News Releases

For the latest updates, read our news releases for press and media!

2024


Jug Handle State National Reserve

League calls on Legislature to put climate bond before California voters in 2024

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Save the Redwoods League joined a chorus of conservation groups today in calling for the California State Legislature to place a $15 billion climate bond on the November 2024 ballot. Such a bond would fund programs that improve and protect water and air quality, strengthen community climate resilience, mitigate wildfires, provide recreational access to the outdoors and protect natural resources.


Last Chance Grade overlooking highway

As Last Chance Grade Crumbles, Caltrans Considers Two Solutions

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In Northern California, the famed coastal Highway 101 winds through some of the world’s last ancient coast redwood forest. For decades, a 3.5-mile section of the highway between Eureka and Crescent City, known as Last Chance Grade, has been plagued by landslides and frequent closures, with no viable alternate routes for the local community, commerce or tourism. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has been working with local stakeholders for 10 years on a solution. Tragically, their final two roadway alternatives will have substantial impacts on nearby old-growth redwood forest.


Georgia McIntosh, newly appointed Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Save the Redwoods League.

Save the Redwoods League Names Georgia McIntosh as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

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Save the Redwoods League announced today that Georgia McIntosh has been named Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. In this key leadership role, McIntosh will oversee organization-wide strategic communications and marketing programs to support the mission, strategic direction and brand positioning of the only nonprofit land trust working across the entire coast redwood and giant sequoia ranges.


2023


A ranger standing in front of the new Rancho del Oso Welcome Center - a blue and brown building with interpretive signage in front.

California State Parks, Save the Redwoods League and Waddell Creek Association Open New Rancho del Oso Welcome Center at Big Basin Redwoods State Park

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A gateway to the western coastal side of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the new welcome center facility and adjacent public campground will greet visitors to California’s oldest state park and largest expanse of old-growth coast redwoods south of San Francisco. The park has had limited access since the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fires.



Sara Clark, Save the Redwoods League Chair of the Board of Directors

Save the Redwoods League Elects Sara Clark as Chair of the Board of Directors

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Save the Redwoods League today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Sara Clark to serve as chair. The Board also elected Rosemary Cameron and Abe Tarapani to serve as vice chairs, John Montague as secretary and Mike Wyatt as treasurer. The newly elected officers are vastly experienced in land conservation, tribal law, parks and public engagement, scientific research and philanthropy. They will advance conservation strategies that protect, restore and connect people with California’s coast redwood and giant sequoia forests.



A man in an olive uniform and rangers hat stands in woody debris in a forested area.

Redwoods Rising Marks First Five Years of Healing an Iconic Landscape

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Save the Redwoods League, and the National Park Service today announced the restoration of 3,200 acres of young, previously clear-cut redwood forest in the first five years of Redwoods Rising. The unique public-private collaborative effort with a long-term goal of restoring thousands of acres in Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) has reforested more than 25 miles of former commercial logging roads, restored more than 3 miles of streams, and created more than 100 restoration and conservation jobs.





Shot from above looking down on Todd Dawson, Ph. D., rappelling from a redwood tree

Save the Redwoods League Grants More than $160,000 for New Scientific Research in the Coast Redwood and Giant Sequoia Ranges

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The League is thrilled to once again offer starter grants to underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students to nurture a diversity of perspectives in redwoods research. We have selected nine interesting and well-designed projects that will increase knowledge of the effects of climate change and fire on forest communities and allow us to better understand the interactions of life within redwood forests.






2022



person next to gnarled ancient juniper tree on a grey day

Save the Redwoods League Donates One of the Oldest Trees in the World, Bennett Juniper, to Mother Lode Land Trust

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Save the Redwoods League today announced that it has entrusted Mother Lode Land Trust (MLLT) with the long-term stewardship of Bennett Juniper, the largest juniper and one of the oldest known trees in the world. The League donated the 3,000-year-old tree and surrounding 3-acre property to MLLT. The Bennett Juniper property has been stewarded by the League since 1987.


people walking through giant sequoia forest

Save the Redwoods League and USDA Forest Service sign stewardship agreement to accelerate giant sequoia emergency action

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Save the Redwoods League and the USDA Forest Service have signed a partnership agreement to accelerate stewardship activities in the threatened giant sequoia range. Under this stewardship agreement, the League will lead restoration efforts to reduce the wildfire risk in two giant sequoia groves in partnership with the Forest Service. One of the groves is among the 12 cited in the Forest Service “emergency action” announced in July 2022.


coast redwoods

Save the Redwoods League secures opportunity to protect 3,862-acre Weger Ranch in Mendocino County through conservation easement

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Save the Redwoods League has secured an opportunity to purchase a conservation easement on the 3,862-acre Weger Ranch. Weger Ranch shares a 1.25-mile border with Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve. This conservation easement will enable the League to buffer the old-growth redwoods in the park and expand redwood conservation in this vital corner of the coast redwood range.


woman walking in the forest

Save the Redwoods League launches Montgomery Woods Initiative with purchase of 453 acres of redwood forest and groundbreaking on vital park improvements

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As part of a new initiative to protect redwood forests and enhance recreational opportunities at Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve in Mendocino County, Save the Redwoods League has purchased Atkins Place, a 453-acre coast redwood forest adjacent to the reserve, and partnered with California State Parks on significant improvements to the park.




