Sequoia

Mariposa Grove berjarak satu jam berkendara ke selatan lembah. Penjaga hutan Tomas telah menurunkan Polly di awal jalur dan selesai bertugas. "Pergilah lihat yang tua-tua," katanya.

Mariposa Grove was an hour's drive south of the valley. Ranger Tomas had dropped Polly at the trailhead and gone off-duty. "Go see the old ones," he said.

Yang tua-tua itu adalah sequoia raksasa. Mereka adalah pohon terbesar di dunia berdasarkan volume.

The old ones were giant sequoias. They are the biggest trees in the world by volume.

Hal pertama yang Polly perhatikan adalah warnanya. Kulit kayu sequoia bukan cokelat. Warnanya oranye karat yang dalam dan terlihat seperti spons. Dia mendarat di cabang rendah dan mematuk kulit kayu dengan paruhnya. Kulit kayu itu sedikit memberi. Ketebalannya hampir setengah meter, lembut saat disentuh. Kulit kayu tebal ini adalah pertahanan utama pohon terhadap api.

The first thing Polly noticed was the colour. Sequoia bark is not brown. It is a deep rust-orange and looks spongy. She landed on a low branch and pecked the bark with her beak. The bark gave a little. It was nearly half a metre thick, soft to the touch. This thick bark is the tree's main defence against fire.

Sebuah keluarga berjalan lewat. Seorang gadis kecil berkata, "Lihat, burung beo!" Ayahnya berkata, "Itu boneka yang seseorang lupa." Polly tidak bergerak.

A family walked past. A little girl said, "Look, a parrot!" Her father said, "It's a stuffed toy someone forgot." Polly did not move.

Dia terbang ke sisi pohon, tingkat demi tingkat. Pada ketinggian tiga puluh meter, cabang-cabang mulai muncul. Mereka setebal tubuhnya sendiri. Dia bertengger di salah satunya dan melihat ke atas. Puncaknya empat puluh meter lebih tinggi lagi.

She flew up the side of the tree, level by level. At thirty metres up, the branches began. They were as thick as her own body. She perched on one and looked up. The crown was another forty metres higher.

Jalur berakhir di satu pohon: Grizzly Giant. Usianya sekitar 2.995 tahun. Batangnya lebih lebar dari bus kota.

The trail ended at one tree: the Grizzly Giant. It was about 2,995 years old. Its trunk was wider than a city bus.

Polly bertengger di tempat rendah di kulit kayu. Dia melihat ke atas.

Polly perched on a low spot in the bark. She looked up.

Tiga ribu tahun. Pohon itu sudah ada di sini ketika para firaun Mesir membangun Lembah Para Raja. Pohon ini sudah ada ketika Roma masih desa pertanian kecil. Pohon ini tumbuh sekitar satu sentimeter lebih lebar setiap tahun, dalam keheningan yang tenang.

Three thousand years. The tree had been here when Egyptian pharaohs were building the Valley of the Kings. It had been here when Rome was a small farming village. It had grown about one centimetre wider each year, in steady silence.

Dia tinggal lama. Bekas luka api kecil di batangnya lebih tua dari kebanyakan negara. Pohon itu telah bertahan dari puluhan kebakaran.

She stayed a long time. A small fire scar on the trunk was older than most countries. The tree had survived dozens of fires.

Sebuah biji seukuran serpihan gandum jatuh melewatinya. Biji sequoia membutuhkan api untuk tumbuh. Konusnya hanya terbuka dalam panas. Setiap sequoia baru adalah hasil dari kebakaran lama.

A seed about the size of an oat flake fell past her. Sequoia seeds need fire to grow. The cones only open in the heat. Every new sequoia is the result of an old burn.