone respected nature, instead of chopping trees down all over the place to build shopping malls, and vast concrete jungles. One day Earth will say enough, and get rid of us all. LOL

reply to post by Glassbender777


I know what you mean, they are awesome and I too would love to see them in person one day before they become just a section in a history book. They weren't exactly sure how these fell, they suspected it was due to wetter than normal soil due to the rainfall in the region as of late.

Strange that, after 1500 +/- years worth of rainfall and this was the one year that just happened to be the one that was the proverbial straw on the camel's back to weaken the soil enough that their root system could no longer hold them up vertically.

Which just goes to show that even the tall and mighty must one day fall to earth.
1500 years is a long lifetime.
When the little seeds that became these mighty giants first fell to the ground Europe was still in the Dark Ages.

Well, they had to go eventually. No one see's 3,000 year old trees, and I guess this is why. It's something else to go and see this majestic trees personally and I wish I'd been there to see these two fall. Talk about the end of an Era in that little corner of the forest.

Heck, they ought to put their heads together and figure out some way of using the excellent wood these two fallen giants offer to create items that commemorate and bring attention to the rest of that forest as it suffers some serious issues from man made problems. It's a shame to just leave them on the forest floor though. As standing trees of such age, they were majestic giants...as fallen trees, they're more trash on the trail if not made use of.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Well, they had to go eventually. No one see's 3,000 year old trees, and I guess this is why. It's something else to go and see this majestic trees personally and I wish I'd been there to see these two fall. Talk about the end of an Era in that little corner of the forest.

Heck, they ought to put their heads together and figure out some way of using the excellent wood these two fallen giants offer to create items that commemorate and bring attention to the rest of that forest as it suffers some serious issues from man made problems. It's a shame to just leave them on the forest floor though. As standing trees of such age, they were majestic giants...as fallen trees, they're more trash on the trail if not made use of.

I disagree with you. If we make something of them, just for human use, eventually they will become more symbols of human greed, and then we dishonor them. Leave them in nature, it will provide shelter for many little animals, and food for a lot more...

All I could think of was this...........

"I used to be anxious when the shadow lay on Mirkwood, but when it removed to Mordor, I did not trouble for awhile: Mordor is a long way away. But it seems that the wind is setting East, and the withering of all woods may be drawing near." -TreeBeard (LOTR)

reply to post by Hellhound604

Wow... Okay... Not everything made by human hands need stand as a little tribute to the worst man is capable of....unless one is predisposed to look for that in everything they see.

That whole forest is dying and experiencing severe disease and other issues that threaten it's long term survival. No one outside of that area and a few greenies scattered around the world even know, let alone care either way about that problem.

Here is an opportunity to create and get items out to the masses that will bring that stand of majestic trees to mind every time a person gazes upon whatever might be made from the wood sitting there on the forest floor now. It seems a much more productive use for it than watching these become the largest piles of rotting dead fall and rank decomposition that one can find to gaze upon.

Use the dead ones to save the rest? Or just watch the dead ones just rot into mush and eventually disappear all together...never having helped at all? It's an easy choice to my thinking, and I hope some Californians consider that as well.

reply to post by tarifa37


Thanks for sharing this... fascinating! S+F

Were these the oldest living organisms on the planet?

Did anyone else note the narrator saying the trees fell at 1.11pm?

What a rare thing to see. I definitely think they should leave them there, this is a natural part of the lifespan of a tree: falling and providing nourishment as well as a habitat for other creatures before turning back into earth.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by Hellhound604

 

Wow... Okay... Not everything made by human hands need stand as a little tribute to the worst man is capable of....unless one is predisposed to look for that in everything they see.

That whole forest is dying and experiencing severe disease and other issues that threaten it's long term survival. No one outside of that area and a few greenies scattered around the world even know, let alone care either way about that problem.

Here is an opportunity to create and get items out to the masses that will bring that stand of majestic trees to mind every time a person gazes upon whatever might be made from the wood sitting there on the forest floor now. It seems a much more productive use for it than watching these become the largest piles of rotting dead fall and rank decomposition that one can find to gaze upon.

Use the dead ones to save the rest? Or just watch the dead ones just rot into mush and eventually disappear all together...never having helped at all? It's an easy choice to my thinking, and I hope some Californians consider that as well.

I understand where you are coming from, but you seem to think that a rotting tree is bad. It is not, it creates a habitat for millions of organisms. The rot itself are caused by fungi and other detrivores, it is nature's ways of reusing old things, in that way, the fallen trees go on living for eternity. If I was a tree I would rather have died like that, instead on being carved up and stood in a museum, or worse, being made into furniture for some rich folk. Heck, I would rather have my body used that way when I die.

You can read up more on this process here.
ohioline.osu.edu...

Educate the people by all means, but don't take a tree like that out of nature...

reply to post by NowanKenubi


One of the most intresting and beautiful places I have visited. There is one tree that fell across the road and they cut a tunnel through it. and another where you can drive your car up on it and park! I also enjoyed looking out over the cliff where they have a walkway to enjoy the view from a 3000 foot cliff. Crater Lake and the drive up Mount Saint Helens was awsome too......

reply to post by Hellhound604

Rotting trees aren't bad.. Of course not. Without deadfall and rot, we'd be living in a desert within a few generations of vegetation and it's loss. I just find the waste of a couple of the largest examples of trees on Planet Earth to be sad...when they could be put to use in saving the others that are still standing.

Oh well... Never mind. I at least got to see these trees when I was young enough to be in awe, yet old enough to appreciate the magic of nature these giants represent. I hope my son gets to see what's left...and if his children have more than postcards and photographs to remind them, it'll be a miracle.

Lets not use a twig for something that could be called greedy though...'course not. It's better to let them all die in silence and neglect. No mean nasty capitalists will have made a dollar in the process, then. Mission Accomplished. Win the battle...while losing the war in a spectacular way.

Two life partners fell together after 1500 years of companionship.

There is a powerful tale of romance there in there somewhere, I'm sure.

I grieve for their loss, but I'm sure they felt it coming and prepared for it.

As to what to do about the trail: build a new one around them, you ninnies.

That seems so obvious I wonder at the mental capacities and worldviews of those who even question what to do.

Sheesh.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Unfortunatly the trees fell because they had died. They didnt fall immediatly after they died, they stood there probably for a few years before the insects and weather rotted enough of the wood for them to eventually fall.
There was probably no usable wood left and these trees are just mulch now. They will nuruish the ground they lay on and feed the giants of the future.

reply to post by karen61057


I dont belive the wood rotted out on them nor where they dead when they fell. It was the ground structure that was supporting the giant that gave way. They said they suspect from a wet spring that the ground had stayed soft for a while and the trees weight made it give way.