May 30, 2013
Dear Friends of Tom Harlan’s Bristlecone Project,
You are invited to join me July 20, 2013 in the White Mts. of California to honor Thomas Harlan and celebrate the companionship we all have shared. Tom requested that a portion of his ashes be scattered in the Whites among the Bristlecone so I’m bringing a basket of small glass vials filled with ash for individuals to spread as they will.
You may also, in happy conjunction,attend the 2 pm dedication of the Thomas P. Harlan Memorial Theater housed within the new Schulman Grove Visitors Center. Expect cookies, John Louth’s smiling face, and great exhibits!
6 pm the same day, probably at the Cedar Flat Federal Housing site where our old lab trailer still stands, there will be celebratory food, music, and stories around the campfire concocted by those who participated in the Project and are able to find their way back this summer.
Some planning has to happen to make this a great time, so please let me know if you intend to be there. Also let others know about this. My e-mail lists aren’t as complete as desirable.
Very best wishes,
Annita Harlan
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December 2, 2011
Article by Eric Lucas about Thomas and the Bristlecones (and the BCP project) published in Alaska Airlines magazine, and also available in PDF: BristleconePines right here.
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March 19, 2011
Dear All,
The BCP project is funded once more. I am currently thinking the first three weeks of August as some river runners think the streams will be high in July. The funds are not yet in an account where I can spend any of it but that will happen. I also need to finish up the paper work on a collecting permit for this year. So it looks like there is still life in the old project.
Tom H.
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February 25, 2011
The loud silence you have had from me for the past two months or
so is due to my spending six weeks in hospitals with pneumonia. They
are unable to determine what caused the pneumonia and have been
running all sorts of test , all of which come back negative.
When you lie in a hospital bed for six weeks you lose a lot of
coordination in the legs and in balance. As a result I am going
through physical therapy to learn to walk properly again. I am not
allowed to drive a car as yet but that will come.
My hope is to get enough coordination and strength back so as to
return to the Whites this summer. Bear in mind that at this point I
do not have the money or the collecting permit that would allow me to
do so. Hope springs eternal.
I lost over fifty pounds in the six weeks, I do not recommend
this as a diet plan. I am slowly gaining it back and I also grew a
beard. I put it to a vote by my grandchildren as to shaving it off or
keeping it and they said to keep it so I look different than when you
last saw me.
If I am unable to return to the Whites this summer I want to
express my gratitude to all of you who volunteered to walk the ground
collecting samples for me, taking GPS records, taking digital photos.
etc. This project would not have worked without you. Hopefully I
will be putting you to work again but we will see..
The other item of interest is that today is the first day my mind
is not in a fog but I am alert again. Progress!
My love to you all
Tom Harlan
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November 19, 2010
This is to update you about Rex’s health. Most of you know he had
a complete knee replacement last April, which was a great success. Yet
following that operation, over a number of months he lost strength
(especially his left arm), suffered from balance problems, and
experienced severe peripheral neuropathy (numbness in numerous body
parts, most especially his feet and legs). After approximately six
months of tests and visits to various specialists, the consensus is
that there appears to be more than one source for his problems. The
peripheral neuropathy source is unknown, but could be some of the
cholesterol/other drugs he has been on over the years, or a host of
other reasons. Hard to know if this can be improved, but it is
considered a separate issue. The loss of strength in his left arm is
pegged to severe compaction/torquing of his cervical vertebrae, due to
osteoarthritis, which he has had for years. This compaction has
essentially cut off the main nerves to his left arm, causing all the
arm muscles to atrophy. So, a spinal surgeon will operate on Jan. 3rd
to stabilize a number of these vertebrae with a titanium rod/screws.
Then the doctor will carefully shave off some of the vertebral bone to
open up more space inside. This is intended to stop further spinal
compaction and give the nerves more room. Without this operation, we
can expect continued nerve pinching and loss of strength in other body
parts. Rex now relies heavily on his right arm for stability (with a
cane) while walking, and if that arm goes he could lose the ability to
walk. This operation is not expected to rectify the problems with his
left arm…once those nerves died the chances of regenerating them and
rejuvenating the muscles are very low. There are a number of
hair-raising risks in this surgery. But given the likelihood that the
vertebrae will only continue to compact and torque, this risk is taken
to stem that process and hopefully keep him stable in a condition we
are calling the “new normal”. So, we’ll keep you posted on how this
goes. Clearly, by now we all know that “getting older is not for
sissies”. Best wishes to each of you, Karen
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May 10, 2010
I have just gotten through, I hope, the process of being rehired by the Tree-Ring Lab so that I can actually go do field work this summer. In an attempt to preserve money for the rental of porta-potties this summer I have not been turning in time sheets so the University dropped me from the payroll. So after proving that I am a citizen, letting them check my background and giving them references for my previous employer (1956, Dr. Holden, Texas Tech Museum–no they cannot talk to him as he has been dead for about 30 plus years)
I am back to giving information about this project. Yes, more money was added to the account. Yea!!
I hope to be in our camp area from July 24 to Aug 14. This will allow the last week to coincide with the North American Dendro FieldWeek for the last week we are there. Rex has a new knee and is getting familiar with it so he is unsure how much he will be able to do as a collector but we have a request for someone to sit at the visitor center on occasion and show the process of dating specimens. This might be Rex or it might be me. I have been seeing a lot of doctors lately (one more session of chemo to go) and seem to be allowed to do field work. Now if I can just get back into some semblance of shape.
