Members Make 2009 Good Year for Redwoods

Thanks to our members’ and partners’ generous support, 2009 has been a momentous year for Save the Redwoods League:

• We acquired 120 acres of key redwood forestlands, transferred more than 500 acres to public agencies and supported protection of 5,630 acres. These raise the total acres protected to more than 181,000.
• More than 100,000 people learned about redwoods through our education grants program.
• We launched a campaign to keep California State Parks open and help stabilize their funding.
• We partnered with the National Geographic Society and the Wildlife Conservation Society to help bring an unprecedented redwoods study to the public through National Geographic magazine and the National Geographic Channel.

Happy New Year! We look forward to your support in 2010.

5,600 Acres Protected on Sonoma Coast

Save the Redwoods League and nine other partners last month helped the Sonoma Land Trust acquire the stunning 5,630-acre Jenner Headlands, including 3,100 acres of redwood and Douglas-fir forest. The parcel includes eight watersheds (Russian Gulch pictured), numerous threatened and endangered species, dramatic views, extensive opportunities for future recreation and a spectacular segment of the California Coastal Trail. North of the town of Jenner where the Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean, the land was purchased for $36 million. Our members made the League’s support of this project possible.

New Year’s Resolution: Help Keep Parks Open

California residents: Resolve to keep California State Parks open and accessible to all by gathering signatures to put a parks funding proposal on the 2010 ballot. Save the Redwoods League and partners are organizing volunteers to gather about 700,000 Californians’ signatures by April 16, 2010. Training sessions are under way, and more are being scheduled. Please help us by showing your support for this measure, the California State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010. Learn more. Photo: mikebaird, Flickr Creative Commons

Grantee Links Chinese, American Redwoods Research

A League grantee recently authored the first bilingual book to offer a comprehensive scientific overview of all three redwood species: the dawn redwood in China, the coast redwood along the California coast, and the giant sequoia in the Sierra Nevada. In Mandarin and English, Mo-Mei Chen authored Magnificent Chinese and American Redwoods. The book includes information from League publications and new findings from Chen’s research in China and the United States. Chen, Adjunct Professor at Beijing Normal University and the Chinese Academy of Agriculture, is a research associate at the University of California, Berkeley. Order the $45 book from Amazon.com or e-mail Susan Ingersoll, League Education Program Manager. Quantities are limited.

Favorite Redwood Hike: Mather Redwood Grove, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley

In this recurring feature, our staff members and volunteers share their favorite places to experience redwoods.

Name and Title: Stephanie Balistreri, Development Associate

Difficulty/Distance: Easy; grove trails can be walked in an hour or less

Why I like it: The Mather Redwood Grove is a lovely re-creation of a coast redwood forest that’s easy to reach by public transportation. Across the street is the West Coast’s first collection of dawn redwoods, which were thought to be extinct until they were found in China in 1944. The botanical garden also grows the third species of redwood, the giant sequoia.

Directions and More Information on the Botanical Garden
Describe Your Favorite Redwood Hike in Our Forum

Featured Photo

A denizen of the coast redwood forest, the rough-skinned newt heads to edges of streams and ponds in winter to breed. Photo: colinbrown, Flickr Creative Commons.

Featured Favorite Redwood Memory

"I took my two grandchildren and daughter to see the redwoods in the summer of 2006. Both children (2 and 9) were spellbound, and it was for me the best vacation I ever had."

— Carole, member since 2006