Community Sequoia Tree Planting on Palomar Mountain
Monthly Newsletters
September/October Newsletter
- One of our objectives is to increase awareness of sequoias and that they are not exclusive to Northern California. To that end, here is a video with sequoias from all over the world: Over 46 states and over 20 nations, including Japan and South America: https://youtu.be/gccymEahSbI
- Also, sequoias in southern California: https://youtu.be/KkK6hkYC7xk
- To help that effort, we have expanded our social media outreach to include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter, Threads, YouTube, as well as our website. We also have specific Facebook pages devoted to Sequoia Sentinels Corporation and Sequoia Growers From All Over The World. This has greatly increased our connections and visibility as well as helping us to better understand our audience and how to reach them.
- You may recall that we had Ethan Tapper speak on Palomar Mountain about his novel forestry management practices. His book "How to Love a Forest" was recently released and is an excellent read. I am often asked which other authors I would recommend, and one of my favorites is Suzanne Simard, author of "Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest." In that book, she summarizes some of her field research showing how trees communicate. You can also watch her here - https://youtu.be/Un2yBgIAxYs?si=2sWAVFYanAie5GBR.
August 2024 Newsletter
- We had an MBA student complete a study to increase Sequoia Sentinels second and third mission goals - active community participation and educate people through various interactive methods. For educational outreach, we are offering a "Book and Experience" event to students in grades K-12. We received good responses from teachers and will be planning those events for the fall 2024 and spring 2025.
- I reviewed the progress of some of our recent seedlings from this spring's planting. The 16 seedlings planted by "Julie's Dream Team" and "Cristina and Jared" on my property are all doing very well.
Below (left) is a seedling from Cliff Kellogg's property. Cliff has built an ingenious remote watering system that waters his 8 new seedlings. Below (right) Robert Carlyle has 20 seedlings growing in pots from last year and this year's seedling and are also doing very well. Note that if you grow in a pot for transplanting later, be sure to gently "uncoil" the roots at the bottom to enable them to spread in the new environment. In total, we planted about 150 seedlings this spring.
- Of course, we are still identifying, locating and cataloging sequoias on Palomar Mountain, now numbering about 400. If you think you have one on or near your property, do not hesitate to contact us at info@sequoiasentinels.com. We are particularly interested in finding trees that are regenerating on their own; is other words, without human intervention or fire, mother trees producing cones and seeds that regenerate. The Palomar champion is Jeff von Urff who first found one young seedling growing next to his fence and then another next to an oak stump, both from a giant sequoia "mother" tree on his property:
- We have a new initiative from one of our growers, Cindy Outlaw. Cindy will be growing bonsai sequoia from three of our seedlings. It takes great patience that I don't have; I tried once and quickly transplanted it into the ground. Here are photos of Cindy and her three seedlings prior to starting:
- I have been chairing a Task Force trying to keep a 500,000 volt transmission line from crossing our pristine old-growth forest. This month we hosted employees from NextEra Energy tasked with planning and building the transmission line; they were able to see first-hand the fire risk of using this corridor and that there are many safer options available. If you have not already done so, please go to savepalomarmountain.org and leave a short statement of support for our Save Palomar Mountain Task Force. Photos from their visit below.
July 2024 Newsletter
- We co-hosted the Southern California chapter meeting of the Society of American Foresters where we gave an update on the activities of Sequoia Sentinels, the planting event we held in April, and had a very special speaker, Ethan Tapper, author of a new book, "How to Love a Forest." Ethan is a forester and author from Vermont with a very compelling story to tell. You can follow him on youtube and Instagram.
- We had an MBA student complete a study to increase Sequoia Sentinel's second and third Mission goals - active community participation and educating people through various interactive methods. For educational outreach, we offer a "Book an Experience" event to students in grades K-12. We received good responses from teachers and will be planning those events in the fall. This effort builds upon the student team in spring that identified numerous like-minded organizations with whom we could form alliances.
- If you have not already done so, please go to savepalomarmountain.org and leave a short statement of support for our Save Palomar Mountain Task Force. The Task Force is a group of residents trying to keep a 500,000-volt transmission line from crossing our pristine old-growth forest.
- We are still identifying, locating, and cataloging sequoias on Palomar Mountain. If you think you have one on your property, do not hesitate to contact us at info@sequoiasentinels.com.
June 2024 Newsletter
- Some people ask, why do we grow sequoias? You can see why here: https://youtu.be/8WtTif1q-N8
- As reported last month, we had a successful sequoia seedling planting event in late April. We have checked in with the growers and all are doing well, with the exception of one seedling destroyed by a new-to-me predator, a duck! You can see a summary of the planting event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy6GR1LkRaM.
- We have formed a new Task Force, Save Palomar Mountain, with a group of residents trying to keep a 500,000-volt transmission line from crossing our pristine old-growth forest. You can read more at savepalomarmountain.org. Please help us by leaving a short statement of support there.
May 2024 Newsletter
- We had a team of five college students from California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) develop a marketing plan to conserve our sequoias' natural heritage. They hosted a Trade Show booth and represented Sequoia Sentinels at CSUSM's premier annual business event, shown below, on May 16. As part of their effort, they identified and contacted 33 like-minded organizations with whom we could form alliances.
Below: Our team of business students who developed a marketing plan to conserve our sequoias' natural heritage.
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- We had a successful sequoia seedling planting event in late April with ~25 participants and nearly 150 seedlings. You can see a summary of the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy6GR1LkRaM.
Thanks especially to our volunteers who came to plant: Chris Clarke, Cristina Jasmine, Elizabeth Kirton, Kyren Kirton, Jarred Roberts, and Juliana Torres. Palomar Mountain is now home to over 400 sequoias. - We presented our 2024-2025 plan to the Southern California Executive Board of the Society of American Foresters.