[Ron] Did Director Hartzog have any preference on specific areas to be included?
Well, the tall trees obviously.
[Ron] So politically the tallest tree…?
That was the issue.
[Ron] The tallest tree?
Then we got into, like you do when you are planning, you kind a roll around and pick up ideas wherever you can get them. One of the ideas that I liked and finally came to fruition was let’s buy some coastal land. They didn’t want coast land, we are talking about Redwoods, so that coast is cheap. Well, then they come up and lets buy all the coast land. You know they go from nothing to…
So nobody was really tying what happened at Olympic to this situation?
No. Park creation, or ‘Park Genesis,” as some of us used to call it, is one of a kind. You get fertile minds together and let them go and then you pick and chose the stuff. Then the political realities come to play and your long range plans.
[Ron] The tallest tree issue became very critical?
That was the issue.
[Ron] When Rudy Becking came up with his tallest tree, but not reviewing the long term plan?
That nasty old man. Dr. Becking, is a really nice guy but he is always finding another tall tree somewhere. So we had the one from Rudy and I came down and hired a survey team, they had to be first level supervised surveyors, which is the top of the line. We had to hike in from the top of Bald Hills Road all the way down. Were you on that expedition?
[Ron] Not on that particular one, I was on the early one along with Rudy when he claimed to have located the tallest; actually he said the longest.
Boy, that is tough going down that old trail.
