Preserve. Plant. Pass along.
When sequoias ruled the world the first time around, they spread their branches over the ferns and horsetail, mosses and bryophytes. Their branches were strong enough to supp
TImes changed over the millenia – trees evolved that attracted insects to help them pollinate and generated tasty fruits so that birds and later mammals could spread their seed far and wide.
The sequoias could not travel the world this way. When fingers of ice covered much of the land and divided habitat, the sequoias dwindled into a relict population.
To many of the forest creatures of the Sierra Nevada they were just another piece of real estate. The Douglas squirrels used their cones as “famine food” for the years when tastier and more nutritious seeds were not around.
Fortunately, there is another mammal with a fondness for sequoias. Unfortunately, this is also the same species that has developed technology to cut them down in their prime, to carve them up and ship them around the world, and to burn enough of the carbon sequoias stored during their first reign to create climatic disruptions that threaten the ancient groves.
Of course we want to preserve and protect the magnificent trees of the Sierras and the Pacific Coast. where they are growing now As insurance, we also want to plant them in zones where they can thrive.
It only takes a small start, the kind that you or I can generate as individuals. Nature is remarkably resilient.
Here are two Pacific chorus frogs who moved in to their new “forest” before it was even in the ground!
In addition to the trees with National and State Parks and Forests, there are many non profit organizations working on this premise, each with a slightly different approach, from preserving old-growth and second-growth redwoods, to cloning them. There are also private individuals who protect the trees on their land, and many people who are working on the issue in their own small way. I credit them all as stewards of Sequoialand!
Archangel Ancient Tree Archive