Monster Sequoia Falls: Now What?

It is the mother of all roadblocks, or in this case a path-block. California's Sequoia National Forest is trying to figure what to do after a 1,500-year-old giant tree (actually a pair of trees fused at the base) crashed down on a forest trailway, reports the Los Angeles Times. "This has not happened in the Sequoia National Forest before," said a public affairs officer.

The park is soliciting suggestions from the public, and among the options are cutting a path through the 300-foot-long tree, building a bridge over it, or tunneling under it. The leader of an environmental group has the easiest suggestion of all: Leave it be. It's "a great classroom for what nature does," he says. "It's quite a beautiful sight to see on the ground the way it is." As for why it fell: One theory blames a wet winter. The earth may have been too soft to hold the relatively shallow roots, explains the LAT. (More Sequoia National Forest stories.)