In 2013 an alarming number of redwoods in Redwood National Park were shorn of their knobby protrusions, called burls, disfigured by thieves aiming to sell the distinctive wood on the black market; one team was bold enough to fell an entire tree for its burl.

Concerned for the welfare of these treasures, Kirk Crippens and Gretchen LeMaistre worked with park rangers to reach each damaged tree, and from 2013 to 2016 made many visits to the forests of Humboldt County in California, observing them in changing light and seasons. Redwoods are living witnesses to human history, sometimes existing for as long as three thousand years.

“A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great or beautiful cathedral.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“In the damaged and dying redwoods, and in these pictures, we can see yet another result of a culture of taking.”