Support Provided By

Jared Farmer

Jared Farmer is a professor of history at Stony Brook University and the author of Trees in Paradise: A California History.

Redwood logging in Vance Woods

Redwood logging in Vance Woods

Lost LA

How L.A. Helped Decimate California's Old-Growth Redwood Forests

California cut down 95% of its original coast redwood forest – much of it to build Los Angeles.

Lost LA

Witness to a Hanging: California's Haunted Trees

When a man dies hanging from a tree, is that tree an accessory to the act or a witness? The multiple second lives of the frontier "hang tree" reveal something unsettling about the Golden State.

This postcard manages to include three of the four tree types covered in Jared Farmer's book, 'Trees in Paradise': eucalypts, oranges, and palms. Courtesy of Jared Farmer.

This postcard manages to include three of the four tree types covered in Jared Farmer's book, 'Trees in Paradise': eucalypts, oranges, and palms. Courtesy of Jared Farmer.

Lost LA

How Did L.A. Become a City of Palms? And Other Questions About California's Trees

Q&A with historian Jared Farmer, author of "Trees in Paradise: A California History."