One man’s mission to save the California redwoods by bringing them to the Pacific Northwest

Coast redwoods and giant sequoias are iconic trees that tower over Northern California’s forests.

The trees have reddish brown bark and unusual fire resistant properties. Many are hundreds if not a thousand years old.

They're also some of the largest trees on Earth, some are about half the height of the Space Needle, but scientists are wondering if these trees will survive through a rapidly changing climate.

Philip Stielstra is considering a potential solution — moving the trees to the Pacific Northwest.

Stielstra, a retired Boeing employee, became very interested in trees and took a trip to California, where he had an epiphany, "thinking these trees are older than Jesus by a long shot. Some of them, they're magnificent," said Moises Velasquez Manoff, who wrote about Stielstra for The New York Times Magazine.

Stielstra believed that the trees were potentially threatened by climate change, so he began planting redwoods around Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, "where presumably, arguably, the climate will be more suitable to them in the future," Velasque Manoff explained.

To make sure that these trees would do okay in Seattle, Stielstra looked at other introduced redwoods in the area —including those at the Washington Park Arboretum or near UW's football stadium — which were planted in the early to mid 20th century and are over a hundred feet tall.

Stielstra was taking part in "assisted migration," or the movement of species to what he hoped was a more hospitable area .

"They may be having a harder time where they already live, but they might be perfectly suited to the conditions that are coming in the Pacific Northwest," Velasquez Manoff said. "That's the argument, whether or not that turns out to be true is another story."

Listen to Soundside’s full conversation with Moises Velasquez Manoff by clicking the play icon at the top of this story.