Redwood National Park Where to begin . . . Redwood is an ancient forest that spans many square miles. It has the largest and tallest tree in the world, a 379-foot redwood. A single redwood can hold 34,000 pounds of water by itself. The oldest redwood is about 2,520 years old. That means it was around at the birth of the Roman Republic and was already 500 years old when Rome became an empire. Redwood National Park is a refuge for plants and animals. Before it became a park, 90 percent of the redwood trees had been cut down. The ferns that surround the trees go back to the Jurassic Age. The plants in the park are movie stars, appearing in movies such as Jurassic Park and Star Wars. More than 200 exotic species live in the area, but some like the northern spotted owl are dying off. …show more content…
Many U.S. presidents helped the parks, but Theodore Roosevelt did the most. He created five national parks before the Park Service even existed. These five parks were Crater Lake, Wind Cave, Sullys Hill, Mesa Verde, and Platt National Park. He signed the Antiquities Act on June 8, 1906. This act allowed the president to make something like a big sculpture into a national monument. From September 24 to December 8, 1906, T.R. created four monuments: Devil’s Tower, El Morro, Montezuma Castle, and Petrified