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Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #11
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California
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Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #11
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<b>Lifeblood</b><br /> <br /> Colonial seafarers and early American adventurers cursed the omnipresent rain and fog of northern California. A discomfort to some perhaps, but the mild, wet climate of the North Coast ensures the survival of redwood forests. Wet winters soak the region under 60-70 inches of rain. Summer produces little rain, but temperatures rarely exceed 80 degrees. Summertime fog increases humidity and reduces the amount of water a tree loses through evaporation, softening the effects of drier periods. The small, tightly spaced redwood leaves intercept the moisture suspended in the fog. While some moisture absorbs directly into the leaves, the majority collects on the grooved surface of the leaf and drips to the ground. Water collected from fog may account for up to one-third of the total water in the redwood forest system. Water, the ever-present lifeblood of the redwoods, sustains life, both ancient and new.
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #10
~0 min drive
<b>Forest from Ferns</b><br /> <br /> Many years ago, fire swept through this corner of the forest, opening large areas under the canopy to colonization by small, yet beneficial plants. Ferns, like the dominant sword fern, thrive in the all-pervading damp of the redwood unders…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #9
~0 min drive
<b>Life after Death</b><br /> <br /> Redwoods do not die easily. The dense heartwood of a living tree resists most forms of insect damage and fungal growth, thus its value in commercial uses. The ability of a redwood to regenerate from burls ensures its longevity. More often t…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #7
~0 min drive
<b>A Forest Protected</b><br /> <br /> By the 1960s, aboriginal redwood forests that had stood for millennia vanished in less than a century. Logged, milled, and shipped elsewhere, the redwoods of northern California built the homes and infrastructure of an expanding nation. T…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #8
~0 min drive
<b>Redwood Resurrection</b><br /> <br /> Commercial logging of redwoods reached into northern Humboldt and Del Norte Counties by the early 1870s. The logging industry dominated the economy of this region for three decades following World War II. The absence of tall trees in th…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #6
~0 min drive
<b>Towering Patriarchs</b><br /> <br /> Gazing up the immense trunk to the highest reaches of a redwood tree gives us a powerful sense of our own smallness. Capable of ascending to heights over 360 feet, coast redwoods tower over all living things on the planet. Most of its so…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #12
~0 min drive
<b>Rebirth</b><br /> <br /> Like newborns clinging to their parents, new forest life clings in abundance to this fallen redwood. Salal, huckleberry, rhododendron, spruce, and hemlock all arise from this slowly deteriorating giant. A new redwood reaches out from its burled base…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #5
~0 min drive
<b>Living with the Wind</b><br /> <br /> Wind is the great gardener of this ridgetop community. The quiet whisper of summer breezes give way to the powerful gusts of winter storms that can snap the highest branches, sending “widowmakers” plummeting hundreds of feet to the fore…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #4
~0 min drive
<b>More than Redwoods</b><br /> <br /> Redwoods do not stand alone. In fact, what we call old-growth redwood forests may contain as few as eight or ten of the towering monarchs per acre. A diverse community of plants and animals thrive in the shadows of the redwood canopy. Hig…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #13
~0 min drive
<b>Full Circle</b><br /> <br /> For us, the character of a redwood forest changes daily. One day, shimmering strands of yellow light beam from crystal blue skies through open windows of the forest canopy. The next day may bring fog or rain, enshrouding the dark green spires an…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #3
~1 min drive
<b>Fire Survivor</b><br /> <br /> How do hollow redwoods survive? Despite the North Coast’s wet climate, redwood forests experience occasional wildfires. Fire plays a critical role by clearing dense ground cover and giving new seedlings the opportunity to grow. More intense wi…
