In 1953 the magnificent California coast redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens) became the official California State Tree. Among the
coast redwoods are the world's tallest trees, some having reached
a height of more than 360 feet. Their massive trunks are usually
10-15 feet in diameter, but their tiny cones are only about one inch
long. The fibrous bark is reddish brown; the crown is open and irregular.
In 1953 the magnificent California coast redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens) became the official California State Tree. Among the
coast redwoods are the world's tallest trees, some having reached
a height of more than 360 feet. Their massive trunks are usually
10-15 feet in diameter, but their tiny cones are only about one inch
long. The fibrous bark is reddish brown; the crown is open and irregular.
Once
widespread on the seaward slopes of the northern Coast Ranges,
the redwoods have been greatly diminished by more than a century
of commercial logging. Conservation efforts date back to the mid-nineteenth
century. The Save-the-Redwoods League, founded in 1918, was among
the many groups instrumental in funding and creating preserves
of old-growth trees. Activists in the early 1990s renewed the campaign
to block the cutting of the remaining 5 percent of virgin redwood
forests.
