ST. GEORGE — While this “first-of-its-kind” project isn’t complete, Friends of Pando is ready to tell the story of how they created the “largest picture of a tree ever” in south-central Utah.
Pando, situated in Fishlake National Forest, is touted as the world’s largest tree. According to the Friends of Pando website, “The word ‘pando’ is Latin for ‘I spread.’ The aspen tree was given the nickname ‘Pando’ by scientist Michael Grant in a 1992 article in Discover Magazine because of how it ‘spreads out’ across 106 acres.”
The tree germinated from a single seed and continues to regenerate via “suckering,” where it sends up new shoots, or saplings, from its root system, as previously reported by St. George News.
The Pando Photographic Survey kicked off in August 2021 and was considered a “first of its kind” project, Lance Oditt, Friends of Pando’s executive director, told St. George News.
In collaboration with Fishlake National Forest and Snow College in Richfield, the team used 360-degree cameras to survey the world’s largest known aspen clone with 360-degree cameras, St. George News reported.
While the nonprofit initially planned to photograph the tree in a calendar year, they “didn’t feel good about” the original data set for various reasons and continued their fieldwork until September 2022.
At the time, nearly 40 people had contributed over 2,100 human hours, and over 8,000 locations of the tree were documented. The data, including the 360-degree survey and a plot map that can be used for research and land management, is publicly available for scientists, artists and others to use, according to the article.
“It gives people an opportunity, who would never have a chance to experience Pando, to experience Pando like they were standing there,” Oditt said.
Still, Oditt said the work isn’t complete, with some routes through the tree difficult to access and some issues with data collected in 2021 and 2022.
Nearly 60% of the data has been released, and image and data modeling specialist Joseph Farah developed software that is expected to repair currently unworkable data once it’s released in April. It could “unlock probably another 20% of the tree,” Oditt said.
Additionally, the group could continue collecting data on individual routes each year, Oditt said, adding that he’s nervous about releasing the documentary.
“It’s still the largest picture of a tree ever taken,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘But the data isn’t done yet.’ They’re like, ‘Lance, tell the story.’ … Are we all the way there yet? No, but now it’s just one more part of how we take care of the tree.”
The short documentary will be available on YouTube this Friday. While it’s currently 12 minutes long, Oditt said they plan to release additional content, including extended interviews with the participants and special features.
“There’ll be a whole playlist just about the Pando Photographic Survey,” he said. “And our hope is that that will help people expand their view of what it took, and frankly, the hard, hard work. I mean, people love Pando, and they want to go out and they walk the tree on the one trail. But our crews were in every square inch of the tree, including the parts we couldn’t photograph, where they had nicknames, like ‘Mordor.'”
Each year, the team had T-shirts made with phrases symbolic of some of the obstacles they faced, including “anti-juniper society” and “straddling a rosebush.”
“We were going through this really rough section, and I went over this giant lava rock, and when I stepped my legs over, I stepped right on — like, literally, right on — a rosebush,” he said, adding that there were “thorns everywhere.”
Oditt said the documentary will give viewers “an idea of the spirit that it took” to do the work and “also their commitment to be out in that and be doing something that’s never been done.”
Senior Surveyor Lindy Madden said the project has personal meaning.
“I grew up in a great big family,” she said in the documentary. “I’m the youngest of 11. My father was a photographer, a biologist, a surveyor and an engineer. And he inspired my love of nature and science. After he passed away, I looked for ways to connect with him. And when this project came up, I thought it was the perfect thing to do. It combined everything he loved. And it’s brought me a lot closer to him.”
Users can experience the trembling giant themselves on the Friends of Pando website, where they can choose to learn about and explore various routes of the tree.
To watch the 12-minute documentary, Southern Utahns can visit the Friends of Pando YouTube page at this link after 5 a.m., Friday, March 22.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.