From Ancient Giants, Finding New Life to Help the Planet

In Fort Dick, California the once majestic and lively red wood, by all  means, appeared dead and gone: ashen gray, hollowed by fire and sheared at about 40 feet by coastal winds or lightning. Michael Taylor, a professional big-tree hunter, explains there are signs of the remaining stump’s potential. “This snag is partially alive,” he explained, pointing to dozens of green sprouts on the trunk. It is just those sprouts that lie at the heart of a plan hatched by a group of tree enthusiasts to clone and mass-produce a collection of colossal redwoods, some of which date to before the birth of Jesus and can soar nearly 40 stories. “We want to get the biggest, best genetic representations of the species and make millions and millions and millions of them,” said David Milarch, the co-founder of the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive. His mission is to reforest the land with a variety of the most interesting tree species from around the world, and by extension, halt and reverse climate change, taking advantage of their carbon soaking ability. Mr. Milarch says his group has “a global target list” of various trees he intends to clone and plant in a number of regions. The group had selected trees for longevity, survivability and their natural abilities to benefit and repair the environment.

Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is a non profit organization that collects and archives ancient native tree genetics  from the wild, creating clones through traditional agricultural propagation for the purpose of functional forestation. Trees keep everything in check providing and maintaining clean air, water, temperature , and carbon and oxygen balance and it is important to preserve trees and protect them against environmental changes. Collecting tree genetics will preserve some of the oldest species of trees on earth which can be propagated to solve some of the earth's environmental problems.