What percentage of the original redwoods are left?
Today, only 5% of the old-growth redwood forests remain. The majority of these 100,000 acres of remaining forests are found in assorted sections of different California state, local, and national parks.
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Many of California's old-growth redwoods — the world's tallest living things that can grow to more than 300 feet high and live 2,000 years — were cut down between the 1800s and the 1970s for decks, paneling, and even fence posts and railroad ties. Modern environmental laws and the creation of public parks ended it.
They Live for Thousands of YearsAlthough a redwoods' ability for a long lifespan contributed to its Latin name, Sequoia sempervirens—sempervirens means evergreen or everlasting” in Latin—most of the remaining redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains are “second-growth”, about 50-150 years old.
Coast redwoods sometimes regenerate as seedlings but more often grow from sprouts, which start easily on lateral roots or from stumps or downed logs. Young redwoods grow quickly—two to six feet a year—so that a 20-year-old tree will often be 50 feet tall and about eight inches in diameter.
Approximately 300 trees will be planted in 2022, and 700 in both 2023 and 2024. Humboldt State University student volunteer Sara Bandali preps a seedling for planting. Photo by National Park Service.
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.
North Coast, Humboldt County, CaliforniaJust south, this California coastal area is often called Redwood Country thanks to its thriving forests. The area is home to 45 percent of the remaining old-growth redwoods in California, and Redwood National and State Parks shelters some of the tallest trees on Earth.
As the climate changes, scientists predict that the range and character of redwood forests in the Santa Cruz mountains will change too. Some areas that have redwoods today could become too hot and dry to support them in the future.
1: Redwoods Only Grow on the Northern Pacific CoastSlowly, over time, climate change and coastal rain patterns limited redwood forests' range to their current boundaries. If you travel inland more than twenty-five miles inland the redwoods start to thin out.
Redwoods also boast some of the world's oldest trees—California redwoods can live more than 2,000 years, while their close relatives, the giant sequoias, have been recorded at nearly 3,500 years of age.