Article

Preserving a "Big Tree"

John Muir, with beard, hat, and jacket, stands with his left hand against the trunk of a wide tree.
John Muir, Muir Woods, date unknown.

NPS (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Park Archives, Muir Woods Collection, GOGA 32470-0292)

One hundred and thirty-two years after the birth of John Muir (April 21, 1838), the first nationwide Earth Day demonstrations were held on April 22, 1970, sustaining a tradition of advocacy for environmental protection. Building upon Muir’s alarm at the impacts of development on the condition of natural landscapes in the United States, the first Earth Day organizers were responding to environmental degradation on a global scale.

By providing a voice for environmental consciousness, their efforts empowered policy-makers and ordinary people alike. On a policy level, this led to legal and regulatory mechanisms that were established to guide in the protection of natural resources. By publishing articles and sharing his views, Muir introduced a radically new concept of land use that pushed the ideas of conservation into the values of preservation.[1] His work called for action on all scales, laying the foundation for the modern environmental movement.
Following the events of the first Earth Day, the substantial public demand for cleaner air, land, and water prompted the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and served as impetus for legislation such as the Clean Air Act (1970), the Pesticide Control Act (1972), and the Clean Water Act (1972).[2] In addition to informing national policy, annual Earth Day celebrations continue to support grassroots environmental movements through local activities such as citizen science, community education, environmental clean-ups, and tree-planting events.
A group of loggers pose beside and atop a massive felled sequoia log
Loggers by a sequoia log.

NPS (Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Archives, Roberts Collection)

By 1876, amidst the logging of old-growth forests in the western United States, Muir began writing extensively about giant sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron giganteum), which he called “big trees.” [3] Observing their ability to grow to 300 feet tall and over 3,000 years old, Muir recounted their natural historical value:

Barring accidents, it seems to be immortal. It is a curious fact that all the very old sequoias had lost their heads by lightning strokes. ‘All things come to him who waits.’ But of all living things, sequoia is perhaps the only one able to wait long enough to make sure of being struck by lightning.[4]

Thousands of years it stands ready and waiting, offering its head to every passing cloud as if inviting its fate, praying for heaven's fire as a blessing; and when at last the old head is off, another of the same shape immediately begins to grow on. Every bud and branch seems excited, like bees that have lost their queen, and tries hard to repair the damage.[5]

So far as I am able to see at present only fire and the ax threaten the existence of these noblest of God's trees. In Nature's keeping they are safe, but through the agency of man destruction is making rapid progress, while in the work of protection only a good beginning has been made.[6]

On one of his many journeys to the Sierra Nevada mountains, the story goes that Muir wrapped a small giant sequoia in a moistened handkerchief and brought it down from its high mountain grove to his home in the low-lying hills near the brackish waters of the Carquinez Strait, between the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. After years of travelling, Muir had settled down in the town of Martinez on a farm owned by his father-in law, Dr. John Strenzel. Around 1885, Muir planted the sapling on the property, directly off of the main farm road. He placed it within a small triangular patch of land that marked a prominent intersection, and protected it with a wooden enclosure.[7]
A circle indicates the location of the crate protecting the sequoia, at the intersection on the ranch where orchards surrounded an Italianate house
The Strentzel House, with a view of the enclosure protecting the giant sequoia sapling within the triangular intersection, circa 1887.

NPS (John Muir National Historic Site)

A man in a hat and long coat stands to the right of a wooden crate at the end of a driveway, with orchards and rolling hills in the background
Pictured is Muir’s father-in-law, Dr. Strentzel, with the enclosure that protected the giant sequoia seedling in the background, circa 1885.

NPS (John Muir National Historic Site)

With this totem of the nearby mountains, Muir accomplished many of his environmental goals from a study in the family house, which he called the “scribble den”. While there, he wrote hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and several books which would lay the foundation for the creation of the National Park Service (1916), and effectively protect many of the extant old growth forests, including those of the groves of his “big trees.”

