Author Archives: Emily Burns

Emily Burns, the League’s former Director of Science, led the research program that includes the Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative. She holds a PhD in Integrative Biology on the impacts of fog on coast redwood forest flora from the University of California, Berkeley.

Coast redwoods on the UCI campus are not thriving.

Can redwoods thrive in Southern California climate?

on

Redwoods do fine in Southern California, right? Researchers at UC Irvine are not totally convinced. In the 1980’s a scientist by the name of Ernest Ball cloned coast redwood giants from Northern California and reared test-tube redwoods. Many of these …

Megan Ferreira and I stand next to one of Yellowstone's remarkable petrified redwoods.

The Oldest Redwood I’ve Ever Seen

on

I just returned from a New Year’s trip through Yellowstone National Park, where I hiked out to see one of the petrified redwoods still standing on the forest slopes of Wyoming. This ancient redwood has been through an amazing transformation—its …

Grove in Hendy Woods State Park.

Life on the Forest’s Edge

on

It takes a long time to get to Hendy Woods State Park from San Francisco. It takes a while to get there from pretty much anywhere, but it’s worth it.  Approaching the park through the Anderson Valley wine country, the …

Giant sequoia branches covered in snow. Photo by garden beth, Flickr Creative Commons

Why are Christmas trees pointy on top?

on

Why are Christmas trees shaped the way they are, pointy on top and wide at the bottom?  It’s because their growth is regulated by hormones.  One such hormone (called auxin) is produced at the growing tip of the treetop and …

(c) 2012 National Geographic

Large Old Trees at Risk

on

Open up the 2012/12 issue of National Geographic to see photos of an incredible giant sequoia and the phenomenal diversity of plants and animals that live with this redwood in the forest. On the backside of the fold-out photograph of …

A researcher climbs a giant sequoia at Mountain Home Grove next to a burned giant sequoia that remains alive with two vigorous sprouts near its broken top. Photo credit: Bob Van Pelt

Burned out but not fading away

on

It’s fairly difficult for me to imagine living for 3,000 years. Yet giant sequoias live for millennia, standing tall in a single location as the years, decades, and centuries tick by. They are pounded by rain, snow, sweltering heat, lightening, …

Giant redwood crowns loom over a canopy of lesser trees (Picea sitchensis, Tsuga heterophylla) in JSRSP. Photo by Stephen Sillett

Cap-and-trade among the redwoods

on

This was a big month in California. While the election may be the first thing that comes to mind, we also witnessed the first auction of carbon credits to companies that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every …

Ants tending aphids on the underside of young leaves of Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) in Del Norte County.

Feasting in the Redwood Forest

on

No doubt, we have all experienced the joy of showing up to a thoughtfully prepared Thanksgiving feast with family and friends.  Surrounded by overflowing dishes of food, it is nearly impossible to go to bed hungry following a Thanksgiving meal. …

Redwood tree cores.

Cross-section of a redwood tree?

on

Since I was a little girl, I’ve enjoyed standing next to the large cross-section of redwood trunk on display at the entrance of Muir Woods National Monument. It boggles my mind that this redwood started growing in the year 909 …

Banana slug.

Slug Truth is Stranger than Fiction

on

Did you know that the coast redwood forest is home to the largest slug in North America and the second largest slug worldwide*?  Yep, our very own banana slug (Ariolimax columbianus) grows up to 8 inches in length and can …

Ageratina adenophora

They call it “forest killer”

on

I just returned from a vacation in Nepal, a beautiful country boasting the tallest mountains in the world. For two weeks I trekked through the mountains, seeing stark snowscapes and yak-covered slopes in the northern high Himalayas and the lush …

Eel River. Photo by Howard King

Brown to Blue: The Eel River’s Dramatic Changes in Hue

on

When the South Fork Eel River in Mendocino County turns blue during the winter, it is impossible not to wonder why the river changes color so much over the course of the year. With first fall rains, autumn leaves falling …

Coral fungus in the redwood forest.

There’s More Than Meets the Eye to Forest Fungi

on

Did you know that winter rains cause fungi to reproduce in the redwood forest?  Mushrooms are the most visible parts of the fungal body and grow up out of the soil so that the wind will disperse their spores.  When …

Clintonia andrewsiana bearing blue fruits at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Blue as Blue Can Be

on

Redwoods are red, Red clintonia is now blue, It’s fall in the forest, Bearing fruits of a brilliant hue. The large shiny green leaves of red clintonia, or Andrew’s clintonia, grow in moist sandy soil in the redwood forest. This …

Coast redwood boasting colorful fall leaves at Humboldt Redwoods State Park in August.

True colors are showing

on

As summer rolls on every year, people always ask me with concern about why their redwoods have orange foliage. Is it a sign of drought? Is the redwood sick? Luckily for the redwoods, the answer to these questions is quite …

Scraping teeth of a bear left this young redwood missing bark.

Bear Breakfast No Picnic for Redwoods

on

If you go out in the woods today You’re sure of a big surprise. If you go out in the woods today You’d better go in disguise For every bear that ever there was Will gather there for certain, because …

Redwood canopy.

Walking in the Shadows

on

Yesterday, I wandered through Muir Woods National Monument looking up at the redwood canopy on a perfectly warm, late summer afternoon. I didn’t wander alone, I shared the paths with many park visitors, staff and volunteers from the Monument and …

Giant sequoia snag.

Giant Sequoia Snags

on

A giant sequoia can grow for more than 2,000 years and in that time easily earn its reputation for being one of the most massive trees on Earth. While the giant sequoia’s sheer size is certainly amazing enough, these giants …

Researcher Wendy Baxter climbs a fixed rope up into a 86.6m-tall giant sequoia tree at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Photo by Anthony Ambrose

Barking up the Right Tree

on

It’s summertime and redwood researchers are putting on their climbing gear and ascending  into the leafy crowns of giant sequoias. A slow climb is worth the effort to see how the giants are growing. But why climb hundreds of feet …

Elk Clover. Photo by Keir Morse

A Healing Giant among Redwoods

on

Meet a fascinating plant of redwood country: elk clover, also known as California spikenard (Aralia californica), is the only member of the ginseng family that is native to California.  It’s a perennial deciduous plant (meaning it sheds its leaves in …