Took a trip up to Montgomery Woods yesterday. It's been raining like crazy around these parts lately. Yesterday was a welcome reprieve from the gray, wet days we've been having. There were a lot of visitors yesterday as well. The grove was filled with water. Steam was emanating from the barks of many of the trees that happened to have been hit by the sun beams.
I want to share a bit of the parks history. This was written on a new sign that has been constructed near the parking area:
Montgomery
Woods State Natural Reserve (SNR) is named for nineteenth century
pioneers Andrew and Elizabeth Montgomery, who homesteaded 160 acres
here. In 1919, plans were made to harvest the trees in the Montgomery
Grove. Ynes Mexia brought the grove to the attention of Save the
Redwoods League. Within a year, the League managed to halt the harvest.
It took another 25 years before the trees were permanently protected.
Land owner Robert Orr donated 9 acres in 1945. Over the next 65 years,
the park grew to over 2,700 acres. Today, California State Parks works
with partners to restore the land and water that flow through the groves
and protect the trees from ongoing threats.
I can only imagine what the forests of Mendocino County once looked like. It's still hard to believe that only a couple small, small groves exist here and that's all that remains of the original forest. Yesterday, I couldn't help get the feeling that watching all that water flow through the grove was fulfilling a very important task, that I can't even begin to understand. Like looking at a small part of a very complex machine that requires all of its parts to function properly.
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