December, 1999
Save-the-Redwoods League has purchased 270 acres bordering Henry Cowell Redwood State Park near Santa Cruz. A mature second growth grove anchored by old growth trees 60 to 100 inches in diameter will join the old growth redwood grove in the State Park and reach uninterrupted up the steep slopes of the San Lorenzo River.
The redwood forest stops abruptly on the edge of an expanse of silver leaf manzanita/Northern maritime Chaparral and Coast Range Ponderosa Pine Forest, habitats that are globally critically imperiled with five or fewer occurrences or less than 800 acres in existence. "A portion of this forest supports a variety of plant species and animals of special concern, including several federally listed endangered species," says Dave Vincent, Superintendent of the Santa Cruz District of the State Department of Parks and Recreation who welcomes this prospect of expanding the Park by one sixth its current size.
"Permanent protection for this very unusual property is an important step in a comprehensive conservation strategy for the redwood ecosystem that depends on preservation of associated imperiled habitats together with redwood forest lands themselves." said League Executive Director Katherine Anderton.
This land includes "the most distinctive and biologically diverse plant community within the sandhills of central Santa Cruz County" supporting at least sixty sandhills specialty plant species on this site.
The property, purchased from the S.H. Cowell Foundation, has been considered in the last decade as a site for the Scotts Valley High School, a wastewater treatment facility for San Lorenzo Valley, a shooting range, and most recently for residential development.
"We are delighted once again to have collaborated with the Save-the-Redwoods League for the preservation of unique environmental resources such as exist on the Sand Hill property, " said Mary Metz, President of the S.H. Cowell Foundation.
Since the passage of the first California State Park bond in 1927, the League and voters of California have worked in partnership to build the California State Park System. Passage of the park bond on the March 2000 ballot will facilitate the transfer of these lands to Henry Cowell State Park.
The Save-the-Redwoods League is a nonprofit organization, established in 1918, that acquires Coast Redwood and Giant Sequoia forest lands for protection in the 37 California Redwood State Parks, and in other public parks and preserves. The League has contributed more than $4 billion worth of land to the State and National parks since it began its work over 80 years ago.
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