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The trunks of ancient trees in the virgin forests of the Pacific Northwest have a considerably larger diameter at ground level than they do even five or six feet above the forest floor.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, loggers had the Herculean task of sawing through these giant trunks by hand. It was a two-man job.
It's an odious task for me just to saw through a 2-by-4 by hand, so I can't comprehend how the men had the strength and endurance to pull and push those widely spaced and wickedly long saw teeth back and forth across the living wood. Perhaps the loggers worked in shifts to fell a tree, but I can't imagine that the team who had been spelled would have been allowed to sit around and play Wordle until it was their turn again.
To make the job just a little bit less overwhelming, loggers sawed the trunk above ground level where it was not as thick.
In order to apply the greatest thrust to their huge, double-ended saws, loggers needed to hold the saw at waist level or higher. The only way they could do that was to carve sockets into the trunk far above ground level and insert long planks for to stand on while they wielded their saw.
In solving one problem the springboards created another, namely that of losing one's balance and falling to the ground. Loggers worked without a safety net literally and figuratively then. That was of little or no concern to the timber barons and their wives who lived and entertained in great style in their mansions in Portland and Seattle.
Cedar is renowned for its resistance to rot. Hence the springboard notches remain plainly visible in the stumps of the felled old-growth cedars for generations after the loggers have joined their victims in the compost of history.
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Close to Home ‘The great cedars call our names’ Willapa Bay’s Long Island is a Northwest treasure
Story by David Campiche
Sep 18, 2014
www.discoverourcoast.com/coast-weekend/coastal-life/close...
The birds are quiet, hardly a peep. The large Harvest Moon that was forecast is buried in gray slurry, in subtle shades of silver and pewter. A fine mist wraps its cloak over the soft green landscape. Long Island rests in the middle of Willapa Bay. Here awaits a late summer dreamscape.
Like the September full moon, leaves are turning yellow and umber. Among the 16 people gathered at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, the mood is speculative but optimistic. I came from Naselle, crossed the Naselle Bridge in a flurry, and headed south.
West of the bridge I could just make out the Herrolds’ oyster plant, their weather-worn dock and graceful wooden vessel. Gargantuan piles of oyster shells lay mounded on the shoreline. The two brothers are descendants of the Chinook culture and proud of it. They have worked this bay for oysters since childhood. The two families have protected both these pristine waters and a lifestyle that predates these oystermen.
Glenn Lamb is the executive director of the Columbia Land Trust. He and his staff have performed diligently in the Pacific Northwest. They have, in particular, a deep affection for Pacific County and the Long Beach Peninsula.
“It is all about wildlife, about restoring habitat,” he says. Lamb picks his words carefully. He is a careful and amicable man.
The organization outlines its parameters as, “Two states. One iconic river (the Columbia). 13,000 square miles of wonder.” Set in our backyard, the Columbia Land Trust projects hope with this succinct statement: “We conserve the Northwest you love.”
We are heading to the Don Bonker Cedar Grove, a 5,000-year-old copse of mostly ancient cedar trees on the west side of the island. U.S. Rep. Bonker saved that grove and then cemented public ownership of the entire island in the 1980s. In the grove are 274 acres of old-growth. The island is seven miles long and half as thick. In all of Pacific County, only 1 percent of the tall trees remain. Someday, as second-growth matures, the entire island will again rebound with a cornucopia of old-growth. This is Bonker’s gift to our grandchildren, to future generations.
Two capable assistants anchor our large barge-like craft at Smoky Hollow, and we make our way on an easy trail a half-mile to a trailhead that reads, “Cedar Grove.” Traveling the trail from the old logging road into the center of the grove is a quick route. One ponders the third-growth woods along the way, small timber the loggers call “pecker poles.” Don’t give up hope: Yards ahead is one of the treasures of the Pacific Northwest. In his long, fruitful tenor in Congress, Bonker left a legacy for you and me to enjoy. Today, the great cedars call our names.
Western cedars are referred to as cathedral trees. Lightning often strikes the tree tops. The resulting twisted limbs often bear shapes like giant candelabras. In this ancient copse, we are surrounded by massive and tall cedars. These trees preserve a quiet dignity. Perhaps, they project an elder’s wisdom, for they are old, very old, some 1,100 years. The landscape is like a natural church, but festooned with lichen, fern and a variety of mosses.
We stroll up the forested apse, a trail carved out by awestruck pilgrims who have ventured into this magical place since the advent of the Chinook civilization.
“Inspire love of place” — it doesn’t take much effort here. To see is to believe. The grove is much older than the trees in it. Like pilgrims coming to Mecca, we, the happy 16, have the rare privilege of standing amid this living and breathing antiquity.
