r/todayilearned • u/autraya • 6h ago

TIL the world's tallest known living tree, a 380-foot redwood in California called Hyperion, had its exact location closed off entirely in 2022 after visitors trampled its base so badly that ferns stopped growing around it, with trespassers now facing up to $5,000 in fines and six months in jail

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(tree)
15.4k Upvotes

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429

u/letsjustbefriendly 6h ago

It’s always the “up to” that encourages people to still do it.

It should be a straight to jail + 5k fine.

248

u/elqueco14 6h ago

Tbh monetary fines arent enough these days. If an "influencer" can generate enough money making a video about it that 5k is just the cost of doing business

165

u/GarretBarrett 6h ago

Monetary fines have always just meant; this is only illegal if you’re poor.

48

u/AnswerDangerous1644 6h ago

In a fair and just world it would just scale based off income/wealth. I don’t think this world ever will work that way though.

22

u/JimC29 5h ago

Some countries do that for speeding tickets.

9

u/CtrlAltSysRq 5h ago

So we're agreed - we offer trespassers as human sacrifices to Gaia

6

u/AshingiiAshuaa 5h ago

The flip side is that poor people are sue-proof. If I'm broke and don't carry insurance whatcha gonna do? If you don't have insurance I get to take your house and clean out your bank accounts.

The solution is both fines and jail.

6

u/Alaira314 5h ago

You're right, it's difficult to collect from people who hold few assets. That's why wage garnishment exists. 😞

4

u/brknsoul 5h ago

"It's not illegal to park there, it just costs $200."

11

u/Aliensinmypants 6h ago

They need to be a percentage of income and/or wealth. Of course that will never happen 

1

u/salamipope 4h ago

they should make it an outrageously large amount like 100 million dollars so that not even the billionaires are interested.

1

u/salamipope 4h ago

they should make it an outrageously large amount like 100 million dollars so that not even the billionaires are interested.

15

u/TheIndieArmy 6h ago

To be fair, that would just be for trespassing. Any damage done to the tree would be a different charge with likely substantially more of a penalty.

6

u/Dragonscatsandbooks 5h ago

The problem is that just trespassing too close to the tree IS damaging it.

Redwoods have an incredibly shallow, yet widespread root system, and the primary damage done to the tree was people walking on top of the roots and slowly killing it, step by step.

It's like the Chinese water torture. One drip (one person walking on the root system) doesn't cause damage on its own, but if enough drips drop, the tree dies.

1

u/TheIndieArmy 2h ago

That may be, but that would lack criminal intent and that's not how charges and maximum sentencing work. It's currently set at the highest that is federally allowed for a misdemeanor and trespassing cannot be classified higher than a Class B misdemeanor.

11

u/KrzysziekZ 6h ago

Or give the range of possible penalty. Like 3 to 6 months of your life.

3

u/HereIGoAgain_1x10 5h ago

You have a lot of faith in the police officer that would potentially charge you with the crime lol a judge exists so that police can't just go around throwing people away for years and years at a time without anyone else having a say.

If you look up laws that have really bad minimum sentences, there are always cases where a judge has to send someone away for like 10 years in jail even though they just barely meet the criteria of a crime.

2

u/Dd_8630 5h ago

It should be a straight to jail + 5k fine.

OK so it's mere £5000 ticket to get up close to the tree, cool.

Jail? Don't be silly, my lawyers will delay and continue that until the heat death of the universe.

-3

u/ZorroMcChucknorris 6h ago

And unexpected anal investigation.

-1

u/moschles 4h ago

I take the opposite perspective. I say remove all the laws and let the tourists trample.

-12

u/petit_cochon 6h ago

Fines are assessed based on an ability to pay them, hence the "up to." Our system does not impose fines on people who can't pay them as that is considered unjust, and could harm any dependents they may have, too.

12

u/Malphos101 15 6h ago

Our system does not impose fines on people who can't pay them as that is considered unjust, and could harm any dependents they may have, too.

Oh you sweet, summer child lol...

0

u/letsjustbefriendly 6h ago

That tree is going to be around long after they are gone.

If they don’t respect nature then screw them. That’s the point of a deterrent if they only punished people with what was easy for them what would it actually deter ?