REDWOOD TREES FROM CALIFORNIA TO GREAT BRITAIN

Hello All,

I recently came across this news which involve Eden project and California, the facts refer to March 2016 and I believe it is interesting to recognize what happened.

Eden project is an educational charity while Archangel Ancient Tree Archive aims to propagate, reforest and archive ancient trees for future generations.

The main objective of this cooperation between 'Eden project' in Uk and the 'Archangel Ancient Tree Archive' in USA is to preserve the Coast redwood trees for the future generations. The peculiarities of the coast redwoods are their height: in fact they can reach 115 metres. Unfortunately, in these years the number of plants are reducing due to the recent fires and droughts so preserve those trees became a priority.

The event took place in March 2016 and in that occasion about 40 redwood trees were imported from California and planted in South-West England because the warm, damp climate adapt perfect to this type of trees. Both association aim to plant many more plants in the next decades.

It is amazing idea to be able to work in teams following different projects from the opposite side of the globe and aiming towards the same direction. I particularly like the fact that nowadays, with the use of the net, everyone can ask for help and be able to get it. I can see this is just the beginning of a green revolution.

Further information can be found in the below links:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/14/europes-first-redwood-forest-planted-at-eden-project
http://www.edenproject.com/eden-story/our-ethos/the-lost-grove-the-eden-project-in-america
https://www.ancienttreearchive.org/

CALIFORNIAN TUNNEL TREES

Today I would like to write about the Tunnel Trees in the US parks as I found them enchanting...

The legend tells that the first tunnel tree was created in the 1881 enlarging an existing fire scar in a sequoia tree in the Mariposa Grove at Yosemite National Park in California. This tree was named Wawona. The aim of this project was to boost the car tourism into the park in that era.   

Unfotunately, the heavy snow of the 1969 made the giant Wawona Tree fall but the great thing about this is that the tree remained in its location and created a new habitat for insects and animals and therefore boosted the ecosystem. 
It is estimated that this sequoia was over 2,000 years old and now it is still a celebrity and it is known as Fallen Tunnel Tree.

More recently, this January 2017, a similar episode occurred in the Big Trees State Park in Arnold, in California where another giant sequoia tree has fallen as consequence of the winter storms that hit the country in this season. Its name was Pioneer Cabin Tree and it is estimated that this tree was 1,000 years old.

Between the 1800 and 1900 several sequoia trees had the tunnel dug into their trunks for the tourists pleasures to drive, bike, or walk through them.


Luckily, nowadays this torture has stopped and the parks do not need to promote themselves using the tunnel trees. In fact the tunneling inflicted profound and severe damage to the health and strength of the trees. On this purpose the National Park Service has commented: "Tunnel trees had their time and place in the early history of our national parks, but today sequoias which are standing healthy and whole are worth far more."

Before starting this article I was very fascinated about the tunnels in the Californian Sequoia tress as I believed that those tunnels were a consequence of a natural crack that are created in ancient trees, but I could not imagine that it was a man-made attraction.
I am relieved knowing that this form of promotion for the Californian Yosemite Natural Park now has stopped.



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/us/pioneer-cabin-tree-sequoia.html

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/09/508919216/iconic-sequoia-tunnel-tree-brought-down-by-california-storm

http://www.sciencealert.com/the-1-000-year-old-iconic-tunnel-tree-pioneer-cabin-has-fallen-from-a-winter-storm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawona_Tree