A Tree Lover's Monument

Muir Woods National Monument

24 Apr 2015 | From Abril of USA

OFFICIAL POSTCROSSING

Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast, in southwestern Marin County, California. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Muir Woods National Monument is an old-growth coastal redwood forest. Due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the forest is regularly shrouded in a coastal marine layer fog, contributing to a wet environment that encourages vigorous plant growth. It protects 554 acres, of which 240 acres  are old growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sequoias and giant redwoods are often referred to interchangeably, though they are two very different, though equally remarkable, species of tree. Both naturally occurring only in California, these two species share a distinctive cinnamon-colored bark and the proclivity for growing to overwhelming heights. Both also require very specific, though very distinct, climates to survive.

Once widespread over the Northern Hemisphere, the Giant Redwoods or Sequoia Sempervirens survive in a narrow coastal belt in Northern California. They grow in dense forests with lush undergrowth of ferns.