Redwood trees, Sequoia Sempervirens (“living forever”), are, as their scientific name suggests, members of the Sequoia family. This is the same family that includes the larger sequoia Sequoia Giganteum (“giant Sequoia”) trees that are found in Sequoia National Park, hundreds of miles to the south. Although the coastal redwoods are taller, the giant sequoia is wider and holds greater overall volume. The redwood trees are quite different from their southern relatives in a number of other ways as well.
Guide to Redwood
A Shrinking Habitat
Both trees are picky about their neighborhood. Coastal Redwoods prefer a much different climate and geographic position than do giant Sequoias. Redwoods are found in flatter, temperate zones, which were once much more prevalent throughout the world.
The shifting of continental plates and the formation of mountains have forced the Redwood to the Pacific coast in search of a moist temperate environment. Redwood trees will not be found above 2,500 feet, whereas the giant Sequoia endures a more mountainous terrain, often perched on steeper slopes at higher altitudes, between 4,000 and 8,000 feet on the western face of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which although relatively moist, is much dryer than that of the northern coast.
Today, the Redwood Tree has experienced a massive reduction in habitat, due in large part, to a slow climate change which has been occurring for more than
Long Live the Redwood
The Redwood trees live shorter lives than their larger family members, by about a thousand years. The life-span of the giant sequoia is some 3,000 years, compared to roughly 2,000 years for the Redwood. Their bark is significantly different as well. The giant Sequoia’s bark is up to three feet thick, as compared to 12-18” for the Redwood. This thickness acts as an important deterrent to disease brought by fungi, insects and fire damage.
The heavy abundance of tannin in the bark of both trees also acts as a barrier against insect and fungi as well. Tannin is a chemical compound that is found naturally in many species of trees, and in likewise in many plants, such as grapes, where it is largely responsible for the heavy body of many red wines. In the tree world however, heavy tannin found in the bark protects trees, as insects and fungi don’t seem to dig on heavy tannin the way many vinophiles, such as the Park Junkie, may.
Reproduction
Interestingly, the trees’ methods of reproduction differs greatly as well. Both giant Sequoias and Redwoods replenish themselves through cones, which contain seeds. The giant Sequoia’s cones are massive, about three times the size of those of the coastal Redwood.
However, the coastal Redwood enjoys a distinct advantage in that it is one of the few conifers that can also reproduce by sending sprouts from damaged areas such as roots, stumps and burls. This means that if a tree is knocked over by another tree, or hit by lightning, or cut or suffers any form of serious damage, chemical compounds are sent to the roots and lower regions of the tree.
From these points, a new tree, or in many cases, several new trees begin their ascent toward the skies. This is why you may find clumps of Redwoods that surround an older parent tree that is completely demolished by the forces of nature. These trees can grow insanely quick, up to 100’ in as little as 50 years, as they already have established rootstock that can feed the trees massive amounts of water and nutrient in rapid fashion. These are cool trees!
Got Water?
Speaking of water intake, coastal Redwood trees are thirsty lil buggers. These guys can suck up as much as 500 gallons of water in a single day! Their habitat being enveloped in thick fog much of the time, they have developed the ability to absorb up to 1/3 of their water intake from the fog. That is up to 150 gallons of water a day, just from the fog! For each tree!
The Invincible Redwood
These trees have little to fear in their natural environment, aside from their sheer size and relatively weak root system. The most powerful nemesis of the great trees is strong winds, which can topple an otherwise powerful and healthy looking Redwood, or Sequoia, which suffers the same weakness.
This is the method of nature, as the dying trees provide habitat for new plant life, and new trees. In death, these giants release minerals and biomass into the soil that in turn, feeds new life and prevents erosion. Such is the cycle of life in the forest.
In the Days of Wayback
The Redwood forests are simply mesmerizing and strolling through such a grove of giants envelops one with a peaceful ease, as it seems that the tranquillity of such life never ends. It is tempting to believe while surrounded by this forest, that it just continues forever, that the great trees’ ownership of the land does not end at the park boundary, that they continue to rule for endless miles, stretching up and down the coast, and for miles inland, perhaps their forests continued forever…
At one time in the far distant past, such a dream would indeed, be the reality.
Redwoods Ruled the Hemisphere
If we go back 100 million years, much of the northern hemisphere, including all of what is today the continental United States, was indeed, their kingdom. The powerful Sequoia Sempervirens (sequoia “living forever”) once enjoyed a far-reaching global habitat that was only thwarted by glacial advance some 30 million years ago. The icy reign of several ice ages effectively reduced the trees’ geographic region. Ice ages tend to do this sort of thing…
In more modern times, the trees were content to live in temperate forests that ran along the Pacific Coast, their range ran from southern Alaska to southern California and as far inland as western Montana. In fact, visitors to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado, can find stumps and remains of redwood trees that grew near modern-day Denver in the very late Eocene Period, some 34 million years ago.
Changing Climate
But the Redwood tree’s natural contract with this land must end, as does the tacit natural contract of all living things. The termination of such a contract is greatly hastened when human consumption and the needs of an expanding society are leveled against the natural agreement.
In the case of the timber-rich Redwood tree, society’s desire for lumber that provided easy building materials nearly brought the extinction of not only the contract, but very nearly, that of the trees themselves.
With the protections for the tree afforded by the park idea, the future remains bright for the species, but time will tell. Climate change has been affecting the Redwood for countless generations of the big tree, and has greatly reduced its claim to territory over the past 100 million years.
With any luck, the Sequoia Semperviren will live true to its name, and will indeed, live forever.
Guide to Redwood
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