Bad news my friends,

The largest tree in the Clover Creek Watershed has died.  The sequoia with a 25-foot circumference thrived along a man-made channel for about 125 years. The lack of water killed this tree and many other old cottonwoods along this channel.  Settlers in the early 1900s diverted water from the main channel of Clover Creek for farming purposes.

The Clover Creek Reserve, a 15-acre nature preserve along Johns Road in Parkland, contains both channels of Clover Creek and old trees along both channels are dying.  This preserve is upstream about 1,000 feet from the dead sequoia.

These trees died from a lack of water.  The cause can be a combination of the four-year drought, over withdrawal by water companies or beaver dams.

Consequently, this watershed is dying. There is no stream flow in Clover Creek, and tree roots apparently cannot reach the lowered groundwater level. All aquatic life has died. As a result, restoration effort may be very difficult and fruitless.

Al, Water Steward
Chambers-Clover Watershed

Photos: Dead sequoia. Paul Russell and Al by live tree on 10 Aug 2003. Kurt Reidinger and Al by dead sequoia tree on 3 May 2026.