I. Answer the following questions.

1. What helps the redwood trees to survive the dry period?

2. What is unusual about the roots of the trees?

3. Why do these trees decompose very slowly?

4. What helps clear out dead wood in the forest?

5. How do the trees survive them?

6. What should politicians do according to the park ranger?

II. Listen to the record again and after that reply for Gary Strachen using the prompts

PHILLIPS: It is midday in California's Año Nuevo State Park, home to one of the last original stands of old-growth redwood trees left in the West. These giants can stand ramrod straight nearly 120 meters high before their branches of needled leaves form the crowns, mostly obscuring the sun.

After one's eyes adjust to the dim golden-green light, the first thing one notices is the hush.

STRACHEN: ____________________ unique. ___ human being _________________________________ _________________________________________ magnificent ______________.

PHILLIPS: Gary Strachen has been a park ranger here for more than three decades.

STRACHEN: ___________ too existentialist, ___________ give off a spirit, ________ inspire. ___________ humans ________ realized____________________________________________________ ancient forests _________.

PHILLIPS: These ancient forests are found only in the areas of California near the ocean, explains Portia Halbert, an environmental scientist for the state.

HALBERT: ________ limited to this area of California ______________ 'fog drip.' ____ fog _____________ the ocean_________ collects ______ little needles _______________________ drops ______ the tree roots. _______ rain _____ six-seven months ________________________________________ dry ____________________. ___________ fog drip allows__________________________ a very long dry period.

PHILLIPS: Unlike most trees, which have deep roots to reach underground water, Halbert explains that redwoods rely on the moisture that pools on the forest floor.

HALBERT: These trees _________________ roots ______ ______one meter ______ ground. __________ trees ___________ together. _____ roots ___ connected ________ keep __________ upright____________________________________________ to fall down ____ adjacent trees ___________________________________ support ________ neighbors.

PHILLIPS: When those trees do fall, they tend to stay where they are and to decompose very slowly. That's because insects, which normally eat and break down fallen trees, don't like tannin, the chemical that gives redwood bark its deep russet color.

But all woodlands need some way to clear out dead wood and other debris. Halbert says that redwood ecosystems rely on the lightning fires, which naturally occur every 50-75 years. The blazes begin above ground, often travel down to the shared root systems beneath the groves, then upward inside the trunks.

HALBERT: _______ fire ____ burn _________________________ oven inside the tree. ______________________________ burn __ long ______ hot ____________ hollow out __________ middle portion _________. _______ stand inside a redwood tree _______________________ sky. ___ the tree __________ alive ___________ living tissue _____ damaged. The bark __ protected __________________ the inner tissue __ protected _____________.

PHILLIPS: Today, there are birds in the skies above the trees, such as the giant pileated woodpecker and the marbled murrelet, a web-footed seabird that spends most of its time far offshore in the Pacific Ocean. It was once a great mystery where this bird nested. But in 1974, scientists learned that it actually flies up to 80 kilometers inland to lay its eggs in the tops of old growth trees like these.

STRACHEN: __________________________ at dusk or early in the morning, ______________ quiet ____________ sudden __________________ [whistle] ______________ the canopy__________. __________________ black streak. _____________ a stealth jet. _____________________ fast ______ _______ the canopy. ___________ the marbled murrelet.

PHILLIPS: Vigorous efforts in California to preserve habitats like this have allowed this ancient bird to continue to thrive in the Golden State.

STRACHEN: ________ a firm believer __________ leader ___________________ mandatory! ________ an ancient forest ________ sit there and think. _____ a place ___________________ clearly.

PHILLIPS: … thinking, perhaps, about the value of protecting old growth forests like this. In a redwood grove in California's Año Nuevo State Park this is Adam Phillips reporting.

III. Listen to the broadcast again and act out the dialogue