[Vision2020] King Solomon's Cedars?

[Area Man]

Ah yes, I forgot to cite my source . . .

Sunday Feb 05 Lewiston Tribune, Letters to the Editor.

Dan C

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Solomon [mailto:msolomon at moscow.com] 
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 1:40 PM
To: Area Man; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] King Solomon's Cedars?


I'm curious Dan: where was this printed? (I guess that's what I get 
for leaving town for the back country for a few days).

As to the age of the trees, the estimates are from foresters, not me. 
But by the writer's own method of estimation, they might even be 
older as several of the cedars are over 8' diameter.That's 2' taller 
than the writer if he was laid sidewise next to the tree. Cedar is 
notoriously hard to date as it is often subject to heart rot which 
eliminates the inside base of the tree leaving the living cambium 
bark in place. There's a plain old grand fir stump next to the grove 
that by ring count is close to 600 years old.

Mark Solomon

At 10:52 AM -0800 2/6/06, Area Man wrote:
>I only reprint this because I'm pretty sure Mark doesn't want to 
>develop his property next to a state park, and I find the insinuation 
>kinda humorous.
>
>As to the age of the trees, who gives a rip?
>-------------------------------------
>Impure motives?
>
>I'm reluctant to believe that there are 1,000-year-old western red 
>cedars on Moscow Mountain.
>
>Tree rings indicate how old a tree is. If there were a tree on Moscow 
>Mountain that was 1,000 years old, then it should have at least 1,000 
>tree rings. Now if there were a 1,000 rings, then how big of a diameter

>at breast height would such a tree be?
>
>Well, considering the drought summers and the cold winters, I would be 
>conservative and say each ring would be about a 16th-inch thick.
>
>If that were so, then simple math says that the tree would be 62.5 
>inches(or about 5.2 feet) in diameter. On the more liberal side, 
>according to the National Park Service at Mount Rainer National Park, a

>1,000-year-old wed cedar is about 9.55 feet in diameter. So the average

>would be about 7.4 feet in diameter for a 1,000-year-old western red 
>cedar.
>
>In other words, if I felled a Moscow Mountain western red cedar to the 
>ground and stood next to the stump end of the log, it would be over a 
>foot taller than me. Really?
>
>Before Latah County commissioners go after getting King Solomon's 
>cedars turned to gold, I suggest they take a look at what other 
>resources are already in or near their county that are under state park

>control. ...
>
>Since most of Moscow Mountain is private property, do you suppose maybe

>someone sees dollar signs in developing land next to a state park?
>
>Ged W. Randall, Lewiston
>---------------------------------------
>Someone else might see dollar signs, but from what I know of "King 
>Solomon" (that name might stick!), I'm pretty sure he likes his quiet.
>
>Dan C