Muir Woods National Monument
| Muir Woods National Monument | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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| Location | Marin County, California, United States |
| Nearest city | Mill Valley, CA |
| Coordinates | 37°53′31″N 122°34′15″W / 37.89194°N 122.57083°WCoordinates: 37°53′31″N 122°34′15″W / 37.89194°N 122.57083°W |
| Area | 554 acres (224 ha) |
| Created | January 9, 1908 |
| Visitors | 897,131 (in 2011) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Muir Woods National Monument |
| Designated | January 09, 2008 |
| Reference no. | 07001396 |
Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast, in southwestern Marin County, California. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is 12 miles (19 km) north of San Francisco. It protects 554 acres (224 ha), of which 240 acres (97 ha) are old growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Muir Woods National Monument is an old-growth coastal redwood forest. Due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the forest is regularly shrouded in a coastal marine layer fog, contributing to a wet environment that encourages vigorous plant growth. The fog is also vital for the growth of the redwoods as they use moisture from the fog during droughty seasons, in particular the dry summer.
The monument is cool and moist year round with average daytime temperatures between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit (4 to 21 °C). Rainfall is heavy during the winter and summers are almost completely dry with the exception of fog drip caused by the fog passing through the trees. Annual precipitation in the park ranges from 39.4 inches (1,000 mm) in the lower valley to 47.2 inches (1,200 mm) higher up in the mountain slopes.
The redwoods grow on brown humus-rich loam which may be gravelly, stony or somewhat sandy. This soil has been assigned to the Centissima series, which is always found on sloping ground. It is well drained, moderately deep, and slightly to moderately acidic. It has developed from a mélange in the Franciscan Formation. More open areas of the park have shallow gravelly loam of the Barnabe series, or deep hard loam of the Cronkhite series.
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Wikipedia