Apparently, there is no documentation as to whether Woody Guthrie visited Redwood forests. However, I have to believe, since Woody lived in California from 1937 through 1941, loved to "roam and ramble" about, he probably once stood under one of these magnificent ancient trees, looked up and thought, I need to include this in a song. Inspiration abounds here. A redwood forest is most cathedral-like, seemingly a holy space. Shafts of light filter through mists high above and sounds are dampened by the thick bark of the trees and layers of needles piled layer upon layer below. A still peaceful space, you very much feel in the presence of something greater than mere humans. The trees are so tall and so intertwined with each other, the forest creates its own ecosystem. Soaring over 300 feet in the air, specialized needles absorb up to 40% of the water a redwood needs from coastal fog. You'd think these skyscraper trees would have massive tap roots, but they don't. The roots at most run 6-feet deep but spread out 100 feet in all directions enmeshed with the roots of other trees. In essence, they all lock "hands" and keep each other stable. The bark grows up to 12-inches thick. The tannic acid within the bark provides fire resistance, rot resistance, and the cinnamon-red color. For the first 100 years, a redwood quickly ascends skyward. After the first century, the trees grow outwardly thicker and stronger. Famously, some of the old-growth trees are so broad, promoters carved drive-through tunnels to catch tourists' attention. Periodic forest fires are actually beneficial to forest survival. The redwood genome is 9 times larger and more complex than the human genome. They are built to last. If you count tree rings on a cross-section of an old growth trunk, you will see dates that we think are important like 1492, 1776 and 1941 all located pretty darn close to the outer bark, far from the core. Humans seem insignificant next to something so old, yet we threaten them with habitat destruction and global warming.
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is a good example of people realizing before it was too late that these old-growth forests needed to be preserved for future generations to enjoy. The park has 1,750 acres of old-growth redwoods within 4,650 acres of diverse ecosystems with 20 miles of hiking trails, some with stunning views of Monterey Bay. Henry Cowell was a businessman who operated a kiln within the current park. Redwood was so plentiful, it was burned for fuel. Upon his death in 1903, title to the land was transferred to a philanthropic foundation which later became a California State Park. The peripatetic Teddy Roosevelt visited the park that same year on his way to tour Yosemite with John Muir. Of course, one of the trees in the park is named in TR's honor. In the 1880s when the giant trees were being logged, a narrow-gauge railroad was built to haul the logs to a mill. The tracks, trestles, and steam engines are still there, and you can ride the now tourist train through the towering redwoods and listen to a narrated park history.
Being surrounded by these gorgeous trees which have been on earth for 240 million years, you are reminded of what a special and diverse place America is. Getting back to Woody Guthrie and his folk song, This Land is Your Land, there has been an informal movement for decades to replace the Star-Spangled Banner with Woody's song as our national anthem. Of course that is quite controversial. Although written in 1814 by a slaveholder from a prominent plantation family, our anthem didn't become official until 1931. That was the height of the Jim Crow era when numerous memorials were being built for confederate soldiers. The argument is that the phrase "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave" was a bit ironic in 1814, when only white males with property could vote and there were only 18 states. Democracy was more aspirational then. The argument is that something more representative of what the nation has become and how beautiful we are from sea to shining sea would be helpful. America the Beautiful is another replacement candidate. The argument goes that a patriotic song ought to express love of the land and its people instead of a more militaristic nationalistic song. Our current National Anthem is the perfect song to precede a sporting event where you want your team to pummel their opponents. That anthem has decades of tradition in its favor, but a good compromise might be to have two or three National Anthems which can be alternately used depending on the appropriateness of the given event. Sometimes something patriotic, loving, and peaceful might be more appropriate than nationalistic and defiant.
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
