The Race to Save the World’s Biggest Trees
Seeker.com (November 22, 2016)

For nearly two decades, Anthony Ambrose has been scaling trees to study them, but even this seasoned climber is awestruck by his view from the top of massive sequoias in the Giant Forest of western Sierra Nevada, Calif.

The biggest trees on Earth are in this forest, including the planet's single largest tree, General Sherman, which is 2,100 years old, weighs 2.7 million pounds, measures 100 feet wide at its trunk and towers 275 feet. General Sherman and the surrounding trees are considered to be among the ultimate survivors, yet they are showing worrisome signs of climate change-related stress.

Ambrose, a scientist from Berkeley, forest ecologist colleague Wendy Baxter and their team are on a mission to save these giants, and it sometimes means climbing to the very top of them. He summarized the experience in two words: "Absolutely amazing."

"You need to get up into the crowns of these tall trees in order to appreciate how large, complex and beautiful they are," Ambrose said. "You simply can't get the same perspective from the ground. Also, you get to see the other life forms high up in the canopy that you wouldn't otherwise be able to see on the ground, such as epiphytes (non-parasitic plants that grow on other plants), birds, spiders and ants. The views are incredible, both within the tree and surrounding canopy, as well as from the treetop."
They and other scientists, such as forest ecologist Nate Stephenson of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), were concerned about the trees following years of drought in California.