Los Padres National Forest | Nisene Marks | Critical Parcel | Stewarts Point
Help Save the Redwoods League expand Calaveras Big Trees State Park to better protect its glorious giant sequoias. The League has a rare opportunity to purchase a critical addition to Calaveras Big Trees that will significantly buffer the park’s renowned South Grove of ancient giant sequoias. See a map of the property and the land the League has protected in the park.
The landowner has only recently expressed a willingness to sell this land, so we must act quickly.
Bordering the park, the Beaver Creek property is a 320-acre ridgeline forest on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The property is home to ponderosa pines, Douglas-firs, cedars and 226-foot-tall, 6 ½-foot-wide giant sequoia. Wildlife is abundant in the area; the forest provides excellent California mountain lion habitat and the endangered spotted owl has been observed nearby. It’s also part of the vital Stanislaus River watershed.
If you make a gift now, an anonymous donor will match your gift up to $150,000. Because of the matching gift, your generosity will have double the impact on the forests you love!
We are not just protecting a threatened property for today; Beaver Creek is perfect as a future sanctuary for many more giant sequoias. This is a high-altitude forest, 5,000 feet above sea level. Scientists predict that these trees may need to move to higher ground to find the moisture they need to thrive during rapid climate change. The land you’ll help purchase can give them the space they need to survive for generations to come.
Thanks to our members’ support, Save the Redwoods League transferred a spectacular 80-acre redwood canyon at the south end of Big Sur to the surrounding Los Padres National Forest in February 2010.
Because of budget support from US Representative Sam Farr, who represents California’s Central Coast, the US Forest Service was able to pay the League $2.2 million for the property. This means that the League can use the $2.2 million to protect another important redwood property.
The property, half of which contains old-growth redwood forest, also has stunning ocean views and abundant wildlife. Transfer of the parcel protects the land from the threat of luxury home development and will allow extension of the Los Padres Prewitt Creek loop trail. To return the land to a natural state, the League paid for improvements including the removal of cabins. Building materials were removed by helicopter (pictured) because the canyon is so steep.
Thanks to our members, Save the Redwoods League was able to purchase land for future addition to Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, helping to protect a watershed in the redwood forest.
The League acquired the half-acre, $300,000-property on January 29, 2010. It is one of two remaining inholdings (privately owned land inside a park) in this area of Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. Our acquisition of this property contributes to the protection of Hinkley Creek and the larger Soquel Creek watershed.
Near Santa Cruz, the park includes second-growth redwoods that grew after the area was clear-cut from 1883 to 1923. Today, the park is popular among equestrians, bicyclists and hikers.
Save the Redwoods League also purchased and restored a similar half-acre inholding nearby, then transferred it to California State Parks in March 2007. Restoration for the 2007 property included removing a cabin and associated refuse to return the land to a natural state. The League intends to conduct a similar restoration of the recently acquired property.
Thanks to our members, Save the Redwoods League in January 2010 was able to protect 5.6 acres and help buffer a sensitive lagoon ecosystem near Redwood National Park.
Had the League not bought the $370,000 property, it is likely that a private buyer would have developed it.
Just west of Redwood National Park near the town of Orick, the parcel affords gorgeous views of Freshwater Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean. This land is a critical part of the League’s efforts to protect the lagoon ecosystem in a narrow corridor of private land between Redwood National Park and Humboldt Lagoons State Park. The Humboldt Lagoons project has long been a priority for the League, which has transferred to government agencies at least 319 acres in this area since 2000. We will be working to transfer the property to Redwood National Park.
Since our establishment in 1918, we have protected more than 189,000 acres of redwood forest and associated land and created 63 redwood parks and reserves for everyone to enjoy.
Save the Redwoods League needs to raise $250,000 this year to ensure that we are able to buy and help create a long-term management plan for one of the most important unprotected coast redwood tracts in Sonoma County, according to our science-based master plan. We partnered with Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) to purchase this 871-acre parcel at Stewarts Point.
The land features 750 acres of well-managed, older coast redwood and Douglas-fir forest, abundant wildlife and a mile of stunning coastal bluffs fronting the Pacific Ocean. Also on the property is a significant stretch of the South Fork of the Gualala River critical for its salmon habitat.
The plan is for PFT to manage the property as a working model of forest stewardship that sustains wood, water and wildlife.
This land will also serve as a center for climate stewardship, modeling how our climate can benefit from portions of forests that are left to grow and store more carbon dioxide.
Only 2.5 hours north of San Francisco, this forest for the greater Bay Area would enable PFT to offer regular field trips, media tours and other in-the-forest experiences.
Help us save more forests. For more information about this and other Save the Redwoods League land acquisition projects, call (888) 836-0005.