California Redwoods to Be Cloned

Posted on Tue Dec 4 2007

By: Katie Rawls in Environment

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The famous redwood trees of California are known throughout the world. They are the largest and oldest trees on the planet, and for this, they remain a mystery in many respects to scientists.

Cloning

Scientists are eager to try a new experiment to learn about these amazing trees. Gathering samples of these trees’ new growth from their tops has been a very difficult and expensive task so far. But recent new growth gathered for study will be for cloning.

By cloning the giants, they will be able to study the young and shorter specimens without the hassle of climbing the older ones. These clones will be planted around universities for study.

They also hope to cross-pollinate some of these trees with others to see if they can be made to grow even bigger.

Amazing Trees

These redwoods of the coast can live to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old and grow to an amazing height of more than 300 feet (115 meters).

The Save-the-Redwoods-League has been working to preserve these magnificent trees since 1918. Since that time, they have saved more than 177,000 acres of parks and reserves from logging. Six out of ten acres of redwoods have been preserved by this organization.

Value on these trees have unfortunately been given by loggers as well. These trees are very valuable due to their light weight wood and resistance to decay. They are also fire resistant.

Perhaps further study will enable products with similar qualities to be invented for those that pursue these trees, so that they will leave these gentle giants alone.