Sir Isaac Newton Redwood .. #7
by Mario Vaden
Isaac Newton is another coast redwood discovered by Michael Taylor. It was the 7th largest known back in 2009, but new discoveries were made and continue. By 2015, 9th, 10th, 11th largest is a better description. The measurements were 299 feet or 99.1 meters tall, 22.5 feet diameter dbh and a generous 33,192 cubic feet of wood volume. In a 2001 publication, Dr. Robert Van Pelt wrote it was 23' diameter and 311' tall. Odds are 12' broke off and Taylor remeasured.
advertisement
Sir Issac Newton is similar to Screaming Titans in that both both coast redwoods started as twin trunks that enlarged or partially fused to become what we see today. Sir Isaac Newton's twin stems had closer points of origin. It's easier to explain and point-out where and how the trunk reveals it's history by standing there and pointing to the forms that reveal the history. The lower trunk has a burl exceeding 40.000 pounds. In the photos you can see people beneath the burl for size comparison. This used to be the national Champion coast redwood for a while in the 1990s.
Pay close attention to the front of the trunk in the first photo below. It shows the redwood several years after Preston's redwood book The Wild Trees was released. Previously, the trunk was more concealed. The change was due to careless people walking up the front for photos instead of carefully approaching from up behind. Standing under the burl in itself never caused plant loss.
Continue reading below this image ...
About the name? Michael Taylor explored with a few other people like Ron Hildebrandt of Arcata, and a few redwood names resulted from discussions. Michael shared that the name Isaac Newton evolved from Newton B Drury. The redwood was named after Newton B. Drury's first name. But Ron Hildebrant felt it was redundant with the Drury Redwood so he proposed Sir Isaac Newton. Ron used Calculus to estimate Sir Isaac Newton's volume. Sir Isaac Newton is credited with inventing calculus. So the name evolved to Sir Isaac Newton from Newton. The photo above shows a large huckleberry before people broke it from the base. There were also more ferns and other plants around the bottom. This photo was taken before someone chose to leak the location online and triggered a surge of foot traffic. Hopefully these images will show the importance of walking carefully in certain parts of this forest. The man is Lowell, who used to be a seasonal ranger.
The Prairie Creek park where this redwood grows receives 80 to 100 inches of rainfall per year, and judging by redwoods like this and others, they like the climate. If you keep a sharp eye exploring you may spot it in the Prairie Creek park.These images are views from a trail when hiking the Westridge and Prairie Creek trails loop. The last photo shows Kiera, who helped me over the years with photos of these giants to convey their size.