A woman and a little girl reading an interpretive panel about the Pioneer Cabin Tree

Interpretive Exhibit About the Famed “Tunnel Tree” Giant Sequoia to open in Calaveras Big Trees State Park on Saturday, July 23, 2022

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Thousands of park visitors passed through the Pioneer’s Cabin Tree on foot and horseback and by carriage and motorcar. But the famous sequoia toppled five years ago, after a period of heavy rain and high winds. A new exhibit commemorates 1,233-year-old fallen “tunnel tree” in Calaveras Big Trees State Park — it opens on Saturday, July 23, 2022.








Aerial view of Lost Coast Redwoods

Forever Forest: The Campaign for the Redwoods Raises $139 Million in Private Support to Protect California’s Coast Redwood and Giant Sequoia Forests

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Save the Redwoods League today announced that its Forever Forest Campaign raised more than $139 million, surpassing its five-year goal of $120 million. More than 50,000 individuals and organizations from around the world contributed to the campaign toward conservation across the coast redwood and giant sequoia ranges.




Portrait of Jennifer Tapken

Save the Redwoods League Names Jennifer Tapken as Chief Operating Officer

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Save the Redwoods League today announced that Jennifer Tapken has been named chief operating officer. Tapken will oversee and direct all aspects of the League’s human resources and operations needs while advancing the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion values. Tapken brings more than 15 years of human resources and operations experience to the growing nonprofit, one of the country’s oldest conservation organizations.





2021


Coastline landscape

Save the Redwoods League Secures Unique Opportunity to Protect More than 3,100 Acres of Threatened Coast Redwoods, 5 Miles of Northern California Coastline

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The League has negotiated an agreement to buy the ecologically and culturally significant coastal landscape from timberland owner Soper Company. The nonprofit must raise $36.9 million by December 31 to fund the purchase and secure a total of $43.4 million to support the stewardship of the property as part of the protected mosaic of California’s famed Lost Coast.


firefighter in sequoia grove

Preliminary Toll from Sierra Wildfires Confirm That Treasured Giant Sequoia Face an Existential Threat

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According to data compiled by the Giant Sequoia Coalition, 28 giant sequoia groves experienced fire from the 2021 KNP Complex and Windy fires, and these fires killed up to 5% of world’s giant sequoia that are at least four feet in diameter. When combined with estimates that as much as 14% of the world’s monarchs were killed in the 2020 Castle Fire, the numbers paint a grim future for these natural treasures unless immediate action is taken.






A forest road surrounded by burned redwood trees

Governor’s proposed funding for wildfire, state parks are bold steps in the right direction

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Today Governor Gavin Newsom announced a bold, responsible investment in funding for land conservation, forest restoration, climate adaptation, wildfire resilience and recovery. Funding will acquire new State Park land, restore fire resilience in California’s forests and launch renewed future for Big Basin and other state parks impacted by last year’s wildfires.






2020

CEMEX Agrees to Removal of Dam at Mill Creek in Santa Cruz Mountains

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Sempervirens Fund announced today that they have secured approvals and critical post-fire funding to remove a dam from Mill Creek. CEMEX, the former owner of what is now San Vicente Redwoods, retains water and infrastructure rights on the property, and approved the dam removal. Deconstruction will begin later this summer.


Damaged Big Basin park gatehouse

Donors Worldwide Contribute $543,000 to Big Basin Redwoods State Park Recovery Following 2020 Wildfires

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Save the Redwoods League today announced the completion of the purchase of Cascade Creek, a 564-acre property between Big Basin Redwoods and Año Nuevo State Parks. The $9.6 million project — including both land acquisition, closing and initial stewardship costs — marks a keystone connection for protected habitat from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. It also advances the League’s goal of protecting the last of the old-growth redwood forest as identified in their 2018 Centennial Vision for Redwoods Conservation.


Save the Redwoods League Acquires Cascade Creek Redwoods in Santa Cruz Mountains, Connecting Big Basin Redwoods and Año Nuevo State Parks

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Save the Redwoods League today announced the completion of the purchase of Cascade Creek, a 564-acre property between Big Basin Redwoods and Año Nuevo State Parks. The $9.6 million project — including both land acquisition, closing and initial stewardship costs — marks a keystone connection for protected habitat from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. It also advances the League’s goal of protecting the last of the old-growth redwood forest as identified in their 2018 Centennial Vision for Redwoods Conservation.


Shady Dell's stunning candelabra trees. Photo by Paolo Vescia

Save the Redwoods League and Mendocino Land Trust Reopen the Peter Douglas Trail to the Shady Dell Candelabra Redwood Trees

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Save the Redwoods League and Mendocino Land Trust today announced the reopening of the Peter Douglas Trail through the Shady Dell candelabra redwood trees in Mendocino County. This reopening follows more than a year of restoration and repair efforts to Usal Road and the Peter Douglas Trail that were damaged in the 2019 Usal Fire.




Residual old-growth redwoods rise above a second-growth stand in Redwood National and State Parks. Photo by Mike Shoys

Redwoods Rising Restoration of More Than 70,000 Acres Begins Across Northern California Redwood Forests, Providing Regional Jobs

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Save the Redwoods League, the National Park Service and California State Parks today announced the next steps in on-the-ground restoration work by Redwoods Rising, a large-scale forest restoration partnership underway in Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP). Beginning next week, Redwoods Rising crews will work in two watersheds within the park boundaries—representing a significant milestone for this long-term forest health initiative and bringing forestry jobs to this northern California region.


Research from Save the Redwoods League and Humboldt State University Confirms Significant Role of Redwood Forests in California’s Climate Fight

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Policymakers in California and all over the world are exploring the potential of natural solutions to the climate change crisis, particularly the role forests play in storing carbon in their wood as they grow. Recent findings bolster research confirming massive carbon storage in old-growth redwood forests and potential of younger, previously logged forests.





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