What this could amount to is that I will need a bunch of collecting the first week and a half as we will probably be working with the Field week crew or some portion of them showing them how we collect, surface and date specimens while we are in the Whites. There is a better than even chance that a photographer from National Geographic will be with us for a day or do but this is still under negotiation.
I hope to see you some time in late July or early August!
Tom Harlan
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August 8, 2009
All,
Just to bring you up to date. while working in the bristlecones in the Whites this summer I was able to get into the field and work at least four times but in three of those times I required assistance in bringing my pack out of the field. Some of the crew (Annita and Fran) observed that my breathing was shallow and rapid so they persuaded me to go to the emergency room in Bishop. The usual many hours later I was diagnosed as having pneumonia, an enlarged liver and spleen, and (the probable cause of all this) an elevated white blood cell count. This would be due to the lymphoma that I have known about for years and for which I have been resisting chemotherapy. Orders were given that I was not to go back to camp or any other high altitude area unless we were passing rapidly through as in a car through a pass. Also no airplane rides and to get myself back to Tucson and see my regular doctors.
Thanks to Greg and Fran who closed down camp and beyond the call of duty drove to Reno to pick up my son, Thomas, who flew down from Portland, and drove him back to Bishop so he could drive Annita and I home. A long days drive for Greg and Fran.
We got back to Tucson last night, spent the night in a hotel nearby so as to let the fumigation fumes dissipate and back into the house today. Fumigation was necessary as assassin bugs had been eating on Annita before we left and also on Jon Earl who house sat for us.
On a cheerier notes, the second piece I picked up this summer was an 8,300+ year old sample and on the next to the last day another probable 8,500+ year old specimen was found by Greg and Fran. Lots of additional samples were collected so I will have plenty of work to do this winter. (Jeane, your little vial of sawdust is from the over-8,300 year old sample).
Once more my thanks to all of the crew who came this summer, especially Greg and Fran who not only collected the majority of samples but carried my pack out of the field several times as well as Fran trying to keep me healthy. For those of you who do not know Fran, she is a veterinarian. Iain Robertson who carried my pack and helped in so many other ways and who’s brain is always working as well as being an all around good guy.
By this Wednesday I will have seen both my regular doctor and my oncologist. Maybe more information will be available then.
All in all, an interesting end to the first ten years of the project.
My love to all of you
Tom Harlan
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June 29, 2009
Greeting all
As of this morning I have arranged for the porta-potties to be delivered to Westgard Pass/Cedar Flat field camp on July 15th and for them to go away on or after August 5.
So that is how the actual dates of field work are determined. Annita and I will get there on the afternoon of July 15th, and try to leave on the morning(early afternoon) of August 5. We hope to see all (or most) of you there.
I have been printing out the master copy of the usual annual report, as it gets longer each year I hope to print fewer than usual paper copies of the report and give out DVD’s with much more information. It is totally impracticable to print out all of the photos for instance but they will fit easily on a DVD. The same goes for maps of locations of the older specimens.
Take care and have fun
Tom Harlan
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May 2, 2009
It is getting to the time of year when I think it is safe to have some probable dates for field work in the Bristlecone Pine Project once more.
Annita teaches in the first summer session of the University and final exams, grades etc. will allow us to Leave Tucson around July 13 or 14. We expect to be in the Whites by the afternoon of July 15, I will go in to Bishop to turn in the annual report on July 16th and be ready to do actual field work on July 17th. Many of you know what work is still to be done and could be doing field work by then. We expect to remain in camp until the end of the first full week of August. I do not know the date of the Annual open house at the various centers, usually on the first weekend of August so I do not know if it will occur on the first or the 8th, but we should be there until then.
We will presumably be in the usual place as of the last couple of years. Any one planning on coming to help out who does not know the location please contact me for directions.
The most exciting result from last year was the discovery of a standing snag that was a living tree 8,000 years ago, which died over 7,000 years ago and is still firmly rooted. This dead tree should stand for many more years.
I am still going through last years collection. I was missing many specimens but found them last week buried under other boxes from other projects in the basement of the Tree-Ring Lab annex.
I hope to see you then!
Tom Harlan
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February 17, 2009
Inyo National Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch is pleased to announce that the Inyo National Forest has received funding for the replacement of the Schulman Grove Visitor Center in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Funds were allocated toward this project through a Forest Service Facility Capital Improvement national competition; Schulman Grove Visitor Center became one of only five projects funded through this national effort. Jim Upchurch stated that the tremendous public support and donations played a critical role in the evaluation and selection of the proposal.
Schulman Grove Visitor Center after the fire
In an effort to capitalize on the success of the previous facility and reduce the potential for additional ecological disturbance, it is anticipated that the facility will be of similar size and in the same location as the facility that was destroyed by fire last September. In addition, the visitor center is being designed to be a model of energy efficiency, utilizing the latest in “green” building practices. According to Bristlecone Pine Forest Manager John Louth, some of the improvements that visitors will see will be a state-of-the art solar power system, updated exhibits addressing the impacts of global warming on the ancient trees, a small research office, a slightly larger theatre room and a fire/intrusion detection & suppression system
While details still remain to be worked out, Forest Service staff is already at work on the initial design and engineering of the new visitor center. In addition, plans have been completed and work has begun on the replacement of the destroyed exterior features at the visitor center including the boardwalk, the outside exhibits, and the patio, all of which are expected to be completed by late June. A portable temporary visitor center building will be moved into place for this summer season and will include an exhibit area, bookstore, and a small theatre room.
For additional information on this project, please contact John Louth at 760-873-2514.
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