Tag Archives: redwood trees

Humboldt Redwoods State Park Bull Creek Groves

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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.

Redwood Thunder

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1      Redwood Thunder

Redwood thunder is an uncommon but not rare event. It occurs when a large redwood tree falls to the forest floor, sometimes striking and taking other redwoods, firs, spruce, oaks, and maples with it. A cubic foot of redwood weighs 50 pounds, so if a moderately large 20,000 cubic foot redwood topples that is a million pounds, or 500 tons of wood crashing to the earth.

For redwood thunder to occur usually soaked soil and wind are required, though if the tree fractures on itself soaked soil is not an ingredient.  Sometimes before redwood thunder occurs the tree will lean against an adjacent tree, with the trunks and branches rubbing with the wind and making screeching sounds like giant stringed instruments.

All redwood trees eventually topple, or at least break off down to a low point on the trunk.  If a given old growth redwood has a one in a thousand chance of falling in any given year than that means, based on acres of old growth redwoods, the average annual tree fall count in the large redwood parks is about 300 trees, per park.

If there are multiple trees involved in a tree fall or if the tree falls across a creek, the tree fall is noticeable in Google Earth.  If you hike the same trails over several years you will for sure see trees that have recently fallen.  Their upper trunks are huge and their logs run sometimes more than a football field along the forest floor.

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2      Examples of Tree Falls

 

Here are several examples of tree falls I ran across in 2016.  Included are a picture I took of the tree fall accompanied by before and after Google Earth views of the tree fall areas (using Google Earth historical imagery).

In Humboldt redwoods a neighbor of the big Dyerville Giant log fell in the late spring 2016.  Its trunk shattered and splintered into sections where it struck the Dyerville Giant log.

Tree fall across Dyerville Giant in Founders Grove
Tree fall across Dyerville Giant in Founders Grove

 

Founders Grove - tree to fall marked with X. (Image from Google Earth)
Founders Grove – tree to fall marked with X. (Image from Google Earth)

 

Founders Grove - space left by fallen tree marked by X. (image from Google Earth)
Founders Grove – space left by fallen tree marked by X. (Image from Google Earth)

 

Another recent tree fall in Humboldt was in the area where a seasonal foot bridge is put in to link the Rockefeller Redwood area to the Giant Tree area on either side of Bull Creek in the upper Bull Creek Flats.  The new big log is used a lot to cross the creek, though it would be a pretty tough eight foot or so fall from the log to the rocky creek bottom if your foot or the bark slipped.

Log across Bull Creek in Giant Tree area
Log across Bull Creek in Giant Tree area

 

Bull Creek Giant Tree area - tree to fall marked with X. (Image from Google Earth)
Bull Creek Giant Tree area – tree to fall marked with X. (Image from Google Earth)

 

Bull Creek Giant Tree area, empty area where fallen tree was standing marked with X (Image from Google Earth)
Bull Creek Giant Tree area, empty area where fallen tree was standing marked with X (Image from Google Earth)

 

A third fall in Humboldt occurred in Harper Flat.  The tall north side of a twin trunk redwood fell in the last couple years.

Harper Flat fallen tree, north side of pair (still from I Phone video)
Harper Flat fallen tree, north side of pair (still from I Phone video)

 

Harper Flat - tree to fall marked with X (Image from Google Earth)
Harper Flat – tree to fall marked with X (Image from Google Earth)

 

Harper Flat - area left by fallen tree marked by X (Image from Google Earth)
Harper Flat – area left by fallen tree marked by X (Image from Google Earth)

 

The final example is in an area of tall hillside redwoods on the east side of Redwood Creek a little north of McArthur creek near the seasonal foot bridge.  Here the tree fall took out a number of redwoods and the whole group of fallen trees is slowly sliding down toward Redwood Creek.

Redwood Creek tree fall area, trees are slowly sliding downhill.
Redwood Creek tree fall area, trees are slowly sliding downhill.

 

Redwood Creek hillside above north seasonal foot bridge, trees to fall marked with X (Image from Google Earth)
Redwood Creek east hillside above north seasonal foot bridge, trees to fall marked with X (Image from Google Earth)

 

Redwood Creek east hillside above north seasonal foot bridge, area where trees stood marked with X (Image from Google Earth)
Redwood Creek east hillside above north seasonal foot bridge, area where trees stood marked with X (Image from Google Earth)

3      What Can Be Learned From Fallen Redwoods

 

A recently fallen redwood is a great opportunity for whole tree research once the soil in the fall area has stabilized.   The root system and affixed soils can be studied without any digging, this is the big primary benefit.  But also core samples can be extracted without having to climb and core living trees.  The canopy structure can be measured and reviewed without climbing and an unlimited amount of destructive sampling can be done.

Thanks for reading.