In the most favorable parts of their range, California’s magnificent coast redwoods can grow more than 320 feet high (about as tall as a 30-story building), with trunks more than 24 feet in diameter at breast-height, and can live for more than 2,000 years. However, ancient coast redwoods are rare — less than 5 percent of the original forest remains today. These ancient forests contain the highest standing biomass (total of all aboveground organic matter) of any forest on Earth and, therefore, store incredible amounts of carbon.
The coast redwood is one of the world’s fastest growing conifers. In contrast to the tree’s size, redwood cones are very small — only about an inch long. Each cone contains 14 to 24 tiny seeds: It would take well over 100,000 seeds to weigh a pound! In good conditions, redwood seedlings grow rapidly, sometimes more than a foot annually. Young trees also sprout from their parent's roots, taking advantage of the energy and nutrient reserves contained within the established, shallow root system.
In recent years, scientists have discovered that life abounds in the canopy and on the forest floor. Canopy research supported by Save the Redwoods League has revealed many species that live their entire lives in the redwood canopy, including worms, salamanders and plants such as Sitka spruce, ferns and huckleberry.
Frequent, naturally occurring fires play an important role in keeping coast redwood ecosystems healthy because they rid the forest floor of combustible materials. In contrast, decades of fire suppression practices usually result in the accumulation of dead plant material that may fuel intense, destructive fires.
Coast redwoods grow naturally today only in a narrow 450-mile strip along the Pacific coast from central California to southern Oregon. In this “redwood belt,” temperatures are moderate year-round. Heavy winter rains and dense summer fog provide the trees with much-needed water during the otherwise drought-prone summers. In fact, redwoods create their own “rain” by capturing the fog on their lofty branches, contributing moisture to the forest in the driest time of year.
The native people of California did not usually cut down coast redwoods, but used fallen trees to make planks for houses and hollowed-out logs for canoes. When gold was discovered in 1849, hundreds of thousands of people came to California in need of food and housing, and redwoods were logged extensively to satisfy their needs. By the 1960s, only a small fraction remained of the original 2 million acres of ancient coast redwood forest. The largest surviving stands of ancient coast redwoods are in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Redwood National and State Parks and Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Help Save the Redwoods League protect these magnificent trees.
See who won in our 2009 Walk Among Giants Online Photo Contest! Thanks to all our contestants and voters!