The California Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens is among the oldest living things on earth. It covered millions of acres in California and Southwest Oregon before commercial logging began in the 1850s. It is estimated that more than 95% of the trees of the original old growth have been cut down. Now these magnificent trees occupy an area between Monterey California and the southwestern border of the Klamath Mountains in Oregon. Redwood forests provide habitat for a variety of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. Sequoias have been cultivated all around the world including New Zealand, Great Britain, Italy, South Africa and at other places in the US.
At 10 to 15 years the tree begins production of winged seeds in cones. More successfully the reproduction occurs by layering or sprouting from the root. If a tree falls a long row of new trees can sprout from buds under the surface of the bark.