While the ancient ancestors of giant sequoia once existed throughout the northern hemisphere, changes in climate conditions restricted their range to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains.[8] Muir confirmed this in his writings, noting that he had never observed a single straggler further than a mile outside of the scattered groves.[9] Over 2,000 feet below and 150 miles away from its natural habitat, Muir’s transplanted tree flourished for year following his death in 1914.
Remarkably, the tree and its surrounding landscape came under the federal protections that he had inspired when the site was designated as the John Muir National Historic Site in 1964. By 1969, the tree had grown to the height of the roofline of the Muir’s two-story Italianate mansion.
A circle of kids around the base of a a giant sequoia tree
Children around Muir’s giant sequoia at John Muir Historic Site.

NPS (John Muir National Historic Site / Keith Park)

By 2004, the tree had surpassed the height of the Muir House, measuring about 80 feet tall from base to tip. While it was observed to be in fair condition, potential threats were monitored. Planted outside of their natural range, sequoia species become vulnerable to the stresses of unfavorable growing conditions. Specific to the Muir site, these were identified to include the compaction of soil above the tree’s roots from the surrounding roads, an increasingly buried trunk flare from ground grade changes, and imbalances in soil moisture levels.

In 2010, it was determined that the tree had developed cankers caused by the fungus Botryosphaeria dothidea, which contributes to the death of healthy tissue in trees. While most healthy trees can keep the fungus from turning into an infection, trees that are weakened by environmental stress or disturbed site conditions are likely to present conditions ripe for infection. The NPS immediately began managing the impacts by minimizing pedestrian access around the tree, aerating the soil above the roots, and adding mulch around the base to retain moisture. But it became clear that the tree had likely been battling the infection for many years.
Two technicians in lab coats and gloves use tools to propagate plants in a lab setting
Propagation at Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.

Courtesy of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive

A historic photo of John Muir stands behind a tray of young plants.
John Muir giant sequoia cuttings.

NPS

In accordance with landscape management goals for the site, the NPS began to explore options for the tree’s preservation in light of its gradual decline. Beginning in 2010, the park’s horticulturalist attempted to clone the tree, and later commissioned the task to the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a non-profit that specializes in old-growth tree propagation and archiving. Clippings from the Muir tree were sent to them in 2013, and the cuttings were received and a handful were successfully rooted. As the NPS waits for the the long-term viability of the rooted cuttings, further research is needed in order to predict how the new saplings may fare. While logging no longer poses a threat to Sequoiadendron giganteum, the cloned saplings and their high mountain relatives continue to face new challenges in the ever changing conditions of our environment.

In the words of John Muir:

Notwithstanding, I feel confident that if every sequoia in the Range were to die today, numerous monuments of their existence would remain, of so imperishable a nature as to be available for the student more than ten thousand years hence.
…

Again, admitting that upon those areas supposed to have been once covered with sequoia forests, every tree may have fallen, and every trunk may have been burned or buried, leaving not a remnant, many of the ditches made by the fall of the ponderous trunks, and the bowls made by their upturning roots, would remain patent for thousands of years after the last vestige of the trunks that made them had vanished. [10]


Notes

[1] Conservation versus Preservation? (U.S. Forest Service Feature, 2016).
[2] Today in History - April 22 (Library of Congress).
[3] H. Thomas Harvey, "Evolution and History of Giant Sequoia," (Proceedings of the Workshop on Management of Giant Sequoia, Reedley, CA, May 24-25,1985).
[4] 7. John Muir, "The Big Trees," in The Yosemite (New York: The Century Co., 1912).
[5] 9. John Muir, "The Sequoia and General Grant National Parks" in Our National Parks (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1901).
[6] 7. John Muir, "The Big Trees," in The Yosemite (New York: The Century Co., 1912).
[7] National Park Service, John Muir National Historic Site Cultural Landscape Inventory, 2004.
[8] H. Thomas Harvey, "Evolution and History of Giant Sequoia."
[9] 7. John Muir, "The Big Trees," in The Yosemite (New York: The Century Co., 1912).
[10] 7. John Muir, "The Big Trees," in The Yosemite (New York: The Century Co., 1912).

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John Muir National Historic Site

Last updated: February 28, 2024