"It is on these river-side 'flats,' often found at the confluence of two streams and built up gradually by the floods of the ages, that the Redwood forest achieves a quintessence of majesty, an aura of holiness. There is something Olympian about the trees’ massed ranks – if ever there were gods of trees, here they stand . . .” – Francois Leydet, The Last Redwoods