Nature, sooner or later, will have her way. On July 9, the Santa Cruz City Council will consider whether to approve the tree removal project. Not long ago I visited the kiln site and meditated there with my back against the giant redwood that sits astride the central buttress. I asked for guidance. I am rooted here, I belong here.
People come and go.
The works of humans and the works of nature are blended here now. The balance is being restored. The ancient redwood forests of our Santa Cruz Mountains are virtually gone. The lime industry that consumed them is gone too. The Pogonip kilns, now blended with the descendants of the ancient ones, should not, I feel, be allowed to claim, even in their decay, the lives of yet more magnificent redwoods in the name of historic preservation.