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The Tallest Trees

The Redwood Trees can grow to be the largest trees on earth. They can produce lumber, support jobs, and provide a home for many forest species.

READ THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE ARTICLE ON THESE FOREST GIANTS

Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Located along the Eel River in northern California, Humboldt Redwoods State Park contains some of the world's most majestic ancient redwood groves. The park encompasses over 53,000 acres, including 17,000 acres of old-growth coast redwoods. In 1921 Save the Redwoods League dedicated the first Memorial Grove, Colonel Raynal C. Bolling Memorial Grove, in what is now known as Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Today the park contains a diverse coast redwood ecosystem, which includes Rockefeller Forest, the largest remaining old-growth forest in the world, and the entire Bull Creek watershed.

With more than 250 camp sites, 100 miles of hiking, biking, and riding trails, and the scenic 32-mile Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park offers something for everyone. Whether you have just a single day to visit or a week long vacation to explore, a journey into the redwood forest is sure to be an inspiring experience. The park is open year 'round and recreational activities are available throughout the four seasons. To find out more information about the park, click HERE

The coast redwood, whose scientific name is Sequoia sempervirens , is the tallest known plant species in the world. It is also the fastest growing conifer, or cone-bearing tree, in North America.

Coast redwoods are among the oldest living things on earth. The oldest known specimen was logged in 1933. A count of the growth rings revealed that the tree was 2,200 years old. Most redwoods, however, live an average of six centuries.

The tallest known redwood (the "Tall Tree") is about 600 years old. It is located on Redwood Creek within Redwood National and State Parks, near Orick, California. The Tall Tree was measured at 367.8 feet by the National Geographic Society in 1963. The top of the Tall Tree broke off recently. New measurements by the National Geographic Society in 1995 revealed the "National Geographic Tree" measured in 1963 to be the third tallest tree in the world, is now the tallest. It, too, is located in Tall Trees Grove.

From a seed no bigger than one from a tomato, California's coast redwood (Sequoia semperviren) may grow to a height of 367 feet (122 m) and have a width of 22 feet (7 m) at its base. Imagine a 35-story skyscraper in your city and you have an inkling of the trees' ability to arouse humility.

Some visitors envision dinosaurs rumbling through these forests in bygone eras. It turns out that this is a perfectly natural thought. Fossil records have shown that relatives of today's coast redwoods thrived in the Jurassic Era 160 million years ago. And while the fantastic creatures of that age have long since disappeared, the redwoods continue to thrive, in the right environment.

California's North Coast provides the only such environment in the world. A combination of longitude, climate, and elevation limits the redwoods' range to a few hundred coastal miles. The cool, moist air created by the Pacific Ocean keeps the trees continually damp, even during summer droughts. These conditions have existed for some time, as the redwoods go back 20 million years in their present range.

Exactly why the redwoods grow so tall is a mystery. Theories continue to develop but proof remains elusive.The trees can reach ages of 2,000 years and regularly reach 600 years.

Resistance to natural enemies such as insects and fire are built-in features of a coast redwood. Diseases are virtually unknown and insect damage insignificant thanks to the high tannin content of the wood. Thick bark and foliage that rests high above the ground provides protection from all but the hottest fires.

The redwoods' unusual ability to regenerate also aids in their survival as a species. They do not rely solely upon sexual reproduction, as many other trees must. New sprouts may come directly from a stump or downed tree's root system as a clone. Basal burls, hard, knotty growths that form from dormant seedlings on a living tree, can sprout a new tree when the main trunk is damaged by fire, cutting, or toppling.

Undoubtedly the most important environmental influence upon the coast redwood is its own biotic community. The complex soils on the forest floor contribute not only to the redwoods' growth, but also to a verdant array of greenery, fungi, and other trees. A healthy redwood forest usually includes massive Douglas-firs, western hemlocks, tanoaks, madrones, and other trees. Among the ferns and leafy redwood sorrels, mosses and mushrooms help to regenerate the soils. And of course, the redwoods themselves eventually fall to the floor where they can be returned to the soil.

The coast redwood environment recycles naturally: because the 100-plus inches of annual rainfall leaves the soil with few nutrients, the trees rely on each other, living and dead for their vital nutrients. The trees need to decay naturally to fully participate in this cycle, so when logging occurs, the natural recycling is interrupted.

California's "Redwood" Trees: Giant Sequoia and Coast Redwood

There are three members of the redwood family: coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) of the California coastal fog belt, giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) of the Sierra Nevada, and dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) of central China. The names sequoia and redwood are often used interchangeably, leading to confusion between the two California members of this family, but they are very different trees.

Almost all remaining giant sequoias are now safe from the axe and saw; about one-third were cut before being protected. Old growth coast redwood continues to be cut for lumber today, with only a small part of its original uncut acreage still remaining. Of the estimated 1,950,000 acres of coast redwood originally occurring in California, only about 4.4%, or 86,000 acres of old growth, remain. About 80,000 acres of this old growth is protected in parks and reserves.

Coast Redwood Facts