Redwood Transect

Project Location

Mike Fay's yearlong Redwoods Transect will take him from nothern California to southern Oregon.

About the Project

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Wildlife Conservation Society conservationist Michael Fay is turning his attention to a unique North American ecosystem. On a yearlong, 700-mile (1,125-kilometer) hike through California's redwood forests, Fay will collect data and document the state of the forest, helping to call attention to this one-of-a-kind ecosystem. The Redwood Transect is supported by the National Geographic Society, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Save-the-Redwoods League.

Among the oldest and tallest trees on Earth, California redwoods often exceed 300 feet (90 meters) in height and can reach diameters of 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 meters) or more. Some of these trees are more than 1,500 years old.

Following the model of his Megatransect, a 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) conservation trek through Africa's Congo Basin, Fay is walking a transect from the southernmost redwood tree known to exist today to the northernmost tree, a distance of some 700 miles (1,125 kilometers). Along the way, Fay and independent researcher Lindsey Holm will collect data critical to understanding the ecology and history of the redwood forest.

Using blogs and a tracking system on Google Earth, the project will also connect a global community of people who can contribute information to a collective pool of data.

The Redwoods Transect began on September 3, 2007, and is expected to take about one year.