Sequoia sempervirens in the context of "Northern California"

Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat of and the most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the most populous city in the East Bay, the third most populous city in the Bay Area, and the eighth most populous city in California. It serves as the Bay Area's trade center: the Port of Oakland is the busiest port in Northern California, and the fifth- or sixth-busiest in the United States. A charter city, Oakland was incorporated on May 4, 1852, in the wake of the state's increasing population due to the California gold rush.

Oakland's territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. In the late 18th century, it became part of a large rancho grant in the colony of New Spain, and was known for its plentiful oak tree stands. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. The fertile flatland soils helped it become a prolific agricultural region. In the 1850s, what became the first campus of the University of California was founded in Oakland, and Oakland was selected as the western terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. The following year, Oakland's Lake Merritt became the United States' first officially designated wildlife refuge, now a National Historic Landmark. Following the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the population, increasing its housing stock, and improving its infrastructure. It continued to grow in the 20th century with its port, shipyards, and manufacturing industry. In the 21st century, between 2019 and 2023, after the city and county refused requests for hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits to the privately owned teams, Oakland lost three teams of the major North American sports leagues within a span of five years.

Marin County (/məˈrɪn/ mə-RIN) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, and is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Marin County's natural sites include the Muir Woods redwood forest, the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, the Point Reyes National Seashore, and Mount Tamalpais. Marin is one of the highest-income counties by per capita income and median household income. The county is governed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

Centurion is the name given to a single Eucalyptus regnans tree growing in Southern Tasmania, Australia. The tree was first measured by climber-deployed tapeline at 99.6 metres (327 ft) tall in 2008, and was subsequently re-measured to be 100.5 metres (330 ft) tall by ground laser in 2018. This discovery places E. regnans as the third-tallest tree species in the world after the coast redwood and the Himalayan cypress (which is generally much shorter), and taller than both the Sitka spruce and Coastal Douglas Fir.It was discovered in August 2008 by employees of Forestry Tasmania while analysing the data collected by LiDAR system used in mapping and assessment of state forest resources.

The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within the United States' Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over 6,000 ft (1,800 m) above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of 1,880 acres (7.6 km). The Giant Forest is the most accessible of all giant sequoia groves, as it has over 40 mi (64 km) of hiking trails.

Five of the ten most massive trees on Earth are located within the Giant Forest. The largest of these, the General Sherman Tree, measures 36.5 ft (11.1 m) across the base. The giant sequoia is the world's most massive species of tree and is one of the six species documented to grow to 300 ft (91 m) in height; the others are coast redwood, yellow meranti, Eucalyptus regnans, Douglas fir, and Sitka spruce. It is also among the longest-lived of all trees in the world.

The giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) is the world's most massive tree, and arguably the largest living organism on Earth. It is neither the tallest extant species of tree (that distinction belongs to the coast redwood), nor is it the widest (that distinction belongs to the African baobab or the Montezuma cypress), nor is it the longest-lived (that distinction belongs to the Great Basin bristlecone pine). However, with a height of 87 meters (286 ft) or more, a circumference of 34 meters (113 ft) or more, an estimated bole volume of up to 1,490 cubic meters (52,500 cu ft), and a documented lifespan of 3266 years, the giant sequoia is among the tallest, widest, and longest-lived of all organisms on Earth.

Giant sequoias grow in well-defined groves in California mixed evergreen forests, along with other old-growth species such as California incense cedar. Because most of the neighboring trees are also quite large, it can be difficult to appreciate the size of an individual giant sequoia. The largest giant sequoias are as tall as a 26-story building, and the width of their bases can exceed that of a city street. They grow at such a rate as to produce roughly 1.1 cubic meters (40 cu ft) of wood each year, approximately equal to the volume of a 50-foot-tall tree one foot in diameter. This makes them among the fastest growing organisms on Earth, in terms of annual increase in mass.

Palo Alto (/ˌpæloʊ ˈæltoʊ/ PAL-oh AL-toh; Spanish for 'tall stick') is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.

The city of Palo Alto was incorporated in 1894 by the American industrialist Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, when they founded Stanford University in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr. Palo Alto later expanded and now borders East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 68,572. Palo Alto has one of the highest costs of living in the United States, and its residents are among the most educated in the country. However, it has a youth suicide rate four times higher than the national average, often attributed to academic pressure.

Larkspur is a city in Marin County, California, United States. Larkspur is located directly south of Kentfield and 3 miles (4.8 km) south of San Rafael, at an elevation of 43 feet (13 m). As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 13,064. Larkspur's Police Department is shared with that of the neighboring Corte Madera and town of San Anselmo as the Central Marin Police Authority.

The city's main thoroughfare is Magnolia Avenue, which runs through the Larkspur Downtown Historic District. Madrone Canyon, a residential area amidst a redwood grove, traces scenic Larkspur Creek.