The fall of the Dyerville giant - giant redwood tree in Dyerville, California - includes related article - The National Register of Big Trees

American Forests, Jan-Feb, 1992 by Whit Bronaugh

One of earth's largest creatures, born a thousand years before Columbus, now lies in state to give visitors a new perspective on spectacular trees.

For the residents of Dyerville-a blink-and you'll-miss-it town in California's redwood country-peace and quiet are the norm. But on a calm evening last March, the stillness of a nearby redwood grove was profoundly shattered by the fall of a monarch. In its last moments the Dyerville Giant, our champion coast redwood since 1966, released the energy of centuries of growth as its 500 tons plunged to earth. One local, who heard the impact from half a mile away, thought a train had crashed.

When measured in 1972, the Dyerville Giant stood 362 feet tall and had a circumference of 52 feet four inches and a crown spread of 74 feet. At 1,010 total points, as measured by the American Forestry Association's scoring system, it was second only to the giant sequoia champion. The Dyerville Giant's crown is now in pieces, but the tree's final height has been estimated at about 370 feet, certainly within several feet of having been the tallest tree in the world.

Even for those who saw it when it was still standing, its size is difficult to comprehend. This tree was as tall as a 30-story building, 200 feet taller than Niagara Falls. It weighed more than a loaded 747 Jumbo Jet. If you stand up and look down at a quarter lying on the floor, you will see how small a person lying on the ground would look if you were on top of the once-standing Dyerville Giant.

Two years ago I had to crane my neck to take in the Dyerville Giant's lofty heights. When I visited the behemoth after it fell, I still felt like a Lilliputian next to Gulliver. As I walked along the massive trunk, I couldn't see over it until I was 200 feet from its base.

The domino effect that caused the champ's demise actually began a week earlier, when a venerable redwood standing 50 yards from the Dyerville Giant finally surrendered to gravity. On the way down it glanced off a second 1,000-year-old tree, causing it to lean. One week later, that tree went down, taking the Dyerville Giant with it in a thunderous finale. The assaulting tree's momentum carried it to the ground first, and the champion, as if in revenge, collapsed on top of it.

Considering the fate of most old-growth, the Dyerville Giant was lucky to meet a natural end. Germinating 1,000 years before Columbus, enduring centuries of floods, storms, fires, and earthquakes, it was spared the axe in 1926 by the efforts of the Save the-Redwoods League. The League purchased 9,000 acres of redwood forest with contributions totaling $2 million (equivalent to $300 minion today). Two years later the area was designated as the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. In 1931 the League honored its founding members by naming Founders Grove, a small section of the park that included the Dyerville Giant.

It wasn't until 1966 that Dr. Paul Zinke, professor of forestry at the University of California at Berkeley, recognized the Dyerville Giant for the champion that it was. As part of a long-term redwood ecology project, Zinke needed tree measurements for his studies of redwood "plumbing"-how the trees pump and distribute water and nutrients up a gradient over 350 feet high. Having measured most of the tallest redwoods including the Tall Tree, the previous champion and then tallest tree in the world, he had the data to establish the Dyerville tree as the new champion.

After the tree's demise, Zinke drove up to make measurements and examine the foliage. Surprisingly, he found that the crown had been quite vigorous, growing at a rate of eight inches a year. So, how could a much smaller tree topple the champ?

Park officials said that heavy rains (17 inches in the month the Dyerville champ fell), which saturated and loosened the soil, may have been an important factor. In addition, Zinke noted considerable root rot once the base was exposed. Add to that the normally shallow root system of coast redwoods and the Dyerville Giant's lean, and all you need is the proverbial straw-a nudge from a small neighbor was more than enough.

For Tim Young, supervising ranger for Humboldt Redwoods State Park, it was "almost like a loss in the family. It was a very sad day to see that big beautiful tree down on the ground. "

Reaction in the local papers varied from mystical appreciation to indifference ("It's just a tree"). A few visitors thought it should be cut up for lumber or firewood and made "useful."

"Absolutely not," says Young"We'd like to have it standing, but it's quite impressive on the ground and will continue to be one of the park's main attractions. "

Most visitors agreed. Three weeks after the Dyerville Giant's fall, I sat on a log and listened to the reactions when visitors first saw the prone champion: Just fantastic. Simply awesome!" was the typical response. In fact, the tree attracted more attention in its death than it did when alive. Within two weeks visitation shot up to over 50 times the normal rate. Park officials were interviewed by three TV stations, six radio stations, and over 20 newspapers. Scientists and arborists came to measure, sample, and even collect clippings for cloning.