Meet the man who’s cloning old-growth redwoods and planting them in safe spaces
David Milarch, an arborist from Michigan, has dedicated himself to saving California’s coast redwoods – some of the oldest and largest living things in the world.
Sequoia sempervirens is the planet’s tallest tree, reaching heights of over 320 feet. Their trunks are wider than 27 feet. These trees can live for more than 2,000 years, as some of the arboreal gentle giants living today were alive during the time of the Roman Empire, according to Tree Hugger.
People have been co-existing in peace with these forests since forever. However, with the gold rush came the logging, and now only 5% of the original coast redwood forest remains, stretching over a 450-mile strip of coast. Unfortunately, the warming up of the planet also means a dark future for the redwoods. While animals can migrate north to escape the south’s scorching temperatures, trees aren’t so lucky. But Milarch wants to change this.
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In 1991, Milarch died from renal failure, before being revived and springing back to life. The near-death experience inspired him to harvest the genetics of the redwoods and help them „migrate”. “I feel tremendous sorrow that 95 percent of them were killed and we didn’t even know what they do to anchor our ability as human beings to live on this planet,” says Milarch. “We killed them. That’s the bad news. It’s my job when I walk through there [the forest] to yell out to those trees, to hold those trees, and say I’m here to do everything in my power on Earth to bring all the human beings and all the help that I can to put this back. To put back every single tree that was cut down and killed. And I’m going to do it.”
The cloning and replantation process helps with increasing the number of the trees and giving them a better chance of longevity. Redwood trees are some of the most effective carbon sequestration tools on Earth. According to Moving the Giants, “Milarch takes part in a global effort to use one of nature’s most impressive achievements to re-chart a positive course for humanity.”
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