Montgomery Woods State Reserve, in the center of the Coast Range, has 700 acres of redwoods, where we can walk along one of the Preserve's many trails. Montgomery Woods (totaling 1,484 acres) is one of the more remote of California's 31 redwood parks. This narrow canyon of Montgomery Creek, at the headwaters of Big River has the most impressive stand of virgin redwoods remaining in Mendocino County and some of the tallest trees in the world. It is an excellent example of both a magnificent Coastal Redwood grove and a beautiful fern forest. The protected valleys and alluvial flats found along streams and creeks provide ideal growing conditions for the coast redwood, with many trees exceeding 300 feet (100 meters) in height..

The redwoods we will see here, while walking the trail, are one of the two main species of redwoods in the Western United States. The taller Coast Redwood grows along the California coast into Southern Oregon in an area about 500 miles long by 20 or 30 miles wide. The Sierra Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron gigantea) also called "Big Tree", is more massive but rarely attains the heights of its coastal relative.

The Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) needs moderate temperature with a high level of rainfall. They grow especially well in areas of heavy fog, where the soil rarely dries completely. The coastal redwood is the tallest tree on earth, measuring up to 370 feet in height. The Coast Redwood grows best on river flats and stream junctions, where they receive a rich supply of alluvial soil, or silt, deposited there by flood waters.

The coast redwood (Sequoia semperviren) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) are the two dominant trees of the old-growth redwood forest. The species associated with redwood groves varies according to whether an area is upland, streamside (riparian), along a flood plain (alluvial), or close to the ocean.

Plants: Spruce, hemlock, Douglas-fir, berry bushes, and sword ferns create a multiple canopied understory. Other trees include hardwoods such as tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflora), big-leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), California bay or laurel (Umbellularia californica), and red alder (Alnus rubra). Sword fern (Polystichum munitum) and redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana) are the most common members of redwoods' understory, and are accompanied by rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum), huckleberry (Vaccinium spp.), salal (Gaultheria shallon), azalea (Rhododendron occidentele), and others.

Cool and shady, the coniferous forests provide important habitat to the area's many species of animal wildlife. Old-growth redwood forests are vital to species such as the northern spotted owl and banana slugs.

Amphibians that can be found include the Red-legged frog (Rana aurora), California slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus), Pacific giant salamander (Dicamptodon ensatus), Northern rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) and the Pacific tree frog (Hyla regilla).

Birds most often spotted, in addition to the Northern Spotted Owl, are the Chestnut-Backed Chickadee, Winter Wren, Stellar's Jay, Varied Thrush.

Mammals that are sometimes seen include the Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus), Chickaree (Tamiasciurus douglasii), Black bear (Ursus americanus), Bobcat (Lynx rufus) and Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargentus).