Excerpt from Saving the Redwoods: An Account of the Movement During 1919 to Preserve the Redwoods of California These groves are stated generally to be about thirty-two in number and are much scattered and isolated in the northern part of their range, while in the south they are larger and closer together. This distribution shows that the Big Tree is on the decline, the various groves having long since lost touch with each other, while in the north the reproduction is very poor. They all grow in spots sheltered by surrounding for ests and the slopes Of the Sierras are more or less windless, . But unless artificially protected in national parks they would soon be destroyed for their valuable lumber. They have suffered throughout the ages from_ ground fires. Their enormously thick bark, which is from one-half to two feet through. Is a great protection, and the tree lives on, although its heart has been burned out, so long as this bark and its underlying cambium layer can reach the earth. If protected by human care the Big Tree has remarkable recuperative power, and many of the trees in the Giant Forest show an accelerated growth owing to their immunity from fire even for a few decades. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.