About this item

?A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great or beautiful cathedral.? ? Theodore RooseveltIn 2013, an alarming number of Redwood National Park redwood trees were shorn of their knobby protrusions, called burls. The trees were disfigured by thieves aiming to sell the distinctive burl wood on the black market. One team was bold enough to fell an entire tree for its burl. Concerned over the welfare of these iconic treasures, Kirk Crippens and Gretchen LeMaistre worked with park rangers to access each damaged tree. From 2013 to 2016, they made many visits to the redwood forests of Humboldt County, California, observing the trees in changing light and seasons.Redwood trees are living witnesses to our human history, sometimes existing for as long as three thousand yeargs.