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2006 Redwood Climb
Dr. Stephen C. Sillett invited a few experienced climbing friends and myself to lend a hand doing, what he painfully termed their first “destructive sampling” exercise. Although the research poses little to no harm to the tree, Steve Sillett is no fan of removing even the smallest amount of growth. The end result of removing a handful of brush from specific trees would be to more accurately calculate wood and leaf volume in future tree evaluations to determine tree growth in leiu of global warming. For 7 days Bryan Kotwica (arborist and cartoonist from Chicago), Dan Kraus (2005 international tree climbing champion from Seattle Washington), Dr. Sillett and I climbed, measured and cut predetermined, yet random branch samples from four redwoods and very methodically transported the parts to the ground where Marie Antoine and Robert van Pelt organized, weighed and packaged every needle for shipment back to their lab. On this trip Dan, Bryan and I were privledged to have the opportunity to spend a most perfect moonlit night at 340 feet, in one of the tallest trees in the world, a climb that resulted in my first 30-hour stretch in a single tree! Enjoy the view.
- Tobe Sherrill
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