Redwoods Futures

Show Your Support for Clean Water, Safe Parks

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As a California voter, you can make a transformational investment in our redwood forests and parks, and our state’s water resources by voting “yes” on June 5 for Proposition 68, the Clean Water and Safe Parks Act of 2018. The act would provide sorely needed funding to improve parks with new trails and visitor amenities and help our redwood parks remain healthy as the climate changes and our population grows. See how you can take action today.

LWCF funding would help us protect the pictured Mailliard Ranch. Photo by Paolo Vescia

Give Thanks for a Conservation Victory

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Good news about America’s most important conservation program: Save the Redwoods League and our conservation partners are celebrating recent bipartisan federal legislation that increases spending for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Thanks to our lawmakers, many critical conservation and recreational access projects will receive funding this year. Urge your member of Congress to reauthorize LWCF before it expires in September.

Photo by Max Forster

Help protect redwoods by voting ‘Yes’ on Prop 68 in June!

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Save the Redwoods League is part of the statewide coalition working to pass the Clean Water and Safe Parks Act, or Proposition 68, which if approved by voters will bring critical investments to California’s redwood forests. You can help protect redwoods and enhance our beloved redwood parks by voting “Yes” on Prop 68 in June.

The League plans expanded access to the breathtaking Headwaters Forest Reserve with support from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Speak up to reauthorize the program. Photo by Mike Shoys

Join Our Advocacy Campaigns, Contact Your Lawmakers

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Use your vote and voice to speak up for California’s iconic coast redwood and giant sequoia forests. Save the Redwoods League needs you to join our campaigns and stand for the redwoods: Learn the latest on three crucial funding sources and one bill that would protect our national monuments. And celebrate a conservation success in Oregon!

: LWCF helped make it possible for Save the Redwoods League to protect part of the Prairie Creek corridor and add the land to Redwood National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Photo by Max Forster

Speak Up to Save the Land and Water Conservation Fund

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Redwood National Park, Muir Woods National Monument, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks — over the last five decades the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) helped protect them all. We need your help to tell Members of Congress to support LWCF and renew the program before it ends in September 2018.

Field crew sampling young and old sequoias in a Bearskin Grove canopy gap. Photo by Marc D. Meyer

Questions Remain for Giant Sequoia National Monument

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National Public Lands Day on September 30 celebrates our nation’s cultural and natural resources that are open to everyone, but the work to defend our national monuments continues. This year, along with celebrating our public lands, unfortunately, comes trepidation, as we face the threat of eroded protections at a scale never seen before in U.S. history.

Youth participants in event at Sequoia National Park for Latino Conservation Week 2017. Photo by Martin Martinez

On the Trails and in the Redwoods, Celebrating Latino Conservation Week

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As we celebrate Latino Conservation Week, we’re inspired by the more than 100 events held across the country at national and state parks, wildlife refuges, and monuments to encourage everyone to explore the outdoors and learn how to protect our shared public lands.

Giant sequoia stand in Giant Sequoia National Monument

Speak up to Protect our National Monuments

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We have until July 10 to tell the Trump administration just how much our public lands mean to us. The public comment period will be over soon for the 27 national monuments under review as directed by a recent executive order.

The George Bush Tree. Photo by Don Barrett, Flickr Creative Commons

150 Years of Saving the Giant Sequoia

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The effort to save the giant sequoia groves of California began over 150 years ago. We were recently reminded that job is never done. In April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the review of all national monument designations occurring after January 1, 1996, where the monument exceeds 100,000 acres. Shortly after, the Department of the Interior confirmed that Giant Sequoia National Monument is on that list along with 26 others.

Giant sequoias are some of the world's largest trees.

Executive Order Threatens National Monuments

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With the Trump administration passing its first 100-day mark, there came a whirlwind of commentary about how those first 100 days stacked up. Given that the 100-day measure coincided with Earth Day, the March for Science, Arbor Day, and the Climate March, much of the attention focused on the new administration’s stance on the environment. Last week, at the confluence of these events, the administration released an executive order, revealing a great deal about its perspective on the purpose and value of our public lands.

