“From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters, This Land is made from Trees”
Mentor 1
Nigel Rothfels
Start Date
16-4-2021 12:00 AM
Description
Alongside a main road in California in 1917 was made public a growing separation between nature and human ambition. Timber industries seeking profit from the coastal redwoods were sending bands of loggers to chop down the natural outskirts alongside a Californian highway. Drivers passing by witnessed around the road clumps of tree-branch debris, piles of logs, and a polka-dot soil of stumps. The aftermath of severe logging seemingly drains a landscape from the presence of life. From this shocking scene arrived a community of new-found conservationists; The formation of the Save the Redwoods League. Their campaign in 1918 brought a 20th century era of photographs and literature in recognition and research of the ancient sequoias. What is it about trees that seems to resonate with the human soul? The Coastal Redwoods in particular stand proudly over 300 feet tall, the height of the Statue of Liberty. Does the sheer size of the behemoths give them a sense of surreal mysticism? The Redwoods also embody a sense of timelessness, an individual tree capable of living from roughly 800 to 1,500 years. Thus, does this inspire a human interpretation of the trees as primordial sources of wisdom? The ultimate drive of this paper is to connect the emergence of conservationist campaigns such as Save the Redwoods League of 1918 with this somewhat unexplainable, mystic allure of the forest. Through the use of photographs, literature and research showcased in outlets ranging from magazine to museum, the Save the Redwoods League reinvigorated a nationally-reaching, natural feeling of awe for the redwoods of California.
“From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters, This Land is made from Trees”
Alongside a main road in California in 1917 was made public a growing separation between nature and human ambition. Timber industries seeking profit from the coastal redwoods were sending bands of loggers to chop down the natural outskirts alongside a Californian highway. Drivers passing by witnessed around the road clumps of tree-branch debris, piles of logs, and a polka-dot soil of stumps. The aftermath of severe logging seemingly drains a landscape from the presence of life. From this shocking scene arrived a community of new-found conservationists; The formation of the Save the Redwoods League. Their campaign in 1918 brought a 20th century era of photographs and literature in recognition and research of the ancient sequoias. What is it about trees that seems to resonate with the human soul? The Coastal Redwoods in particular stand proudly over 300 feet tall, the height of the Statue of Liberty. Does the sheer size of the behemoths give them a sense of surreal mysticism? The Redwoods also embody a sense of timelessness, an individual tree capable of living from roughly 800 to 1,500 years. Thus, does this inspire a human interpretation of the trees as primordial sources of wisdom? The ultimate drive of this paper is to connect the emergence of conservationist campaigns such as Save the Redwoods League of 1918 with this somewhat unexplainable, mystic allure of the forest. Through the use of photographs, literature and research showcased in outlets ranging from magazine to museum, the Save the Redwoods League reinvigorated a nationally-reaching, natural feeling of awe for the redwoods of California.
