Scattered through the mountains surrounding Anderson Valley are many natural openings that had been in grass mostly since man came to the Valley. Over the last hundred years or so the open land has been increased by slashing and burning and many a man nowadays wishes they hadn't done it for they, in their quest for new grass, chopped and burned themselves out of a fortune in timber.
Sometimes a tree uncut (so far) can dominate the landscape like the Lone Pine, standing there alone on a mountaintop. It has been there a long time, many hundreds of years or maybe a thousand or two.
The stories it could tell, maybe a people long gone or maybe animals which took shade there, or squirrels which climbed its branches looking for cones. It has a dead top so that its years are numbered, maybe only a thousand or two more providing man or lightning doesn't take a hand.
Eastward along the ridge is another Lone Pine which can be seen from quite a ways away depending on the location of the viewer. It is named "Green Tree" and its history is about the same except it is more healthy, no dead top or limbs. It doesn't show up quite so much as there are trees nearby and to the north.
It is at the top of the mountain. There is a good spring there and water in the nearby gulches. There are many deer around about as there is water and feed and shelter. The view of the mountains from there is really grand and farseeing.
From Cow Springs on the north and around the chamise mountains to Pine Ridge which is 4000 feet and then south past Casabonnes, and the Nip and Tuck basin, all fine deer country, then the up-rearing Bald Hills, then far south into Sonoma and Napa counties and St. Helena and on until the eye quits looking. There is timber and brush and rocky mountains and sheep range and fine deer country.
All those places show up — landmarks visible for many miles. Mostly what is grassland was that way from a long time back, once in a while there is a peak or ridge that has changed from grass to trees, just why is unknown. It is that way with the openings. Some of them were in timber years ago but have been openings since before the white man came.
Foresters tell me there is a change going on all the time in some certain places. There may be a patch of timber or brush that was destroyed maybe by fire ages ago and come up to grass for many years, maybe hundreds. Then came the break fern which took over in time, then came the brush like maybe the white thorn which grows in the best land, the leaves fall to the ground beneath the buds and quail or other birds stir them into the ground.
Soon the land there becomes more fertile; providing of course there is no fire to burn off the humus that is collected under the bushes. This part so many people cannot see, they want to burn it off and all that is left are the ashes. After the brush may come the fir forest, then the circle is complete unless something happens like more fires or floods.
Nature is in no hurry. The circle may take many hundreds or thousands of years and by the time the fir may have reached its growth and is declared timber. The fir grows quickly in the Coast Range where there is good rainfall and cool summers.
I have counted rings many times while resting and a nice clean tree grows in about 85 years. Of course we must discount some growth in places due to man's activity. Maybe that is where the lumber company boys get their ideas of sustained yield which they used to talk about in the days. We talked about sending some old-growth redwood to look at or for our grandchildren to see.
Redwoods are different than the first or the coins -- they grow fast at first but soon slow down. It takes about 500 years to grow good tree for quality of what must be taken into account.
The timber is not all we are concerned about. Most of us have seen the mountain meadows and the natural openings all in luxuriant feed for livestock and deer. These meadows are scattered through the mountains and some of them can be called a valley. Eden Valley would be a good example. Comptche on the Albion River would be a smaller one, but just as perfect.
These places in the hills were the first to attract settlers and their people are still on the land. Other spots have yielded to time and are now ready to start over.
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