100 Ways to Celebrate the Redwoods - Save the Redwoods League

Pledge to take a stand for the redwoods: Post a photo with the #Stand4Redwoods sign on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and share your commitment to the redwoods with everyone. Don’t forget to include the #Stand4Redwoods hashtag.
Go for a day hike in a nearby redwood park or preserve – discover a new trail or revisit an old favorite.
Plan a camping trip to a redwood park, and relax and recharge in the peace and beauty of the forest.
Enjoy a picnic in a redwood park.
Volunteer as a docent for your local redwood park or for Save the Redwoods League conservation initiatives.
Participate in Save the Redwoods League free park pass program during Free Second Saturdays in Redwood State Parks every month in 2018.
Plan a family reunion in a redwood park.
Make a “life list” for the redwood parks, visiting at least three or four a year.
Participate in redwoods-themed youth outreach programs.
Encourage your local school district to sponsor redwoods-themed educational initiatives like the League’s Reading the Redwoods program.
Donate to Save the Redwoods League programs.
Plan a bicycle trip in the redwoods. Redwood Regional Park, Redwood National & State Parks, and Case Mountain Giant Sequoia Grove are popular biking destinations.
“Adopt” a redwood park for regular litter clean-up visits.
Take a special needs child to a redwood park.
Help restore habitat and improve infrastructure in redwood state parks by supporting the League’s partner, California State Parks.
Try to spot a goose pen, the cavernous holes burned into the base of a standing tree by wildfire. Goose pens can provide an ideal roosting spot – not for geese, but for forest-dwelling bat species.
Take advantage of the knowledgeable staff, interpretive displays and activities, and other educational resources at a redwood park visitor center.
Stargaze through the redwood canopy. Some parks, like Sequoia National Park, even offer stargazing events and programs.
Enjoy an interpretive program by a park ranger or docent. Check with each park for offerings.
Admire the largest contiguous expanse of old-growth coastal redwoods in the world: Rockefeller Forest.
Go for a dip in a swimming hole surrounded by redwood forest.
Visit the architect Julia Morgan’s “Hearthstone,” a unique four-sided fireplace commemorating local women’s successful conservation efforts in what is now Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
Get married in the redwoods, and celebrate your love surrounded by the timeless beauty of the forest.
Go birding in a redwood park. Bird species living in the redwood range include osprey, spotted owls, varied thrush and bald eagles.
Watch for playful river otters cavorting in forest waterways.
Enjoy the lovely and diverse wildflowers of the redwood forest – see if you can spot such rare beauties as calypso orchids and redwood lilies.
Get to know the redwood forest ferns, and learn what these ancient plants can tell us about climate change.
Get involved with a community science project in the redwoods.
Plan a backpacking trip to immerse yourself in the wild beauty and adventure the redwood forest offers.
Learn about the remarkable history of the movement to save the redwoods.
Learn how the threats to the redwoods have changed over time, and what can be done to help.
Experience the forest from horseback on a trail ride through the redwoods.
Run, jog or walk the Avenue of the Giants Marathon or the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon.
Have a redwood seedling planted in a California forest where it is needed most.
Commemorate what the redwoods mean to you or honor a loved one by dedicating a redwood grove or tree.
Learn what “restoration” means and why it’s so important for the redwood forest.
Help the forest heal by supporting a Save the Redwoods League restoration project.
Celebrate your birthday among ancient redwood giants, and gain a new perspective on the passage of time.
Discover the fascinating scientific research happening in the redwoods.
Send a redwoods ecard to share your love and help spread the word about protecting the redwood forest.
Read up on the latest redwoods news.
Visit the very northernmost stand of coast redwoods, in Alfred A. Loeb State Park.
Explore the southernmost end of the redwood range, at Limekiln State Park.
Stand among the most massive trees on Earth, the giant sequoias – beings so awe-inspiring that they sparked the beginning of the public lands movement in the U.S.
Visit the world’s northernmost grove of giant sequoias: Big Trees Grove in Tahoe National Forest.
Discover fascinating stories and facts about the redwood forest and the myriad ways that wildlife and humans relate to it in the Giant Thoughts blog.
Plan a special trip to introduce young ones to the wonders of the redwoods. (You can use the free Family Guide to the Coast Redwoods and Family Guide to the Giant Sequoias as resources.)
Download the California’s Redwood State Parks Guide, pick a park you’ve never been to before, and set off on a new adventure.
Look for epiphytes: plants that grow on other plants. Some redwood limbs have whole communities of mosses, lichens, ferns and even smaller trees growing on them!
Admire tenacious salmon for making their way up forest waterways. Salmon depend on healthy redwood forests for the necessary conditions – like deep pools and clean water – to thrive.
Sign up to receive the League’s enewsletter, Redwood Matters, to be in-the-know on interesting updates, important projects, and fun new ways to explore the forest.
Discover dendrochronology: the science that unlocks the redwoods’ secrets by letting us “read” tree ring patterns.
