New York Times Spotlights New League Research

Reese Næsborg and Cameron Williams of UC Berkeley climbing an old-growth Douglas fir. Photo by Tonatiuh Trejo-Cantwell
Reese Næsborg and Cameron Williams of UC Berkeley climbing an old-growth Douglas fir. Photo by Tonatiuh Trejo-Cantwell
Redwoods are in the news this week, reminding the world once again that Earth’s tallest trees are truly ecosystems in their own right. Teeming with life from quite literally their roots to their highest leaves, the magnificent coast redwoods are home to hundreds of other species. With the pioneering redwood canopy research that began in the 1990s with Professor Stephen Sillett at Humboldt State University, we continue to learn and understand more about the lichens, mosses, ferns, and wildlife that reside hundreds of feet off the ground every year. New discoveries about the diversity of life in the redwood canopy are made possible due to  the scientists who carefully ascend into the forest canopy to meticulously catalogue the array species that need our protection along with the coast redwoods trees themselves.

As the recent NYT article (external link) describes, Save the Redwoods League sponsored Dr. Rikke Reese Næsborg to help California State Parks better understand the lichen community in redwoods of Armstrong Woods SNR, Big Basin Redwoods SP, and Pfeiffer Big Sur SP. This collaboration started at Muir Woods National Monument in 2014, when Dr. Næsborg collaborated with a team of redwood canopy biologists to document the lichen of Cathedral Grove’s canopy.

Next time you hike among the redwoods, look for fallen redwood branches and notice the spectacular variety of lichens that cling to bark. Lichens come in all shapes and sizes and who knows, maybe you’ll discover a species we haven’t yet found!

About the author

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.

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One Response to “New York Times Spotlights New League Research”

  1. Jo Ann Wheatley

    Just read The Wild Trees book. Plug this book (again?) on this site, please. Inspiring.

    Reply

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