Trees fascinate me. Their timeless beauty, their life-sustaining power, the role they play within natural and built environments. 

Since March 2021, I've been logging every California Coast Redwood (sequoia sempervirens) I come across in southern California on this interactive map. Redwoods aren't native here. To my surprise, there's heaps of them — I've mapped over 1,700 and counting.

So why do I do this? For one, no one else has. And I was curious to keep an account of these impressive trees (California's state tree and the world's the tallest and oldest... not to mention fire/pest/rot resistant) that don't naturally grow in Southern California. Their habitat range extends from the southern Oregon border to a grove near Big Sur. They favor environments where they can grow communally on sloped gullies with plenty of moisture. It makes absolutely no sense to cultivate these thirsty giants around LA, yet people have. Usually alone or as decorative landscaping.

This is a growing, living map. I find and log redwoods when I'm walking around or driving, but I encounter most of them while zig-zagging neighborhood streets on runs and bike rides. Sometimes I'll zoom around Google satellite maps.

You'll also find logs for the two other Sequoioideae species — Dawn Redwoods (metasequoia glyptostroboides) and Giant Sequoias (sequoiadendron giganteum).

Maybe one day an arborist or climatologist can use this map as a resource for a larger study on how species adapt to our changing climate and increasingly developed worlds.

EDIT: Google map short links are incorrect. Realizing description shortened URLs have an expiration date to their uniqueness. Some of the older URLs don't link to their original street view.