How long can a redwood tree live?

Some coastal redwoods have been known to be as old as 2,200 years old, and giant redwoods can live to over 3,000 years. One of the reasons redwoods live so long is due to a substance in their barks called tannin. This increases the tree's resistance to pests and diseases, and helps to deter insects like termites.



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Muir Snag is believed to be the oldest redwood tree in the world. Muir Snag is estimated to be more than 3,500 years old, but is no longer living. Although the tree is dead, it is still standing in the Converse Basin of the Giant Sequoia National Monument in Sierra Nevada, California.

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Visit our restoration webpages to learn more about this exciting work. How many acres of old-growth forest are left? Fewer than 120,000 acres, or 5 percent, of the original redwood forest remains today.

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As its nickname suggests, giant or coastal redwoods thrive in the moist, humid climate of the Northern California coast, where marine fog delivers precise conditions necessary for its growth. The fog adds moisture to the soil and helps trap it there by lowering the rate of evaporation.

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Over the hundreds or thousands of years that a redwood may live, even moderate growth adds up. The evolutionary driver of bigness in redwoods may be the advantage in being good at survival. Or it may be simply be that being taller means better access to sunlight in the dark forest.

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