Redwood Creek Symphony

Redwood Creek Symphony – Opus 381 – Allegretto

As Inspired by Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, Second Movement (Allegretto), “Knowing”.

For more photos and associated music in You Tube, please go here

Movement 1 – il fiurne icontra l’oceano (River Meets Ocean)

Redwood Creek flows into the Pacific Ocean just south of Orick, California.  The outflow area includes some rocky headlands, pastures, and a large earthen levy.  The levy is to mitigate the effect of offshore earthquake induced tidal waves.   Not too long ago, and for thousands of years before that, native peoples used this area in the winter for fishing and hunting, with their villages located a few miles upstream in sunnier and warmer areas near Emerald Creek (a feeder creek to Redwood Creek).   The native peoples also used the Bald Hills area in the summer and fall for hunting and collecting acorns.  The Emerald Ridge, Dolason, and Tall Trees trails are likely routes originally used by the native peoples to travel between the Bald Hills and Redwood Creek.

There is a good reference created in 1914 that included interviews with older Chilula peoples who lived along Redwood Creek before mid 19th century conflicts with settlers led to many deaths and resettlement of the survivors to the Hoopa Reservation: https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp010-007.pdf

One way to access this area is a pleasant beach walk from the Kuchel Visitor center.  It is a lot safer and warmer to walk near the high tide line versus in the surf, as the water is cold and sneaker waves can knock a person down and drag them out into the ocean.

This is an area where the steady outflow of Redwood Creek can be expressed by soft string music, then the waves are represented by the thump of the kettle drum, and the sadness of what was lost through minor scales played by oboes and clarinets, particularly the first wailing call at the start of the movement.

This movement covers Redwood Creek from the ocean to the turn southward, and the first one minute forty five seconds of Beethoven’s allegretto.

Redwood Creek outflow to Pacific Ocean
Beach near Redwood Creek outflow to Pacific Ocean

Movement 2 – inizia la grande foresta (The Great Forest Starts)

Moving upstream Redwood Creek turns south, winding around the base of Orick Hill. It is in this area the great Redwood Creek forest starts.  Here the trees are not quite as tall as further upstream, as sunlight is suppressed by coastal fog for much of the year.   Yet the tallest trees in this area approach 330 feet in height. There are open fields on the east side of the creek, through fire maintenance by native peoples and now the National Park Service.  Elk are in this area, and there is still a hint of the Pacific Ocean as evidenced by large Sitka spruce trees in places near the creek.  Big mossy maples are also around, giving a hint to past flooding events.

This area is a transition zone between the maritime area and the tallest trees which are further upstream.

In this movement there is a building, repeated melody played in the string section.  It is a hint of what is to come, as the tall trees are all round and become more numerous moving upstream.  This would cover about 1:45 to 2:45 in Beethoven’s piece.

Orick Hill north end scene created from LiDAR point cloud
Looking southwest along Redwood Creek in the north Orick Hill area
Sitka spruce along north portion of Redwood Creek trail

Movement 3 – la foresta che tocca il cielo (The Forest That Touches the Sky)

Starting immediately around the area of the north seasonal foot bridge, the tree height skyrockets.  Here is the start of a six mile sweet spot, with nightly fog providing year round moisture for leaves through absorption and for roots through fog drip.  But then the fog retreats during the day and allows the sunshine to provide energy for photosynthesis. There are many side streams with gulches and gullies, where the tall trees can find wind protection.   The hillsides give a push to the water column of each tree, as water first flows downhill a few feet from the uphill side of the trunk to give a boost to the osmotic pressure that brings that water up through the xylem to the crown.  There are also flats near Redwood Creek with very rich soil.  The tall redwoods grow all over, on the hills above Redwood Creek, up the side streams, and on the flats.  Only the trees on the flats can be accessed safely, Tall Trees Grove year round, then the other flats only when Redwood Creek is running low.  It is exceedingly dangerous hiking off trail along the hillsides and creeks above Redwood Creek and its side streams.

 In this area there are perhaps 35 trees above 350 feet in height.  Before the area timber harvest started in 1950 there were probably four times as many (about 140).  How tall was the tallest, was it taller than 380 feet?  We’ll never know for sure, and it is very special there are a couple trees around 380 feet in height, still.  There is an excellent article on historic tall Douglas firs and Coast redwoods by Micah Ewers, it is here:

In this movement the full orchestra pitches in on the main melody, playing loudly, with the beat kept by a thumping kettle drum.  Each beat of the drum represents a 350 foot tree, and each note in the melody signifies the magnificence of the forest.  There are also some intervening sections with soft undertones by the woodwinds that signify what was economically gained and then lost as the timber was harvested from 1950 to 1977. 

This movement covers about 2:45 to 7:05 in Beethoven’s opus.

Redwood Creek near north seasonal foot bridge
Redwood Creek trail east slope near northern seasonal foot bridge
Flat at 44 Creek as viewed from the south
Tall Tree Groves north side as viewed from the northwest
Above Redwood Creek tributary

Movement 4 – magnificenza sopra il torrente (Magnificence Above the Stream)

Starting around the Emerald Creek inflow, Redwood Creek becomes more stream like and a lot of the forest above the creek is second growth.  But old growth remains, with a few trees here and there trying to touch 350 feet.  The nightly fog inflow starts to dissipate in this area, and the forest becomes drier, especially in the summer.  This is a hard to reach area with some scenic spots, I have been told.

