California Redwood Tree - State Symbols USA

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California State Tree

Walking among giants; redwood forests, California; photo by Stefan Geens on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).

Official State Tree of California

California designated redwood as the official state tree in 1937 (the coast redwood: Sequoia sempervirens, and the giant sequoia: Sequoiadendron giganteum). All State Trees

Redwood Tree Facts

The giant sequoia is the most massive tree in the world, with 30- foot diameter trunks not uncommon. They reach ages of over 3,000 years. The coast redwood is the tallest tree in the world, averaging about 300 feet high. The oldest known redwood trees lived to be 2,200 years old.

There are actually more redwood trees today than during settlement of the nation - the change is in the age class of the trees. In the mid - 1700's, original coast redwoods covered nearly 2 million acres. Since then 96 percent of that magnificent old growth forest has been harvested - just 4 percent remains today for us to protect. Over 95% of the remaining old growth forest is under the protection of parks and reserves: 257,000 acres in California parks and another 125,000 acres on public land (in both, harvesting of redwood trees is prohibited).

Source State Symbols: California State Library Reference Redwood National and State Parks: NPS Redwood Chapter: Sierra Club Redwood National and State Parks: The American SW Sequoia National Park: The American SW All State Trees All California Symbols & Icons All Categories of State Symbols   Back to Top