Copyright 2015 by Mario D. Vaden

We’re not even into a Rumble in the Jungle climate event yet  and some humans are already sweating bullets of worry ! I’m not going to get very technical on this because heads could explode reading all the research and opinions about past climate changes, catastrophes and extinctions. Not everything is known some admit, but some has been discovered. There is reasonable consensus admitting  Earth experienced many climate changes and ice ages in the past millions of years.

National Park Service mentioned on their site that redwoods flourished 160 million years ago back to the age of dinosaurs. Save the Redwoods League  took it a step farther noting the oldest fossils date back 200 million years. And it could be a safe bet that redwoods existed even earlier. That’s only the oldest fossils known

This week I read  talk online in the tree community about how redwoods would fare through current climate change. The first thing that came to mind was recent research showing the coast redwoods have put on growth and wood volume like gang-busters the past 50 years or so. And along the redwood coast, the world’s tallest maple and hemlock grew even more height during 2013 to 2015, or the dry years. And I’m aware that several tallest redwoods grew more height  in one year around 2013 – 2014 than the same trees grew in the previous three or four years combined.

The coast redwoods are apparently thriving during the present climate in a lot groves.

This doesn’t mean some patches won’t feel a little pain. But just  a little pain is all Ali took before he turned the tables on Foreman in the fight known as Rumble in the Jungle. Just like spectators of that 1974 match bit their nails needlessly during Ali’s Rope-a-Dope technique, people today needlessly get bent out of shape about  redwood survival. While humans are just new on the scene late arrivals, apparently redwoods were genetically created to lean on the ropes and watch climate wither away.

What I realized is that dozens of climate changes have come and gone. Each one of those climate changes over the past 200 million years has become extinct. Its the climate changes that each took an ass-whoopin’ and bit the dust like the dinosaurs. None of those climate changes retained a title belt. But for millions of years the  redwoods survived. Sequoia sempervirens is the present heavy weight champion of survival between the two.

The coast redwoods may not cover a lot of territory. But its a heck of a lot more area than the Dwarf Wooly Meadowfoam known to exist on only the two Table Rocks near Grants Pass, Oregon. And although coast redwood old growth is less now than 100 years ago, coast redwoods are more abundant on Earth now than 100 years ago due to various reasons including planting around the globe.

Anyhow, history and facts show that people should not bite their nails about the survival of  coast redwoods. They still hold the title belt. A betting man knows not to put money on climate, because its the climate which will take a nose dive in the years ahead.

Also, 5 years or 50 years worth of climate now during our short lives is as brief as a single strobe light burst. In the context of history that is. Just as Dr. Stephen Sillett sampled hundreds of years to study redwood growth of past centuries, most likely our great (x12) grandchildren will be the ones with enough years of study to gain a clue of insight. Because 50 years of weather and climate presently is but a mere blip in time.