Click here for information about the Legacy Reserve Collection

To collect a Legacy Reserve image, contact Customer Support at
800-228-9686 or contact a Mangelsen – Images of Nature Gallery


ABOUT THE IMAGE:
When John Muir reverently described America’s old-growth forests as “nature’s cathedrals”, he had the Redwoods and Giant Sequoias of California in mind. For Thomas D. Mangelsen, trekking through the understory of an ancient redwood canopy is an experience in sublime humility.

“Redwoods and sequoias are North America’s original living, breathing skyscrapers possessing a majesty greater than anything I’ve ever seen built with human hands,” Mangelsen says. “I’ve treasured every moment I’ve ever spent in the redwoods but we must remember that, as magical as they are, we nearly lost them, just as we nearly lost the American bison. Redwoods are the arboreal emblems of why conservation matters.”

Once upon a time, scientists say California was blanketed with nearly two million acres of redwoods. Today, fewer than 90,000 acres of the oldest trees remain. Climate change looms as a threat, with drier temperatures and less precipitation making them more vulnerable to wildfires. Mangelsen’s photograph, Among the Redwoods is his way of paying tribute to these ancient beings no less admirable than those walking beneath on two or four legs.