When I first visited Trinidad, California, in 2014 the large sea stack in the bay — Pewetol Island — was thickly topped with trees. Like this:
What happened? Was it a fire? If so, how did the fire start? Lightning? A blown ember? Someone scaling the island and accidentally or intentionally starting a blaze? So I looked it up. Here’s what the web told me:
The trees on Pewetole Island were denuded primarily due to a fire event. In September 2016, a fire burned on Pewetole Island, torching trees and sending embers toward the shore. Burned debris continued to fall from the island, indicating significant damage to the island’s vegetation, including the treesThere are no indications of any ongoing investigations into the origin of the fire. The available information states that the cause of the fire was undetermined at the time, and there have been no updates or reports suggesting that an active investigation is still underway.
Now that I know that no one knows, one question remains: how to pronounce Pewetol. I guess I’ll need to ask a local.
It was a fire, now it's a science project. That photo taken every year could tell a story, might not .... but it's not a bad task to have sitting there for next year.
ReplyDeleteYou might join squirrelbasket's tree-followin group. Here's a post from Wahnfried days. It has link to the Squirrel's website.
ReplyDeletehttps://plantsandrocks.blogspot.com/2024/10/tree-following-killer-cottonwood-in-utah.html?m=0
Hollis is interesting. She has a master's in biology and is working w the UNIV in Laramie to catalogue all the trees of WY. She's also an amateur geologist & goes some interesting places. Her last name is Marriott & I suspect she's part of that clan. She also plays the violin & accordion.
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