The trip is short and fruitful. We traipse back to the scow and soon travel back to the refuge. By boat or kayak, Long Island is accessible to bow hunters, biologists and campers. Over a dozen campsites punctuate the island. The island provides infinite opportunities for photographers, or for those just seeking solace. Willapa Bay rolls through four tides a day. The Willapa was called Shoalwater Bay at the turn of the century. The shallow bay sustains that reputation. It also produces about 20 percent of the nation’s oysters. Those piles of bivalves are razor sharp. All that is to say: Beware of low tide, your unprotected hands, and the boat’s bottom.
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"Long Island cedars are living fossils"
By Rob Schubert
Longview Daily News
Apr 2, 2019
WILLAPA BAY — The term “living fossil” is one that mixes a sense of being out of place with one of awe and mystery. The coelacanth, a fish that lived alongside dinosaurs, was believed extinct until a living one was found in 1938. Another such living fossil is right around the corner, on Long Island.
That six-mile long island nestled in Willapa Bay is like stepping into the past. The 5,500-acre island includes 274 acres covered in cedar trees that were around when Constantinople became Istanbul in 1453. And unlike other forests, which are constantly in a state of flux due to development, fire or storms, this primeval grove has been untouched for thousands of years.
According to a 1985 article written in Washington Magazine by current Daily News editor Andre Stepankowsky, the first trees of the Long Island grove began sprouting about 4,000 years ago. While those first trees have not survived to this day, the average tree is still between 150 and 160 feet in height, with the oldest individual trees being roughly 1,000 years old. Old rotting cedars on the ground may have been sprouting when Julius Caesar was a child.
When studying forests, most of the discussion is about old-growth forests. The definition of this term varies depending on region, but in the Pacific Northwest, a forest reaches old-growth status when the majority of trees are more than 250 years old.
Old-growth forests already constitute a small fraction of all woodland in the area, but the Long Island grove is old enough to earn itself an entirely different distinction. These trees make up a “climax forest,” a steady-state system of self-reproducing trees so rare that before this grove was found, some researchers believed there were none still in existence. Usually, fire or windstorms interrupt the evolution of a forest to its final “climax” condition. But not at Long Island.
An aid in research
This well-preserved forest has allowed scientists to step into a snapshot of the ecosystem that once dominated coastal regions. Researchers from groups like the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington have used their rings to gain insight to the history of the area. A 1997 project, headed by David Yamaguchi and Brian Atwater, dated cedar stumps along the coast to 1699, which led them to believe a massive disaster occurred before spring of 1700, the same year that a massive tsunami hit Japan. In their report, researchers concluded, largely through comparative tree dating, that 1700 was the year of the last major earthquake in the region.
But the grove’s survival even through disaster is no mere stroke of luck; the trees were perfectly placed to avoid what felled similar groves around the region.
Long Island is tucked into Willapa Bay, with the Long Beach Peninsula shielding it from the worst winds off the Pacific, while the frequent fog and rain keep fire risk to a minimum. Additionally, its position on an island makes it very unlikely that wildfires started elsewhere will spread to the grove.
The location also spared the grove from heavy logging. While Weyerhaeuser Co. acquired the lands for logging from Northern Pacific Railroad in 1900, the cedar grove survived because its location inland on the south portion of Long Island was far more distant to the places where logs were rafted into Willapa Bay and, from there, to shore.
Weyco-federal pact
Weyerhaeuser began to log the grove in the early 1970s, but its moves were met with protests. The company ultimately agreed to a deal with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the ancient cedars.
The pact originally required the government to pay Weyerhaeuser each year, and the cost was being met with growing resistance by the mid-1980s. Southwest Washington Congressman Don Bonker stepped in to broker a lasting deal in which the federal government purchased Weyerhaeuser’s timber rights and preserved the grove in 1986.
Today, the Long Island cedar grove is open to the public, but getting there is a challenge. There are no bridges or ferries to Long Island. Anyone who wants to visit needs to find their own transportation. Visitors to Long Island who arrive from the southeast are met with signs for the Don Bonker Cedar Grove Trail.
Bonker was also instrumental in the creation of the Mount St. Helens Volcanic National Volcanic Monument, the Columbia River National Scenic Area and Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, as well as many state parks and refuges he expanded.
In a 2005 interview with The Daily Astorian, he called the purchase of the cedar grove “special... a rare moment” among the many accomplishments in his legacy. It was preserving these special places, he said, that always meant the most to him.
Los equipos de investigación de Repsol colaboran con los líderes mundiales de Upstream para desarrollar soluciones innovadoras y disruptivas, que utilicen una tecnología nueva y avanzada. Estas iniciativas se centran principalmente en las áreas de caracterización avanzada, geomecánica, simulación y gestión de proyectos.
Repsol´s Upstream research teams work together with world leaders to develop innovative and disruptive solutions, using the latest and most advanced technology. These initiatives are mainly focused in the areas of advanced characterization , geomechanics , simulation and project management .
Welcome everyone. We've been expecting you.
