Coast Redwood Primer

How’s the weather up there?

Coastal redwoods are the tallest living species on Earth. They can exceed 300 feet in height, and may be 18-20 feet in diameter nearly 12 feet above the ground. The Mother of the Forest, a 329-foot beauty, is the tallest tree in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The tallest coast redwood anywhere at 367.8 feet, "Tall Tree", lives in Redwood National Park and is 44 feet around at its base.

But you can’t judge a tree by its size

The size of a tree depends on much more than its age. Growth rates very with climate and other environmental conditions. Four hundred year old redwoods have been found with only 19 inch diameters. And, given proper conditions, second-growth trees can grow to 6 feet across in only 60 years.

The incredible immortal tree

Unlike those of us reading this, redwoods do not change physiologically as they age. Their growth slows, but they do not deteriorate—and do not die of old age. Their natural enemies are few; some fungi and beetles can cause local damage, and no disease is known to kill them. Only the vagaries of climate change, intense forest fires, occasional harsh storms, and – on a more immediate scale – chain saws threaten the coast redwood.

Now that’s some generation gap.

Coast redwood trees can live two millennia. The oldest recorded lived to more than 2200 years. This ancient – 12 feet in diameter – was felled in Humboldt County’s Avenue of the Giants in 1934.  Millions and millions of seeds…Are found in every coast redwood grove. When cones mature in the fall, they release their seeds to the wind. Though the cones are less than an inch and a half long, a single large tree many produce six million seeds in a year, totaling an impressive 50 pounds. But of this abundant crop, only one seed in a million will likely produce a mature standing tree.

These sprouts are older than they look

Redwoods will sprout from their stumps or roots, usually in response to some sort of trauma: fire, mechanical injury, or even change in light intensity. Dormant buds in the burls at the base of a tree also can sprout new growth. When the original tree dies, the surrounding shoots may develop into mature trees, growing in a circle around the parent. These groups of trees are known as "fairy rings."

FOG DRIP

Coast Redwoods survive in the dry summers by capturing fog and mists that drift in from the oceans.  As incoming fog makes contact with the redwood branches, the moisture accumulates on the fine needles and falls to the soil and vegetation below.  

Some of this fog drip is absorbed into the tree by the roots dragging water up the sapwood molecule by molecule to the very top needles and branches.  

Where does the fog drip water go?  25% returns through creeks, streams, and rivers to the ocean.  40% is absorbed by the roots.  35% evaporates or enters local water systems.

"Holding hands" underground

The roots of a coast redwood are very shallow, growing only four to six feet deep, but spread out from the tree as far as 125 feet. This isn’t much support for a tall, heavy tree—floodwaters can erode top layers of soil, exposing the roots and weakening a tree’s support system. Heavy rains and strong winds can bring even the biggest giant crashing to the ground.

But the roots of individual redwoods frequently grow intertwined with those of their neighbors. By "holding hands" underground, the roots form a network that allows the trees to withstand even great storms.

Shallow roots are sensitive to smothering silt.

The redwood’s roots are shallow so that they can collect large amounts of moisture the tree requires. When sediment accumulates atop its roots, a redwood responds by growing a new root system upwards, into the silt. One toppled coast redwood was found to have developed seven successive root systems, each grown in response to the periodic floods and heavy sedimentation that caused an 11-foot rise in the ground level during the tree’s 1200-year lifetime.

Redwood relatives are rare.

The coast redwood, , Sequoia sempervirens, has only two close relatives. The shorter but more massive giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) grows only in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. The deciduous dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)

A veritable midget at 115 feet in height, is found only in a remote area of central China, where it was discovered in 1944.

All three species belong to the deciduous cypress family, Taxodiaceae, and trace their roots back to the Mesozoic era – the time of the dinosaurs – between 65 and 225 million years ago.

Lumbering giants

Stands of Sequoia sempervirens have produced the greatest biomass ever recorded: 1500-tons per acre, more than eight times that found in mature tropical rain forests. A single ancient tree can yield as much as 360,000 board feet of lumber, enough to build 22 houses.

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