Noble Cause...Mt St Helens | FerrariChat

Noble Cause...Mt St Helens

Discussion in 'Northwest' started by kaoss, May 12, 2009.

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  1. kaoss

    kaoss Formula 3

    Jul 29, 2006
    1,166
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    KAOSS
    On May 18th this year, a non profit organization launches their web site called Noble Cause. Their mission is to replant over 136,000 trees in the blast zone of Mt St Helens. For those of us that take drives on the mountain, we know the devastation the blast left behind and how very little has regrown since. They are offering to "name a tree" in someone's honor and planting noble fir trees, hence the name, Noble Cause.

    57 people died that day as a result of the eruption, Cats Exotics has purchased 5 trees to honor 5 of those 57 people. The cost is $99.00 per tree and the cause seems to be pretty profound for any outdoors type person who wants to have something living to remember a lost one by, while at the same time helping to rebuild part of nature that was destroyed.

    The first tree to be planted will be in honor of Harry Truman, the Inn Keeper that refused to leave the mountain and perished that day. We are helping spread the word about this project. If anyone has questions or interest in getting involved, please contact me and I will put you in touch with the organizers.

    Thanks!
     
  2. Cerberos

    Cerberos Formula Junior

    Nov 12, 2006
    355
    Portland, OR
    Kevin,

    Can you forward the contact info to me?

    Thanks,

    Shawn
     
  3. MordaloMVD

    MordaloMVD F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Sep 7, 2005
    4,222
    WA
    Full Name:
    Michael von Ditter
    Splyce, Inc. will do 5 trees as well. Who gets the money.
     
  4. hadif355

    hadif355 Karting

    Mar 27, 2008
    108
    tacoma
    Full Name:
    Ray
    #4 hadif355, May 12, 2009
    Last edited: May 12, 2009
    So what happens if st. helens erupts again and blasts those trees.... do we get a refund? lol
     
  5. glasser1

    glasser1 Formula Junior

    Sep 2, 2006
    510
    Oregon
    #5 glasser1, May 12, 2009
    Last edited: May 12, 2009
    Good question. I'm all for good causes, but I see a red flag and it's a price tag! This is a marketing ploy if I ever saw one.

    http://noblecausenw.org/wordpress/

    These guys are charging $99 to plant a 2 yr. old tree. That is ridiculous and is an extremely inefficient way to reforest. It's a great way to make a fast buck though and if you had seedlings you weren't able to sell to Christmas tree farmers last year, it's a great way to get rid of your old stock.

    Last I checked a noble fir seedling cost around 35 cents. You can drop them from a helicopter or use human labor to dig them in. Either way the cost of tree plus labor for planting is way less than $1 per tree. $99 per tree ? Who gets the money?
     
  6. kaoss

    kaoss Formula 3

    Jul 29, 2006
    1,166
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    KAOSS
    I'll have the remaining details shortly...I know portions are donated to the visitor centers for upkeep, etc. There's a laundry list of who gets what and why...whether it costs 35 cents or 35 dollars, the concept is pretty cool, it's set up as a non profit which means that only a small percentage of proceeds can go towards administrative costs, you get to name a tree after someone.

    More details to follow. Official launch date is the 18th. Will post more info shortly.

    Thanks Michael for jumping in there too...will e-mail you and Shawn the contact information and address.
     
  7. Scotty

    Scotty F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 31, 2003
    9,851
    Oregon
    Full Name:
    Scotty Ferrari
    I question whether this is a good idea from an ecologic perspective. After a burn, the normal natural reforestation route is something like grass to meadow to scrub to deciduous tress to conifers. This creates conifers of differing ages, and the importance of that can be seen in central Oregon with the bark beetle infestation--it affects tress of only a certain age. Thus, if you have a forest of similar age trees, it is probably less robust than a forest of varying age trees (and varying type as well). Thus the bark beetle is ravaging second (or third) growth forest where all of the trees are "the same".

    Being able to plant a tree for a loved one, of for a good cause, hits me as a very cool idea. And obviously "my bad" in that I just saw this thread and I need to (and will) look into the group, their goals, and where the money goes. The above is just a point for consideration.
     

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