Protect the Clar Tree
This 2,000 year old Redwood is one of the tallest trees in Sonoma
Did You Know……
One of Sonoma county’s tallest trees - the Clar tree - sits within the proposed Silver Estates logging zone. At 278 feet tall, this ancient giant is 16 feet in diameter. It was believed to be the tallest tree on private property in the world until a storm in 2023 sheared about 30 feet off the top.
At around 2,000 years old, this resilient tree has been hit by lightening many times. Yet the tree survives.
Help us protect the surrounding forest so that the Clar Tree continues to thrive.
Check out drone footage of this incredible tree here.
Why It Matters.
Redwood trees thrive in thick groves where their roots interconnect and fuse together. This allows them to share nutrients and stabilize each other, reducing the stress on individual trees. While the loggers claim they will spare the Clar Tree, the reality is that the surrounding ‘family’ of trees will be cut down. A proposed 75ft buffer zone is woefully inadequate for a 278ft historic tree.
Why does this matter? Because, according to Forbes, a coast redwood will sequester (remove from the atmosphere) 250 tons of carbon. A typical tree will sequester about one ton of carbon in its lifetime. So, just one coast redwood has the ability to absorb as much carbon as 250 "regular" trees.
(Photo: the giant Clar Tree)
A haven for wildlife.
From its 20ft wide base to the spike on the top, the Clar Tree provides a home to numerous forms of wildlife. Locals often see bats flying out of the top of the tree. Recent surveys have revealed the presence nearby of the rare Northern Spotted Owl. The diversity of life at the base of the tree gives way to a whole new and separate ecosystem thriving in the upper branches.
An Incredible History.
Named after Ivon Clar, who settled the area in 1877, the Clar Tree’s history goes back some 2,000 years. More recently, it was threatened by logging in the 1980s when descendants of Ivon Clar went to court to protect the tree. They won. But the logging company, Louisiana Pacific, violated the court settlement and logged the surrounding large redwood trees.
Today, the grove is being threatened again.
For more on the tree’s history, read this 1986 article from the Press Democrat.
Read press clippings about the Clar Tree and past fights to protect the tree and the Silver Grove:
‘They’re going to cut a lot of trees’ - The West Sonoma County Paper, Nov 21, 1985
Neighbor gets court to halt L-P logging plans - Press Democrat, Jan 3, 1986
Louisiana Pacific logs near Clar Tree - The Bohemian, Feb 13, 1986
LP logging of Silver Estate: two more apparent violations - The West Sonoma County Paper, March 1986
LP admits mistake that broke the law - The West Sonoma County Paper, March 1986