A Sequoia Forest Grows in Detroit
A Sequoia Forest Grows in Detroit Behind David Milarch’s desk in a large warehouse in rural Michigan grows the future of climate change solutions. Thousands of infant sequoia and coastal redwood saplings, each the size of a thumb, sprout beneath grey foil and growing lamps in bus-size greenhouses. In the next room are their juvenile siblings, five to eight inches tall: sequoias, coastal redwoods, oaks and a hundred other tree species form the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive (AATA), a living library of the world’s mightiest trees. These are not just any saplings — they all are descendants of so-called champion trees, specimens of exceptional size, age and resilience. And the man behind this forest of the future is not just any tree grower. At 75, David Milarch is trying to save the world’s last old-growth forests from extinction — by using their DNA to help reverse climate change. The need, Milarch notes, is urgent: “Ninety-eight percent of the old-growth forest has been logged,” he expl…