This movement is carried by woodwinds and the strings are plucked at times, representing resignation that the forest is dwindling and losing height.  But every now and then the orchestra chimes in with a new short bright melody, like a scenic early evening sky, representing the occasional towering trees that occur in this area.  It is still very good.  Then at the very end the main melody returns, for a few short notes.  This represents the end of the old growth.

In Beethoven’s opus this runs from about 7:05 through to the end at 9:10.

View to the south of Tall Trees Grove along Redwood Creek

Thanks for reading.

Humboldt Redwoods State Park Bull Creek Groves

Background

The Bull Creek groves in Humboldt Redwoods State Park run six kilometers east to west, starting at the confluence of Bull Creek and the South Fork Eel River and extending west to a short distance past the Mattole Road Bridge over Bull Creek. All the tall redwoods (those over 100 meters in height) in the Bull Creek groves are within 225 meters of Bull Creek itself.   Therefore, the area with very tall redwoods encompasses about 2.7 million square meters / 270 hectares / 670 acres.   The tall redwoods are more or less uniformly distributed throughout this area, which is known as the “Bull Creek Flats”.

Despite what a sign says, the Bull Creek Flats have NOT been a wilderness for thousands of years.  This area was long used by Native Americans, especially in the winter when salmon were in the creek.  In the present day Mattole Road runs through the entirety of the Bull Creek groves, and the area is well trailed, on both the north and south sides of Bull Creek.  You can virtually drive Mattole Road through the Bull Creek Flats using Bing Maps (this area is not available on Google Earth Street View).

John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated $2 million in the late 1920’s to purchase the Bull Creek groves and a portion of the surrounding hillsides from the Pacific Lumber Company.  That sum was matched by state of California taxpayers to complete the $4 million purchase of approximately 9,400 acres encompassing the Bull Creek Flats, Dyerville Flats, and some of the surrounding hillsides in 1931.   This is why the area in the present day is called Rockefeller Forest, though John D. Rockefeller Jr. preferred the name Bull Creek – Dyerville Forest.

Coast Redwoods are the dominant canopy species in Bull Creek groves.  The coast redwood is the only living tree species with more than a handful of individual trees over 100 meters in height.  There are approximately 2,000 coast redwoods over 100 meters in height.  Of these 2,000, about 800 are in the Bull Creek groves. About 25 of the approximately 45 trees in the world over 110 meters in height (all coast redwoods) are in Bull Creek groves.

Notable trees marked on older maps for this area include the Rockefeller Redwood (Tall Tree), Giant Tree, Flat Iron Tree (now fallen), and the Giant Braid.

Lower, Middle and Upper Bull Creek Flats

Although the Bull Creek groves (Bull Creek Flats) are continuous, sometimes the area is subdivided into the lower, middle, and upper Bull Creek Flats.  Using 2018 LiDAR data, I have created three derivative maps detailing the crowns in each area color shaded by ten meter height increments, stopping at 100 meters.  The crowns with white shading on top are over 100 meters, and there are about 800 such crowns along Bull Creek.   The tallest tree in the Bull Creek groves is Stratosphere Giant, which is about 114 meters tall.   Its specific location can be found through a standard web search.

Lower Bull Creek Flats colored height map shaded by ten meter increments. Ends in white (over 100 meters)
Middle Bull Creek Flats color height map shaded in ten meter height increments. Ends at white (over 100 meters).
Upper Bull Creek Flats color height map shaded by ten meter height increments. Ends at white (over 100 meters).

A Photo Tour of the Bull Creek Groves

Below are photos I took from 2014 though 2019 of locations in the Bull Creek groves.  They give a good overall idea of what can be found on the Bull Creek Flats, and some specific additional facts are included in the photo captions.  

I have also created a three minute You Tube / Power Point on the Bull Creek groves.  There is some background music, please forgive the middling skill of the piano player (me).

Views of Lower Bull Creek Flats

Winter morning at south end of Rockefeller Loop in Lower Bull Creek Flats
Tall redwood inside the Rockefeller Loop in Lower Bull Creek Flats
Sorrel covered forest floor in Lower Bull Creek Flats.
Fallen redwood on north trail exiting Rockefeller Loop in Lower Bull Creek Flats
Adjacent tall redwoods in the Lower Bull Creek Flats area

Views of Middle Bull Creek Flats

Nice redwood growing on the south side of Bull Creek in Middle Bull Creek Flats.
Large redwood in Middle Bull Creek Flats south of Bull Creek
Middle Bull Creek Flats south of Bull Creek
Tall redwood crowns in Middle Bull Creek Flats south of Bull Creek
Open area on Calf Flat north of Bull Creek in Middle Bull Creek Flats
Middle Bull Creek Flats north side trail view. Fallen redwoods are generally cut through and moved a little to keep the trails open.

Views of Upper Bull Creek Flats

View looking south across Bull Creek to Harper Flat in Upper Bull Creek Flats
Big redwood on Harper Flat on the south side of Bull Creek in Upper Bull Creek Flats
Looking toward the crown of a tall redwood on Harper Flat south of Bull Creek in Upper Bull Creek Flats
Giant Tree just south of Bull Creek in Upper Bull Creek Flats.
Tall Tree aka Rockefeller Redwood. On the north side of Upper Bull Creek Flats.
Nice ravine tree in upper Bull Creek Flats on the north side trail.

Thanks for viewing and reading.