Grizedale Forest: The Story of the Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)

On the site of the library of the demolished Grizedale House stands a dawn redwood tree. As a tree it is interesting for its perfectly conical shape and for being a conifer which drops its needles in autumn, the only other species in Grizedale being larch. As a species, the dawn redwood has a deeply interesting story. Thought to have been extinct for over 5 million years, the discovery of living specimens in China meant finding a species thought to be lost from the world forever. Yet, today the dawn redwood is ‘critically endangered’ according to the IUCN red list and humans may well condemn it to the fate we were so happy to find it had escaped.

Discovering the dead

At the start of the 1940s the dawn redwood was a species of a genus (1 level of classification more broad than species) well known based on many fossilised specimens in North America. The oldest fossil was around 100 million years old and the most recent specimen around 5 million years old. There was no record of the genus, Metasequoia which included four species, having survived past 5 million years B.C. so, naturally, it was thought to be extinct. However, in 1946 a group of trees deep in a Chinese forest was identified as belonging to the Metasequoia genus, a great surprise (having been discovered but not identified two years earlier). The species was named and another expedition was carried out in 1947 to collect seeds and cuttings to be dispersed around the world. In 1948 these seeds and cuttings were sent throughout North America and Europe as scientists waited to see where, if anywhere, the species would grow outside of its native range. The species grew well in wet conditions, such as those found in Grizedale and, as such we are happy to host this amazing species.

New threats:

The disappearance of the dawn redwood from North America and its confinement to a small patch of forest in China was, most likely, caused by slow climatic changes. Today though, the species is threatened by the actions of humans. The wet conditions which suit the dawn redwood also suit rice cultivation resulting in an island of just 5,000 trees surrounded by a sea of rice plantations. Historically logging has reduced the population though today it is illegal to fell, or even cut off the branch of a Dawn redwood tree. Seed collectors now attempt to meet the demand for seedlings and, as such, natural regeneration is not occurring. Scientists were happy to be proved wrong when a genus they had consigned to extinction proved them wrong. They would be even happier if they could be proved wrong again with their designation of ‘critically endangered’ status and pessimistic predictions for the species.

What we can do:

In general, the biggest threat to tree species is illegal logging. It’s the threat which reduced the Dawn redwood to its current, precarious position. As individuals we don’t need to be scared of buying timber. We just need to ensure that we buy sustainable timber, timber produced without threatening the survival of any species. The easiest way to do this is to look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo (at the bottom of this blog) or for CSA, PEFC or SFI certification if the timber has come from North America or Canada (click here for more information). At the forestry Commission all of the wood we produce is FSC and PEFC certified making us the largest supplied of certified round timber in the UK.