MEA wrote:
...Second, in a recent video (Ascending the Giants) the recreational climbers cited their techniques as ones that tall-tree canopy researchers should learn from. They went on to use a Big Shot to shoot into the lowest branch, which would have then required lanyarding up and thereby impacting the lifeforms on many branches throughout the crown.

Hmmm... haven't seen this video, any _link_s to it available? This is a problem with the term "recreational climber". There is a relatively small community of dedicated recreational climbers who try to adhere to a strict code of "do not disturb" when they're in the forest on the ground or in a tree. But if you consider the available pool of tree climbers in the U.S. you have a large number of working arborists, forest industry workers and random rec climbers who may or may not follow any wilderness ethical standards or may have their own less strict standard. When work climbers go climb a big tree on the weekend for fun they are transformed magically into rec climbers but mileage may vary on wilderness ethics. So my question is: who are these rec climbers in the "Ascending the Giants" video?

It's often mentioned on the arborist message boards that there is resentment that researchers want to limit access to the old-growth forest in the west. Definitely some tension there.
-moss