You are in the Murray Motorsports Technology Labs stationed in York, England. A £25,000,000 hyper-advanced engineer's haven, where the next revolution is speed is assembled, the Murray R-X. One R-X takes well over 50 hours of work to complete, and the entire assembly floors are specialized clean rooms with regulated temperatures, so as the metals for the car doesn't expand while being assembled. Each part is hand crafted with the minor assistance from high-priced machinery. The laser arm, who's purpose is to meld parts of the body together for more rigidity under high speeds, costs approximately £250,000. Specialized robots make sure parts are applied to the nanometers, while a holo-display runs a diagnosis of the R-X's MTT900X V8 over 50,000 times to predict an average of the engines output. Once the R-X is completely assembled, the entire outer body, from carbotanium panels to the aerospace-grade windscreen is coated in a special chemical developed by the RAF to correct molecular holes on the outside of the vehicle to achieve perfect aerodynamics. The Tyre's of the R-X are assembled at the labs alongside the car they will be applied to. Semi-slick treads etched onto a polymer that took 2 years and millions of quid to develop are made not only to grip to the tarmac for the best performance, but to last twice as long as most high performance tyres, if not longer. The Murray R-X is a million-quid hypercar that goes to show that even perfection might not be enough. That attention to detail and the latest and greatest in technology are the best choice to provide the greatest track experience one can utilize on the road. This has always been the goal of Murray, the pride of British Motorsport setting an example for the world, and the future.
Invention Ideas - for those older folks who need help in transitioning "slowly" into new technology,
Typing on a Digital Note Pad
Take Aim Technology Challenge
www.kzphotoworks.com | www.facebook.com/kzphotoworks
Apopka, FL
We are so blinded by technology these days… We are always caught up in checking and/or posting updates on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr feeds that we forget to take a step back and enjoy the other great things in life---family, friends, the outside world.
Lately I've been wanting to get away from all technological mediums, but it's hard to when your education and jobs require you to be around it. So... I challenge myself and you to take some time today to put your Apple products down, step outside, and go for a walk, run, or just simply breathe in the fabulous fall air.
I also made this picture into an aminated GIF and you can view it on my Tumblr or website.
This week’s picture was taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Babak Tafreshi at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The bright lane of the Milky Way can be seen streaking across the skies above the Chilean Atacama Desert, beneath which sits the New Technology Telescope (NTT), one of the ten active telescopes located at the observatory.
More information: www.eso.org/public/images/potw1637a/
Credit:
ESO/B. Tafreshi
#23 for 112 Pictures in 2012 - Technology. I thought about putting this in for 'gift' as the iPad was a christmas present from my hubby, but 'technology' won. The old Underwood typewriter behind is a reminder of where I started as a departmental secretary in the diplomatic service, using one of these old 'sit up and beg' typewriters and carbon paper in triplicate. What amazing advances there have been in technology over the last 40 years!
#81 100 Pictures - Technology
... and German service.
This is a postmarks vending machine. It is located at the main post office in Darmstadt. It sells postmarks that still have glue on their reverse sides that you have to moisten and then stick onto your letters.
That in itself is not exactly cutting edge.
But it gets worse.
The machine only accepts coins. It does not return any change. If you want an 85 cent stamp, you have to have 85 cents in coins. Otherwise, if you put in a 1 Euro coin, the machine will return the 85 cent stamp and a 15 cent stamp that you then have to get rid of somehow.
The machine does not accept bills. If you want several stamps or one of a higher denomination, you'd better have lots of coins on you.
The machine does not accept card payment. No bank cards, no credit cards, no smart phones, no NFC. Just coins. I repeat, just coins.
This is in the year 2023 in the country with currently still the fourth largest economy in the world.
I don't believe this. The mind boggles.
Camera: Canon EOS300
Lens: Canon EF 50mm 1:1.8 II
Kodak TMAX 100 black & white negative film
Developed and scanned by www.meinfilmlab.de
Anesthesia Technology students performing hands-on simulation in the surgical lab. Invasive intrajugular vein insertion and learning how to draw arterial blood gases from a pressure transducer.
Format: Photograph
Find more detailed information about this photographic collection: acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=153437
Search for more great images in the State Library's collections: acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/SimpleSearch.aspx
From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales www.sl.nsw.gov.au
This is slightly older technology, but it is still used, and does the job well. This is part of the sound board at my church. I am not real smart when it comes to that type of technology, so I have no idea what each of the buttons and dials do, I just know they look interesting!
This image uses repetition, lines and shapes, balance, and rule of thirds.
I used the automatic setting on my Fujifilm Finepix camera. This photo used indoor lighting and was taken at 5:03 pm.
In Photoshop, I adjusted the brightness and saturation.
Modern technology can be great but sometimes the cables that come with it are a bit of a pain!
Taken for a challenge on the theme "Technology"