A few months later, the newly planted seedlings began sprouting new growth. Five years later, over 7,500 of the larger seedlings have been planted this way. Over 85% have lived. While still relatively small, most grow an average of 6 to 8 inches per year at this young age without being watered or cared for in any way. Thousands of young Redwoods averaging 3 ft in height are now slowly restablishing the ancient tree's dominance in our Annapolis forestlands.
In March of 2008, a couple researchers from National Geographic magazine visited. The magazine is preparing its first expose on the Redwood forest since 1964, to be published in late 2009. After a 3-day visit, Michael Fay, the lead researcher, mentioned no one in the Redwoods was planting trees like we were. He had us plant one tree for the magazine to photograph the process explained above. It was a bit past the best time to plant, so we watered the hole extensively before and after. Hopefully the tree planting notes and photos will make it into the article.
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