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WONDERS OF NATURE
Sequoia. Nature miracle
Sequoia National Park, or Redwood (USA, California, north of San Francisco, in the counties of Del Norte and Humboldt), with an area of 36 hectares, is known for giant sequoia pines. These redwood forests are called the Redwood Empire by the Americans.
The park stretches along the coast and the Coastal Range for a length of 80 km and a width of 14 km. This is the largest section of redwood forests, which is why Redwood is included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The mountain slopes of this region of the United States were inaccessible. Only in 1850, the English traveler Lubb found the largest trees in the world. The British began to call this giant tree wellingtonia, but the Americans gave their name - washingtonia. Later, botanists decided to name the outlandish tree after the Indian chief of the Cherokee tribe, who once lived in these parts, Se-Kuo-Ya (they say this leader created writing for his people). In translation, this name means "a huge tree." In 1890, the Sequoia National Park was founded. After 36 years, its area has doubled. In 1956, King's Canyon Reserve joined the redwood grove from the north. Trees in the Yosemite Valley were also taken under state protection. Sequoia is an evergreen, coniferous tree with red wood, a member of the Taxodiaceae family, is one of the oldest and tallest trees on earth. The tallest of all the trees preserved in the world grows in the national park, its height is 111 m. Although the giant sequoia can reach a height of 148 m and a thickness of 16 m. Only Australian eucalyptus trees can compete with sequoia in height. And according to the diameter of the trunk - Mexican swamp cypress and mammoth tree. In terms of life expectancy, the sequoia is second only to the Mammoth tree, which lives 3-4 thousand years (a park of mammoth trees alone occupies the western slope of the Sierra Nevada). Sequoia lives on average one and a half - two thousand years. Although the age of many of the trees growing in the park is 4 thousand years. However, the giant sequoia can live up to 6 thousand years. Each large sequoia has its own name. Somehow, on the stump of a sawn tree, a dance floor was arranged, on which 16 couples could dance. Immediately, four people played in the orchestra, and twenty spectators stood around. Not far from this saw cut of a tree lay the trunk of a sequoia, into the scorched hollow of which a rider could ride (this tree was called the Father of the forests). The crew could freely pass into the hole made in the trunk of another sequoia. In order to cut down the trunk of a sequoia, even special saws 7 m long were made. In 10–12 days, two people managed to fell one sequoia. And then the sequoia saw cuts were taken to world exhibitions. A bark half a meter thick was removed from a sequoia trunk 11 m thick and sent to an exhibition in San Francisco. There, having made the bark into a single whole, they received a structure in which more than a hundred people could be at the same time. This tree has been called the Mother of the Forests. The age of the largest tree, named General Sherman, is four thousand years old. Its height is 83 m, the circumference of the trunk is 24,1 m. The wood of this sequoia would be enough for 40 one-story houses with five rooms in each, or for 5 billion matches. If this tree is cut down and placed next to the train, it will be longer. Both Ilf and E. Petrov, after visiting the Sequoia Park, shared their impressions: “Next to us, the trunk of another giant tree rose from the ground. It is not surprising that we did not notice it right away. It was too large, too abnormal among the ordinary trunks of the fir trees surrounding it and pines, so that the eye, educated on the natural difference between small and large, could immediately note this phenomenon.We slowly drove on, from tree to tree ... Now we were driving through an ancient gloomy forest, a fantastic forest, where the word "man" ceases to sound proudly, and only one word sounds proudly - “tree.” Sequoias, belonging, according to scientists, “to the coniferous family,” grow next to ordinary spruce and pine trees and amaze a person as if he saw among chickens and piglets alive pterodactyl or mammoth. And here is what V. Peskov and B. Strelnikov wrote about sequoias: “Compared to everything that is still growing abundantly on the planet, sequoias are green dinosaurs. By the way, they are contemporaries of these animals. Dinosaurs died out. Trees also died out everywhere on Earth. The imprints of their branches are found on slates in Europe, Asia, even in Greenland, but here, in California, on a strip of land untouched by a glacier, a strip of forest remains - one of the main wonders of the Earth. According to the authors of the book "Earth Records", a walk among the redwoods will leave an indelible impression and teach humility: "Despite the fact that the Lebanese cedar surpasses the sequoia in harmony, it rises above the entire kingdom of trees, striking with its