Dawn redwood help

[bootboy]

I have a ~45' dawn redwood in my backyard. It's never needed much attention but I've noticed that over the last 2 years it's bee sending out shoots from the main trunk at an alarming rate. Its always had a clean trunk with healthy well defined limbs but now It's starting to look messy and I'm worried about its health. Do I need to prune it? If so, whats my best approach?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Here's a picture.

 

[ch woodchuck]

Beautiful trees(metasequoia)There Are several in this area (zone 16)One of only a few species of conifers worldwide that are decidous.Hard to tell from the pic.I assume this is the dormant season?There doesn't appear to be any green vegetation.The sprouting could be an indication of some form of stress,and the tree is responding by pushing out green growth wherever possible(advantageous sprouts)
There appears to be a whitish sap flow staining the lower trunk?Hard to tell from the single pic.That could be the issue...Possibly a few more pics of the lower trunk area would be helpful.If that is a sap flow.look carefully around the trunk for beetle bore hole....