The Trees Are Screaming

Are we listening?

Have you hugged a sequoia? I promise you, the act of putting your arms around these behemoth trees will change you. The trees are significant. We are not. We are just blips on this planet where they have existed for thousands of years.

Our national treasures, the sequoias, are in danger. If you’ve never had the opportunity to see these magnificent giants in person, to touch their reddish bark and become one with them for only a moment, you have missed out.

I didn’t believe I could be so moved by touching these massive giants on a trip we took to Yosemite in 2010. This is Mariposa Grove, where the famous trees soar high overhead and gigantic root balls entwine the soil. Yet, each one seemed to have its own personality as I took photo after photo. Each one was special and had its own story to share.

My family said I had enough pictures of trees, but it didn’t feel like it. Each one was unique. Perhaps I have read too much Tolkein, but the trees spoke to me as only historic giants can.

There is the General Sherman tree and the famous Grizzly Giant.

You know, it is one of the most famous trees on Earth. The Mariposa Grove was set aside in 1864 by Abraham Lincoln right in the middle of the Civil War. And that tree was a big part of it.

And that tree is the tree that President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir camped under and kind of hashed out the ideas of the National Park Service. So that tree is just figuratively and literally the birth of the National Park Service. So it’s incredibly important and it is an incredibly beautiful and amazing tree. Cbc Radio article cited below.

When you are near them, you can connect with the incredible amount of life and history these trees have experienced in thousands of years on this planet. It is through fire these giant trees release their tiny seeds. And from the tiniest of seeds, they rise hundreds of feet into the air becoming one of the largest trees in the forest.

And now global warming is severely threatening these beautiful giants. As the weather warms, the trees are dryer than ever. Although fire helps them reproduce, it now threatens their very existence. We owe it to future generations to save these wonderful pieces of history and nature before it is too late.

We need to listen to the trees, as they have an important story to tell.

Please read more about these fabulous trees:

© July 2022

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