size, age, grandeur and impressive appearance ". In the forest, redwoods grow very closely, their trunks almost touch. Twilight constantly reigns here, formed by the crown of trees at about a thirty-meter height. The territory of the park is indented by a fairly developed network of roads and a large number of well-maintained hiking trails. The park hosts several recreation camps (camping sites) and many fire pits are equipped. Unique trees have been preserved since the time when the earth was inhabited by dinosaurs 140 million years ago, sequoia forests were the most common in the Northern Hemisphere. Due to cooling and glaciation of the cover, their range narrowed, trees appeared and disappeared in Europe, Asia and North America (fossils of this species are found in Greenland and China) 50 million years ago, when the climate on the planet became cooler and drier, sequoias stopped spreading. Even before the beginning of the 700th century, most of the valleys of Northern California - from Monterrey Bay to Oregon - were covered with forests of giant trees (20 km long and XNUMX wide). Now giant trees grow only on the Pacific coast of California, which has a warm climate (average temperature 10–15 ° C). In addition, it is very humid here throughout the year. In winter, spring and autumn it rains, and in summer fogs creep in, which condense in the crown of trees, and dew falls abundantly. All this contributes to the enhanced growth of the tree (in 30 years it can reach a height of 25 m with a diameter of 40 cm). This coniferous tree has needles of a silvery-green color, turning into blue. Cones are small - from 2 to 7 cm, appear on a tree that has reached 200 years of age. Although there are quite a lot of seeds in a cone, only one in a billion germinates. The fact is that the cones in a humid environment swell and close very tightly, so the seeds may remain there. This problem can be partially solved with the help of natural fires, which occur here due to lightning strikes. At the resulting high temperature, the cones open, and the seeds get the opportunity to germinate in a more or less illuminated place, in well-fertilized ash soil. But lumberjacks fiercely fight forest fires, thus preventing the natural rejuvenation of the forest. In addition to high humidity, a thick layer of fallen needles prevents seed germination. The trunk of the sequoia has a thick (up to 1 m), fibrous, spongy, low-flammable bark with longitudinal depressions. The bark is wrinkled, it even seems rough, but with light pressure, the flesh easily breaks off, and is airy by weight. If this pulp is mashed, a reddish soft dust will turn out. The bark protects the tree from frost and, charring on the outside, it does not allow fire to penetrate the wood. From the sequoia, you can get high-quality wood, which is used for the construction of buildings, the production of furniture, the manufacture of sleepers, etc. Its high consumer qualities are due to the fact that the tree trunk is absolutely straight, there are almost no branches on it. With all this, the wood is dense, light, durable. It contains such oils, thanks to which the tree almost does not rot, and insects bypass it. It is no coincidence that the Indians were in awe of this miracle of nature. When numerous immigrants from Europe appeared in the States, the tree began to be mercilessly destroyed. At the end of the 40th century, the sequoia was even endangered. Until the 50-15s of the XNUMXth century, trees were cut down selectively, and then they began to make clear felling on slopes and watersheds. Because of this, severe erosion developed. Downpours in winter demolished the top layer of soil and caused floods, seedlings were washed away, the root system of old trees was washed away. Approximately XNUMX percent of the remaining stands are now protected in state parks, with two thirds being recent clearcuts. Today, only 1/20 of the forest of giant trees has survived. Sequoia (70-80 pieces) grows on the inaccessible western slopes of the Sierra Nevada at an altitude of 1200 to 2400 m with a total area of 14,4 thousand hectares. 90 percent of the area where the sequoia is found is in public ownership, including in the national parks of King Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, Muirwoods. Muirwoods National Park is also located on the Pacific Coast in Marin County. The park is named after conservationist John Muir. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the park a natural monument. The area of the park is 224 hectares. Here, ancient virgin forests of redwoods have been preserved, forming a canopy that does not let light to the ground. There is little undergrowth (ferns, other shade-loving plants, young sequoias). In the northern and more mountainous part of the park, the sequoia grows next to Douglas, reaching 100 m in height, fir, giant thuja, Sitka spruce, cypress. The forests in the Muirwoods National Nature Park have survived only because these places are inaccessible to people. Author: Yudina N.A.
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