The Forest for the Trees

Along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, the historic Redwood Highway entered this area in the early 1920s as automobile-based tourism boomed, and Big Tree became an important stop for travelers drawn to the size and beauty of ancient old-growth coast redwoods. Many visitors admired these giants without realizing that industrial logging was taking place outside the forested highway corridor, a façade of protection that hid the loss of 95% of the trees within the original two-million acre range by the end of the 20th century. Big Tree, more than 20 feet in diameter and nearly 300 feet tall, is a striking specimen but only one part of a forest of large trees, and the fame of named trees has brought increasing numbers of people whose close approach can damage the redwoods' shallow roots.

California · United States