Atlas Grove is a grove of
Coast redwood trees (''Sequoia sempervirens'') within
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is a state park, located in Humboldt County, California, near the town of Orick and north of Eureka. The park is a coastal sanctuary for old-growth Coast Redwood trees.
The park is jointly managed by th ...
, in
Humboldt County, northern
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. It contains the third largest known Coast redwood,
Iluvatar.
Description
According to author Richard Preston, the Atlas Grove was discovered by
naturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
Michael Taylor in 1991. For old growth specimens importance, the Atlas Grove is similar to the
Grove of Titans
The Grove of Titans is a redwood grove in Del Norte County, Northern California, with several massive coast redwood (''Sequoia sempervirens'') trees, some of the largest known redwoods in terms of wood volume. The largest coastal redwood tree in ...
, another undisclosed grove of first growth Coast redwoods in the park. The exact locations of both are undisclosed, to protect their ecology.
Among tree hunters and botanists, some groves and trees are given names unofficially. However, over 900 Coast redwood groves have been named by the
Save the Redwoods League
Save the Redwoods League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore coast redwood (''Sequoia sempervirens'') and giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees through the preemptive purchase of development rights ...
, as an "everlasting memorial to an individual, family or organization".
[Save the Redwood Memorial Groves List (2008)]
''Save the Redwood Memorial Groves List''.
List of Memorial Groves It has not been disclosed whether the Atlas Grove is one of the dedicated memorial groves.
Botany
An area of approximately 1 hectare in the Atlas Grove was studied, known as the Atlas Project. The exact location of the study is undisclosed.
Trees in the stand were measured with tapes and laser range finders. Over 20 days with 5 climbers was spent just in measuring the
Iluvatar tree. Scientific studies were done with moisture, light, and sap flow sensors. Wildlife in the grove was studied too, including the
Wandering salamander (''Aneides vagrans'').
The Atlas Grove contains other old growth Coast redwoods, including: the Atlas Tree, Gaia, Pleiades, Ballantine, Prometheus, and the Bell Tree.
Other flora in the Atlas Grove includes: Douglas-fir (''
Pseudotsuga menziesii
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native plant, native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Dougl ...
''), Sitka spruce (''
Picea sitchensis
''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to just over tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-l ...
''), Bigleaf maple (''
Acer macrophyllum
''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''. It is native to western North America. In addition to uses by animals, it is of some culinary and woodworking interest.
Description
Big ...
''), Cascara buckthorn (''
Rhamnus purshiana
''Frangula purshiana'' (cascara, cascara buckthorn, cascara sagrada, bearberry, and in the Chinook Jargon, chittem stick and chitticum stick; syn. ''Rhamnus purshiana'') is a species of plant in the family Rhamnaceae. It is native to western Nor ...
''), California laurel (''
Umbellularia
''Umbellularia californica'' is a large hardwood tree native to coastal forests and the Sierra foothills of California, and to coastal forests extending into Oregon. It is the sole species in the genus ''Umbellularia''. The tree's pungent leaves ...
californica''), Western hemlock (''
Tsuga heterophylla
''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of Tsuga, hemlock native to the northwest coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in nort ...
''), Port Orford–cedar (''
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
''Chamaecyparis lawsoniana'', known as Port Orford cedar or Lawson's cypress, is a species of conifer in the genus ''Chamaecyparis'', family Cupressaceae. It is native to Oregon and northwestern California, and grows from sea level up to in the ...
'') and Tanoak (''
Lithocarpus densiflorus
''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is a hardwood tree that is native to the far western United Sta ...
'').
See also
*
*
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Mdvaden.com: Documentation, photographs, and information
Redwood National and State Parks
Coast redwood groves