Poplars, alders and pines stand sentry along the many winding paths connecting buildings and roads. The gray-tinged European copper beech makes a covered pathway between the Valley Life Sciences Building and Haas Pavilion as it exerts its energy on producing seasonal crops of nuts for wildlife to feed on and spread as seeds. Giants like the sequoia, eucalyptus and coastal redwood watch over every other being on campus, ant-sized and puny from their lofty elevation.
The UC Berkeley campus is home to a stunning variety of native and introduced biodiversity. Thanks to the architects of Berkeley, the greenery is one of the constants of our specific college experience. The core of campus is home to nearly 300 different species, placed with care in an effort to cultivate a vibrant environment and promote exploration.
Towering redwoods are the first trees that come to mind for many when they conjure images of Northern California. These giants populate the land from the central coast of California, extending in a thin line north up the Pacific coast and into Oregon. It takes 400 to 500 years for them to reach maturity, and they can live up to 1,500 years old. Their endurance bulwarks them against the passing of time in a way that humanity could scarcely imagine.
In its natural habitat, a redwood tree is borne of a single tiny seed which grows inside a pine cone along with 50 to 60 comrades. Seed-laden cones fall from the heights of the canopy to the forest floor, surrounding the redwood’s stump, where they begin their fight to survive and grow.
It is rare for a redwood seed to take root and grow. Baby redwoods are impeded by a thick canopy overhead restricting the Sun’s nutrient rich rays from penetrating to the forest floor. Foliage falling from above further restricts the germination process.
With time though, the process of seeds escaping from pine cones falling from the sky gives way to a circle of adolescent redwoods surrounding their parent stump. When these trees grow large they form a grove.
However, competition is fierce. Young trees will be forced to vie for space both below ground and in the sky, as their roots grow outward and their leafy tendrils reach toward the sun.
The redwoods on UC Berkeley’s campus were transplanted from Mendocino County in 1905. They were placed along Strawberry Creek near Faculty Glade as part of a manicured landscape made up mostly of nonnative plants. The creek provides rich groundwater laden soil for the trees to uptake and grow. However, Berkeley lacks the fog which redwoods absorb into their bark during the crucial summer growing season.
They joined the blue gum eucalyptus trees, planted farther west down Strawberry Creek in 1882. The introducers of these invading giants could only imagine the grandiosity they would some day have. After nearly 150 years on campus, UC Berkeley’s redwoods are barely halfway to reaching maturity. Although their growth and lifespan may be curtailed by limited access to the fog of their native habitat, it is not unlikely that the redwoods along Strawberry Creek will still be standing another 300 years. It is unknowable what further changes in technology, fashion, plant, animal and human life they will witness.
However, the truly indigenous tree to our campus is the coastal live oak. Prior to the introduction of redwoods along Strawberry Creek and development of the college, the campus was a rolling prairie land strewn with live oak, sycamore and laurel bushes. Over time, these original inhabitants were replaced with redwoods from across the Bay, eucalyptus from Australia and others from as far away as China. Live oak trees can live up to 250 years and are adapted to foggy, windy and rugged coastal climates. In their natural habitat, they provide “islands of natural fertility” made up of their fallen leaves, shade and natural hiding places formed by their trunk and root structure.
The last large grove of live oak was situated along Gayley Avenue, near Bowles Hall. This last low lying gathering of live oaks on campus was eradicated to make way for the reconstruction of the Memorial Football Stadium in 2006 — and caused quite a ruckus. Protesters staged a sit-in, climbing, building tree houses and living in the trees for about 21 months. Unfortunately, the university won in the end, as the activists were ousted and the trees were chopped. Scattered live oaks can still be found on the upper side of the hill on Faculty Glade.
UC Berkeley’s trees will be here after our four years are done, after we pass from this earth. Maybe by the time they reach maturity, we will have sentient AI, reverse climate change and chips planted within our brains. Regardless of what the future holds, they will be here to watch it. However, surrounded by so much biodiversity and so many timeless giants, it is important to understand what was brought here and what was here before us.