A forest of giants is still healing from a century of war

Countries & Cities · Published 21 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The coastal redwoods of Northern California are among the tallest and oldest living things on Earth. Yet, the cathedral-like groves we see today are survivors of a period of industrial devastation so severe that it left the landscape looking like an active war zone.

The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) protect 45 percent of the remaining old-growth coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests in the United States. This complex covers 139,000 acres across Del Norte and Humboldt counties. While the trees are iconic, the current landscape is a product of intense conservation efforts following heavy logging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During that era, logging decimated a forest that once spanned approximately two million acres.

The preservation of these groves was a multi-decade effort involving the state of California, the Save-the-Redwoods League, and the federal government. To safeguard the shoreline, authorities created Prairie Creek, Jedediah Smith, and Del Norte Coast state parks during the 1920s and 1930s. Redwood National Park was later established in 1968. A pivotal expansion occurred in 1978 when Congress added about 36,000 acres of previously logged land to the national park, a move prompted by the visible destruction of the clear-cut hillsides.

Restoration is a slow, generational process. It is estimated to take at least 50 years for the visible scars of logging to fade and roughly 250 years for new seedlings to reach a modest size. Modern efforts include erasing 400 miles of logging roads and a 2024 agreement to remove a large dam along the Smith River. Furthermore, the parks have expanded cooperation with the Yurok Tribe, including the return of 125 acres of culturally and ecologically significant land and a program to reintroduce the California condor.

General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.

Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?

Related

• Why the world's tallest trees are hiding in a seismically volatile coastal corridor
• How a steep, inaccessible canyon saved a prehistoric forest from destruction
• The record-breaking heights of California's coastal and mountain forests
• The Monterey cypress is a global traveler with a misunderstood, ancient reputation
• The sugar pine is the world's most massive pine, but it is in decline.
• Russia's massive Arctic preserve is a sanctuary for wildlife and a site of cleanup
• In the heart of Siberia lies a vast, roadless wilderness of canyons and waterfalls.
• A wilderness inhabited continuously for over 40,000 years
• Are protected areas truly saving the planet or just asserting state power?
• The desert monarch plays a high-stakes game of survival
• Arizona's Petrified Forest is a graveyard of ancient tropical groves and human history
• The Colorado junction that grew when a railroad bypassed its neighbors

More in Parks, preserves, and World Heritage Sites · More in Countries & Cities · Latest · A–Z · All topics