Experience the forest in a thrilling new way, by zooming through the canopy on a zipline.
Go on a night hike to experience the forest and its inhabitants in a whole new (low) light.
Enjoy the fabulous local cuisine in the redwood region.
Go wine tasting or sample local craft beers among the redwoods.
Fantastic events are taking place in the redwoods year-round – find one near you.
Practice learning a new skill that you can use in the redwoods, such as photography, plant identification, or drawing.
Commit to improving your mental and physical health by spending more time in the forest. Exercising or simply unwinding in the redwoods could lower stress and boost well-being.
Learn some redwoods trivia and impress your friends with your towering knowledge.
Read a nonfiction book about redwoods, like “The Wild Trees” by Richard Preston, or “The Legacy of Luna” by Julia Butterfly Hill.
Read a fiction book about redwoods, such as “The Ancient One” by T. A. Barron, and let the forest ignite your imagination.
Support a program that brings young students into the redwoods – many for the first time – like the Redwoods Education Grants Program.
Planning an international trip? You can visit the California redwoods’ relatives, in the Cupressaceae (cypress) family, on nearly every continent.
Follow Save the Redwoods League on Instagram (external link) for stunning redwood forest photos and conservation updates.
Share your own redwoods photos on Instagram (be sure to tag @savetheredwoods for a chance to be featured on the League’s profile).
“Like” Save the Redwoods League on Facebook (external link) for inspiring updates, calls to action, fun facts and beautiful forest photos.
Contact your elected officials – local, state, or federal – and let them know why you support the conservation of redwood forestland. Your voice makes a difference!
Support legislation that offers protections for the redwood forest and surrounding lands and waters.
Create redwoods-inspired art – such as a drawing, painting or poem – and share it with the League.
Make a virtual escape to an old-growth forest through the Redwoods Webcam.
Visit the Save the Redwoods League YouTube channel (external link) for more inspiring and informative videos.
Support small, local businesses in the redwood region.
Try to count the tree rings on a redwood trunk cross-section, like the one at Muir Woods National Monument.
Experience the magic of snow-draped sequoias – try snowshoeing or cross-country skiing in a giant sequoia park this winter.
Establish a redwoods conservation legacy by including Save the Redwoods League in your estate.
Visit the Save the Redwoods League Redwood History Exhibit at U.C. Berkeley’s Bancroft Library from April through September 2018.
Look for blackened fire scars on tree trunks as you hike through the redwoods, and marvel at the redwoods’ resilience.
Learn about how Native Americans used fire to help keep the redwood forest healthy.
Bask in the peace and serenity of the redwood forest on a solo hike or camping trip.
Ride the historic Skunk Train through towering ancient redwoods.
Follow in the footsteps of the Save the Redwoods League founders, and take a road trip from San Francisco into the North Coast redwoods.
On your next visit to a redwood park or preserve, take a moment to reflect on how every hard-won acre of parkland is protected today thanks to the efforts of passionate and dedicated citizens.
Thank a redwood park ranger or docent for their work.
In a redwood park, close your eyes for a full minute, and notice the sounds, smells and sensations of the forest.
Help the marbled murrelet, an endangered, ancient-forest-dwelling seabird, by cleaning up every last crumb from your picnic or campsite to discourage predatory corvids.
Revel in redwoods history at California’s oldest state park and the first redwoods park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park (originally named California Redwood Park), established in 1902.
Cruise down the Avenue of the Giants scenic highway, a 32-mile-long road that has wended through ancient forest since the days of stagecoaches.
In Humboldt Redwoods State Park, marvel at the Dyerville Giant, a 362-foot tree that crashed to the forest floor in 1991.
Take in the breathtaking view of Pfeiffer Falls tumbling to the beach in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
Walk among the tallest trees on Earth in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.
Wander through the lush, otherworldly Fern Canyon, with its 30-foot-high fern-covered walls, in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
Watch for diverse wildlife around the redwood region: see if you can spot Roosevelt elk, California condors, bobcats, salamanders, and whales.
Ensure that any redwood products you buy are sustainably sourced – look for certification from a third-party organization like the Forest Stewardship Council. Avoid burl wood, which is often illegally poached.
Hike on the Peter Douglas Trail to the unique and remarkable ancient redwoods in Shady Dell forest. The trees’ massive branches have grown into candelabra-like shapes from exposure to coastal weather conditions.
Embark on a weekend backpacking adventure on the 60-mile Lost Coast Trail, which traverses Shady Dell forest, Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, and the Kings Range National Conservation Area.
Boat or kayak down a redwood forest waterway, like the Smith River, Eel River, or Navarro River.
Drive down the breathtaking, 10-mile Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway in Humboldt County. (First, learn who Newton Drury was – his story is quite impressive.)
Form a hiking or picnicking club with friends, colleagues or neighbors, and visit a park together every month.
Bring a friend or relative to see the redwoods for the first time – and watch their eyes light up.