The Story of an Old-Growth Redwood

THE STORY of the METHUSELAH TREE This is the story of Methuselah, an 1,800 year-old redwood tree growing on the skyline just west of Woodside. It is the largest redwood in the Santa Cruz Mountains, outside of the trees found in Big Basin State Park, and is a living testament to our local history. Its stories are the stories of our open spaces. Click through to take a trip through its life.

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217 AD The year Methuselah sprouted, Ohlone Indians were the only human inhabitants of the area.

They used low intensity fires to encourage the growth of plants to feed deer, tule elk and pronghorn (tule elk and pronghorn are now extinct on the Peninsula). Fire also encouraged the growth of oaks for their acorn harvest. Living through the frequent fires was challenging as a young redwood sapling.

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500 AD Now over 100 feet tall, Methuselah had established its place in the forest. Grizzly bear, abundant in the area until the 19th Century, used Methuselah as a “rub tree”, rubbing their backs against the tree’s trunk to leave their scent. Scientists believe this marking behavior helps bears communicate with one another.

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1000 AD Methuselah’s bark, now thick for protection against fire and insects, was harvested by the Ohlone people for siding on their shelters.

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1542 AD Now towering over much of the forest canopy, Methuselah would lay witness as the first European to explore the coast of California, Juan RodrĂ­guez Cabrillo, missed the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. This was a blunder that would be repeated by other European mariners for the next two centuries.

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1769 AD Just downhill from where Methuselah stands, Gaspar de Portolå’s famous expedition to the San Francisco Bay camped near what is now Woodside. Spanish missions soon took root and low intensity logging began in the nearby forests.

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1821 AD Mexico gained independence from Spain in this year. The land previously held by Spanish missions would soon be transferred to private ownership in what were called “Ranchos�.

Methuselah would soon be part of the 35,240-acre Rancho de las Pulgas owned by Jose Dario Arguello, one of the founders of the Los Angeles.

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1849 AD The discovery of gold in California created a huge demand for lumber in burgeoning San Francisco. The first water-powered sawmills were brought to Woodside and Portola Valley and logging dramatically intensified.

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1875 AD Huntington’s Mill was established in Bear Gulch, just downhill from Methuselah. By the end of the century, every commercially viable tree was harvested on the east side of the skyline. Methuselah was likely spared from the sawmill because of its massive burls and knobs, making it difficult to harvest.

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1906 AD At 5:12 AM on the morning of April 18th, a massive earthquake struck, shaking every redwood from Eureka to Salinas. The city of San Francisco was destroyed by the ensuing fire. Soon after, logging in the coast range accelerated to meet the demand of rebuilding the urban centers.

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1988 AD Nearby El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve was permanently protected by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen). Over the coming decades, POST would protect land adjacent to this preserve and transfer it to Midpen for permanent management.

This 2,817-acre preserve and the forest within it is now managed for conservation and recreation. Methuselah still stands and is adjacent to this preserve on land owned by the California Water Service Company. They have generously allowed public access to visit the tree and you can find more information on our blog (click here).

Take a hike! Here are some of our favorite hikes through our redwoods forests: openspacetrust.org/blog/favorite-redwood-hikes Š2017 Peninsula Open Space Trust