The Southern Redwood Botanical Area (also known as Southern Redwood Special Interest Area) is a ecological preserve in the southern region of

Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Range, Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from th ...

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is ...

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 ...

, just north of the national forest's Salmon Creek trailhead. Established by the

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California, southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast ...

of the United States Forest Service, it contains the southernmost naturally occurring

Redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...

. The trees are located in the Little Redwood Gulch watershed adjacent to the

Silver Peak Wilderness The Silver Peak Wilderness is located in the southwestern corner of Monterey County in the Santa Lucia Mountains along the Central Coast of California. It southern boundary largely follows the Monterey County/San Luis Obispo County line. Its ea ...

. The area is just north of the Salmon Creek trailhead. In 2008, scientist J. Michael Fay published a map of the old growth redwoods based on his

transect A transect is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants). It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count occurrences along the path and, at the same time (in some procedures), obt ...

of the entire redwood range. The southernmost tree is about from Highway 1. The reserve is north of San Carpoforo Creek. It is unmarked and is not open to the public. The botanical area is classified as a special interest area under Title 36,

Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulatory law, regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the ...

, Section 294.1(a) due to its unique botanical resources for public and scientific purposes.

References

Big Sur {{MontereyCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References