You may recall a post from late last year where I lamented that protecting our beautiful earth requires constant vigilance, that it takes just one person to destroy it and once gone it can be gone forever. That was about the time the Schulman Grove visitor center in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest burned to the ground. http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/08/it-just-takes-one/
There was a suspicion that the fire was the act of arson. At the same time there was a rash of vandalism up and down the Eastern Sierra. An arrest was made – John Thomas Christiana. But he wasn’t tied to the visitor center burning although there was some very interesting circumstantial evidence in his possession such as cans of gasoline.
Well, he apparently confessed.
Last month the Inyo Register published an article of an interview with Christiana in which he claimed to have written a letter of confession.
http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/120824/1/
The interview discusses, among other things, Christiania’s mental health status which is questionable (although he doesn’t acknowledge it).
Christiania is an elite mountaineer, having climbed the tallest peak on every continent. But he went off the deep end. This posting links to some of his writing where he claims the government planted a chip in is brain that reads his subconscious and causes him extreme pain. http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/11/still-more-on-it-takes-just-one/
So it looks like they have the culprit. He may very well spend the rest of his life in a mental institution. He’s certainly not competent to stand trial in his current state.
As for the visitor center, the Forest Service was awarded $2 million in Federal funding to rebuild the visitor center. This is fantastic news as the that was destroyed was one of the most beautiful in the entire country. http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/120683/27/
So the visitor center will return. I was just up there this weekend and all that’s left is the cement slab and soot marks on a nearby sidewalk. But it will return better than before as it will rebuilt with the latest green technology. I can hardly wait.
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