Nature field note
A giant that keeps growing
The Reaching Redwood
A giant redwood can grow taller than a thirty-story building and live for more than two thousand years.
Let's look closer
How does a tree grow so tall without toppling over?
redwood spreads a surprisingly wide but shallow web of roots, often no deeper than a few meters, that tangle together with the roots of neighboring redwoods, helping the whole grove hold each other steady against strong winds. Its thick, spongy, fire-resistant bark can grow nearly a foot deep on older trees, protecting the living wood inside even when wildfires sweep through the forest floor. Every year the tree simply adds one more ring of new growth around its trunk, a quiet, steady record of its own long life.
Look for this
Explorer clue
Stand at the base of a very tall tree and look straight up its trunk; imagine it was already growing before your great-great-grandparents were born.
Your turn to wonder
Curiosity question
If you could grow for two thousand years, what would you want to see change around you?
Keep wandering