: LWCF helped make it possible for Save the Redwoods League to protect part of the Prairie Creek corridor and add the land to Redwood National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Photo by Max Forster

President’s Budget Threatens Land and Water

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President Trump released his first budget blueprint, offering a glimpse into the Administration’s priorities. Sadly, if enacted by Congress, LWCF and many of the federal agencies that we work with face dramatic cuts, jeopardizing millions of jobs associated with our public lands and undermining protections that would otherwise support a safe and healthy future for Americans.

Sam Hodder, Save the Redwoods League President and CEO, stands by a magnificent old redwood in the 175-acre old-growth Restoration Reserve. The Reserve will safeguard the old trees and allow younger trees to grow larger. Photo by Mike Kahn

Protecting a Forest, Restoring a Way of Life

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The spectacular Sonoma Coast and the mighty redwood forests are iconic elements of California’s identity. And forever intertwined with these inspiring landscapes is the cultural richness of the Native American tribes that have lived for thousands of years along the coastal bluffs and forested waterways. Save the Redwoods League and its partners are celebrating one special place along the coastline where these uniquely Californian assets come together in one successful conservation achievement, the protection of Stewarts Point.

Want Redwoods on Your License Plate?

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With your help, our state tree – none other than California’s redwoods – could be featured on license plates statewide! What’s more, the proceeds from license plate sales and annual renewals will support the conservation and restoration of California’s state parks. However, we need you to help make the redwood license plate a reality.

The Obama family at Yosemite National Park, Father's Day 2016. From left are Sasha, Barack, Michelle, and Malia. White House photo.

President Obama’s Conservation Legacy

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From protecting more land and water than any other president, to motivating our nation to act on climate, to opening every national park to kids and their families for free, President Obama earned a place in history as an accomplished conservation champion.

Many of the most magnificent redwood parks and reserves you and generations of Americans have enjoyed, including Redwood National Park pictured above, have been partially funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Photo by David Baselt, redwoodhikes.com

What the Election Results May Mean for Redwoods

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After a long, divisive presidential campaign, the election is finally over. While we’re all working to move forward and understand the implications of the election results, there is much that we do not know. Our initial assessment is limited to preliminary announcements from the Trump transition team and the rhetoric of the campaign trail, rather than firm policy positions of the president-elect. However, we do know that the change in Washington will directly impact the work of Save the Redwoods League and the future of redwood conservation.

Ivy and Redwoods

Ivy Can Strangle Redwoods

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I came across a fallen redwood recently that had been severely strangled by English ivy. The redwood had fallen across the road and a cross-section had been cut through the redwood’s trunk, revealing a shockingly think mass of ivy branches tightly wrapped around the tree’s bark.

A National Monument for the Santa Cruz Coast?

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On the Santa Cruz coast, surrounding the picturesque town of Davenport, is a sweeping expanse of native coastal prairie and redwood forest. This beautiful landscape is special not only for what it is, a local historical and ecological treasure, but for what it could become — our next national monument.

coast redwoods

Soberanes Fire Burns in the Redwood Region

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At the time of writing, the Soberanes Fire has burned over 60,000 acres in Monterey County and is about 45% contained. The fire area covers much of Garrapata State Park, a scenic and rugged redwoods park at the southern end of the coast redwood range. We don’t yet know whether, or to what extent, the park’s redwood groves are suffering damage; and while the primary concern is for the well-being of nearby human communities, it’s interesting to consider the implications of fires like this in the redwood forest.

: LWCF helped make it possible for Save the Redwoods League to protect part of the Prairie Creek corridor and add the land to Redwood National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Photo by Max Forster

Celebrating the NPS Centennial in the Redwoods

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Over the weekend, the League celebrated the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service at our Orick Mill Site property near Redwood National and State Parks. It was a momentous event, and I was honored to speak to the attendees about the significance of the moment. For those who weren’t able to be there, I’ll take the opportunity to share my remarks, and some photos, here.