01. Photographer Pick: Jon Burton Reesman
Jon is a photographer based in Humboldt County, California, who often takes pictures of California redwoods, along with other shots of nature such as the ocean and wildlife. His photographs can be seen at instagram.com/lostcoastlens.
These trees can live for over 2,000 years, making them some of the oldest living organisms on the planet. Photo by Jon Burton Reesman.
02. Article Pick: California’s Redwood Forests Don’t Mind Wet, Windy Weather
In this sharply-written article in the New York Times, Amanda Holpuch details how the California redwoods deal with the extensive rain storms that hit that area in January. In short, the trees live for hundreds of years and go through many, many storms. It takes a lot to truly affect large portions of the redwood forest, although some do fall and cause damage to people and property. One thing the article also hits on is how the bigger threat to the redwoods is climate change and human interference, not storms.
Redwood National and State Parks were established in 1968 to protect the remaining redwood forests, which had been extensively logged in the 1800s and early 1900s. Photo by Tim Mossholder, Unsplash.
03. Book Pick: The Once and Future Forest: California’s Iconic Redwoods
“The Once and Future Forest: California’s Iconic Redwoods” by Save the Redwoods League are a collection of five new essays by Gary Ferguson, David Harris, Meg Lowman, Greg Sarris, and David Rains Wallace that explores the grandeur and majesty of the California redwood ecosystem and the impact and awe they inspire in people. Save the Redwoods League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore California redwoods, and this book was published to commemorate the organization’s 100th anniversary. The pieces in this book discuss topics as varied as the science of redwoods, their history, their significance to indigenous populations, and the history of the Save the Redwoods League.
04. Video Pick: The Tallest Trees on Earth
This sparsely narrated nature documentary is a relaxing 45-minute video focusing on the serene scenes of the giant California redwoods. It discusses the landscapes, wildlife, geology, history of the area, interesting facts about the redwoods and the climate of the region. The cinematography is stunning, and it is a hypnotic watch.
05. Quote of the Week
“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It's not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”
— John Steinbeck