Why are there so few redwood trees in America?

1: Redwoods Only Grow on the Northern Pacific Coast Slowly, 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.



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The development of chainsaws and tracked bulldozers in the 1930s led to the massive increase in the rate of logging of redwood trees. Acres of ancient redwoods could now be cut down in just days. It was the post World War II housing and economic boom caused the majority of old-growth redwoods to be clear cut.

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Giant Redwoods 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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North Coast, Humboldt County, California Just 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.

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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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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.

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For example, redwood plantations are thriving in several locations between about 1,000 and 2,000 m elevation in Hawaii. However, in remote Hawaiian plantations, thriving redwood trees fail to produce cones and (apparently) pollen.

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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.

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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.

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The largest patch of old-growth redwood forest is located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California, United States.

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While most people stop at the Redwoods National and State Parks in northern California, the trees continue growing across the border, planting their roots into the forests of southwest Oregon. Admittedly, the trees in Oregon are much smaller and far less impressive than the famous stands in California.

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General Sherman Tree is at the north end of Giant Forest. The General Sherman Tree is the world's largest tree, measured by volume. It stands 275 feet (83 m) tall, and is over 36 feet (11 m) in diameter at the base.

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