REDWOOD: About Coast Redwoods
COAST REDWOODS...
…ARE GIANT
Redwoods are the tallest living things on the planet. The tallest known living redwood stands at 380.3 ft, almost six stories taller than the Statue of Liberty.
…ARE ANCIENT
Redwoods have been around for an estimated 240 million years, when dinosaurs still roamed the land. The earliest redwoods appeared on earth before flowers, birds, spiders, and, of course, humans.
…WERE ONCE INTERNATIONAL
The coast redwood’s only remaining natural habitat is on the Pacific Coast from Big Sur to southern Oregon. Redwoods once had a much wider range, including western North America and the coasts of Europe and Asia.
…WERE DECIMATED
Only 5% of the trees that originally populated the coastal regions are left. Because redwoods are extremely resistant to fire, insects, and rot, they are treasured for building and 95% of them have been cut down since the 1850s.
…LIVED IN HARMONY WITH THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE REGION
Redwoods are integral to the practical and spiritual lives of many tribal communities along the Northern California coast, who have made the redwood forests their home since “time immemorial.” The harmonious relationship between the redwoods and humans was violently altered following European (and later, American) westward expansion. The land now labeled by the United States as Humboldt County was home to the Yurok, Karuk, Tolowa, Wiyot, Hupa, Mattole, Wailaki and many other indigenous peoples who were exterminated or forcibly removed from their homelands.
…TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER
Not only do the shallow roots of the redwood connect with others for support, but the roots can also sprout and nurture new redwood trees. Redwoods can often be seen growing in circles, known as “fairy rings” or “family circles” because they sprouted from the roots of a “mother tree.”
…HOST SKY-HIGH WORLDS
Entire ecosystems exist high within the redwood’s branches. The canopy ecosystem was virtually unexplored and undocumented until the late 1990s when it was discovered that hundreds of plants and even other full-sized trees (Cascara, Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, and more) were living in the canopies of redwoods. The redwood canopy is also home to a large variety of birds, small mammals, insects, and even the Wandering Salamander, who lives its entire life in the canopy of one tree.
…ARE OUR ALLIES IN FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE
Redwoods capture more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere than any other tree on the planet. They transform that carbon dioxide – the leading cause of accelerating climate change – into the oxygen we breathe. There can be up to 890 metric tons of carbon stored per acre of old-growth redwood forest, which is the estimated equivalent of taking about 700 passenger vehicles off the road for a year.
"To shine a light on these giants is to illuminate ourselves."
– Richard Preston, The Wild Trees
Sources include: Redwood Facts at Sempervirens Fund, About Redwoods at Save the Redwoods League, the papers of Stephen C. Sillett, STEM Humboldt, The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, Coast Redwood: a Natural and Cultural History by Michael Barbour, Treehugger.com, plus more.