Elliott Almond’s Pacific NW Magazine profile of Robert Van Pelt
The man in a Stanford University sweatshirt looked slightly alarmed as Robert Van Pelt approached him on a shady sidewalk in late May. Van Pelt, a leading big-tree authority, excitedly pointed to the official seal etched on the man’s wine-colored sweatshirt. “That’s El Palo Alto,” he said, as the man leaned backward. Van Pelt launched into a story about the famed coast redwood tree that has lived for 1,000 years above a creek now separating Silicon Valley towns Palo Alto and Menlo Park. “It’s the first named tree in America,” Van Pelt said. It’s also California Historical Landmark No. 2, he added.
Pacific NW Magazine, September 3, 2023
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Tree People of Walla Walla 