From K-QED. Julie Mentor and her husband moved into a house in Oakland in 2017.

There were lots of things they loved about their new home, but especially the three big redwoods in the backyard.

It feels like it's a really big part of the identity

to me of the city of Oakland,

like there's, if you look at the hills and kind of the trees and

being able to go in nature while being in a city feels really important nice for my

mental health and balance. Last year Julie started to worry about the trees.

One of them had lost almost all of its leaves,

and despite watering it, it wasn't bouncing back.

It had to come down. It's so sad and I think it's that both for the tree because you know they're such beautiful trees or such

they're so old and majestic but also scary to be like whoa this tree's not

doing well the one next to it isn't the ones in my neighborhood don't seem to be

doing well Julie's noticed not just in her backyard, but all around Oakland, redwood trees don't look so good.

Around her neighborhood, off highways, really all over the East Bay,

Julie has noticed the trees looking dry and scraggly.

So I'm wondering, is something happening to the redwood trees in the Bay Area?

And if so, what is it? And is there anything we can do about it?

I'm Olivia Allen Price and this is Bay Curious. Today in the show we're

tackling California State Tree, the Coast Redwood. We'll dig into why it's unique to this area, what makes it so special, and how it's

adapting the challenges like climate change and urbanization. Stick around.

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