Redwoods are massive, elegant trees, known as the tallest on the planet. The largest of these, the Coastal Redwood, are located in just a few places of the California and Oregon coast and are sadly, endangered.
While these massive beauties once had a range of more than 2 million acres, they were cut down for timber at alarming rates in the 1900s, resulting in just 5% of their habitat remaining today. Coastal redwoods rely heavily on fog that rolls off the ocean as they source of water, and as climate change warms and changes temperatures, fog is becoming less and less reliable, making the giant redwoods susceptible to drought.
If you’ve never visited Redwood National Park, we can’t recommend it enough. It’s a gorgeous and humbling place, a startling reminder of nature’s power, but also its fragility. The park offers incredibly calming and special hiking trails that weave throughout these living giants, putting everything into a new perspective.
Below are nine of our favorite facts about these beautiful giants. Inspired from Treehugger
1. Giant redwoods can reach higher than any other tree, the tallest an amazing 379 feet into the air, taller than a 35 story building.
2. These enormous trees are also ancient, and can live well over 2,000 years. The oldest known living Redwoods was over 3,000 years old.
3. These massive trees have deceptively tiny pinecones. Indeed, their cones are only about an inch in length. Amazing, the power of a seed.
4. Their bark is up to 12 inches thick, giving them ample protection against forest fires and other pests. Strong tannins in their bark also prevent against insects.
5. They intertwine their roots with other redwoods, to aid in stability. And while their roots often reach down only six to twelve feet, they can extend laterally up to 100 feet or more.
6. The very tallest coastal redwood, named Hyperion, has its location kept secret, to protect it from potential vandals or other unkind humans that might do it damage. It reaches an astonishing 379 feet into the air.
7. They rely on clouds of fog to get their moisture, and their delicate ecosystem on the Pacific coast means that they are very susceptible to drought.
8. They have entire ecosystems high up in their canopies. These massive trees are so large and tall that their branches host mats of soil that can support birds, insects, salamanders, and mammals. There are even other trees growing out of upper branches of the redwoods, some as large as 40 feet tall themselves.
9. They store more CO2 than any other forest. Their importance to the world’s healthy climate is huge, aside from being some of the most beautiful and magical trees anywhere on the planet.
Hungry to learn more about trees? We have an entire category of our site dedicated to them. Take a look. 🌲
1 comment
As a resident of the Yosemite region (just outside the park boundary,) I can attest to everything stated in this article. There’s a slight difference between the coastal and Sierra species, but the commonality is that are all breathtaking to see, to spend time in their midst, to be reminded of the incredible power of nature. But likewise: of the incredibly terrible power of man to destroy. Yes, only 5% of their original stands remain, and the thought of what was lost through flat-out ridiculous logging a century and more ago is maddening. These massive wonders were indiscriminately hewn down, but redwood is brittle and many of the trees shattered upon impact, which left them in most cases useless to the loggers, who’d just move on to the next tree. One of the most humbling thoughts of the surviving wood is that these majestic giants were most often simply turned into fenceposts.
All that said, consider visiting both Yosemite’s Mariposa, Tuolumne and Merced Groves, and of course – the nearby Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park as well. While there’s still something to protect, and to be inspired by.