As a youngster, Michael called the eastern deciduous forests of Virginia home. From his bedroom window he would hoot for barred owls and wonder...why are some of those trees still green? He nurtured his evergreen conifer fascination in the Appalachian Mountains during college and, upon graduation, landed a job teaching outdoor education in California. Sans family, alone in the West, he began to hang out with giant sequoias and foxtail pines on weekends. The high country conifers of southern California entertained him for many years until the temperate rainforest eventually...more