Just outside the town of Guerneville, a lush expanse of coast redwoods rises dramatically from the banks of the Russian River. Here, in the traditional land of the Pomo Peoples, raptors ride the thermals over green treetops and great blue herons hunt for supper at water’s edge. Beneath the canopy, the forest is sun-dappled and serene, its reverie broken only by the distant laughter of kayakers paddling downriver.

This is Russian River Redwoods, a nearly 400-acre property crucial to wildlife habitat, climate resilience, and scenic beauty along one of Northern California’s most beloved river corridors. The sizable redwoods here sprouted from the roots of ancient giants that were logged more than a century ago. Among these maturing redwoods towers the ancient Clar Tree—one of the tallest and oldest in Sonoma County, and a 278-foot reminder of this forest’s massive potential.

Today, this historic tree and the healing forest that surrounds it are permanently safeguarded for future generations. With support from donors across the country, Save the Redwoods League successfully purchased the Russian River Redwoods property in October 2023. We then transferred the land to Sonoma County Water Agency for ongoing stewardship, restoration, and the possibility of public access from the Russian River.

 

Map of Russian River Redwoods acreage

What we secured

  • 394 acres of maturing redwood forest, plus 1 mile of scenic riverfront
  • Home to the mighty Clar Tree, a 278-foot old-growth colossus
  • Cultural value as part of the traditional lands of the Pomo Peoples.
  • Part of a wildlife corridor of 4,000+ protected acres, with habitat for gray foxes, red tree voles, and imperiled northern spotted owls
  • Potential for expanded public access to outdoor recreation in the Russian River corridor

A forever home for a mighty giant

Redwood tree rises through the canopy

The Clar Tree rises through the Russian River Redwoods canopy. It is one of the oldest and tallest coast redwoods in Sonoma County. Photo by Smith Robinson Multimedia.  

The colossal Clar Tree is the only old-growth redwood on the Russian River Redwoods property to survive the 19th-century timber rush, back when Guerneville was infamously known as Stumptown. Today, this big tree has a big personality to match: Newer offshoots crowd its massive base, creating a bushy thicket that resembles an old-timer’s beard. It’s a fitting look for a coast redwood believed to be as ancient as the oldest trees in nearby Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve.  

The Clar Tree is a living testament to the fact that massive redwoods—old-growth trees that rivaled the giants of the North Coast—once dominated the Russian River floodplain. Miraculously, the roots of this ancient forest are still very much alive. Young but mighty redwood trees have sprung from these gnarled foundations, extending a lineage that dates back across the millennia.  

By securing this recovering forest and the beloved Clar Tree, we’ve taken an important step in restoring Sonoma County’s magnificent old-growth corridor. The transfer to Sonoma County, in tandem with a conservation easement held by Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, ensures permanent protection of the property and creates an opportunity to introduce the public to this impressive landscape, potentially via hiking trails and access from the Russian River. 

Clar Tree

Save the Redwoods League staff admire the Clar Tree, the last remaining old-growth giant on the property. Photo by Vivian Chen.

Protecting a vital wildlife corridor

The protection of Russian River Redwoods also adds an essential piece to the mosaic of protected wildlife habitat in Sonoma County. On its southern flank, the property buffers the old-growth redwoods of the Bohemian Grove. Further south lies Bohemia Ecological Preserve, a large private reserve of coastal prairie and woodlands stewarded by LandPaths. Together, this contiguous habitat corridor encompasses more than 4,000 acres of publicly and privately protected lands, encouraging diverse wildlife and making it easier for threatened species to migrate and adapt to climate change.  

In addition to bobcats, gray foxes, and red tree voles, this habitat corridor supports imperiled northern spotted owls. These dark-eyed, exquisitely patterned birds have nested near the Clar Tree, and other owl activity sites lie just beyond the property boundary, making this landscape crucial to their continued survival.  

Russian River Redwoods also features a mile of riverfront along the Russian River, home to coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. A half-mile section of Mays Canyon Creek, a well-known stream for threatened steelhead, flows along the property’s eastern edge. Safeguarding Russian River Redwoods helps to conserve this important watershed and ensure the ongoing revival of the Coho salmon population.  

Changing the course of history

Coast redwoods growing from the roots of ancient giants.

Once heavily logged, this stretch of the Russian River forest is healing rapidly. Young coast redwoods growing from the stumps of ancient giants tell a powerful story of recovery and renewal. Photo by Smith Robinson Multimedia. 

The permanent protection of Russian River Redwoods sets nearly 400 acres of recovering forest on a new path. In the property’s Silver Grove area, the massive, well-spaced stumps of bygone giants provide a blueprint for what this future forest will soon look like: spacious groves of rapidly growing redwoods that shelter an uncluttered understory of lush sorrel and green ferns. In a few generations, the property’s coast redwoods will reach critical carbon-storage capacity, packing away aboveground carbon at an astonishing rate. 

During our brief ownership, Save the Redwoods focused on site security and water quality protection, removing nearly a ton of refuse and installing fencing to protect a major creek on the property. To safeguard this maturing forest, we completed an interim forest management plan to advise the county on their stewardship activities. The plan included short- and long-term management strategies focused on improving the health of the redwood forest, increasing wildfire resilience, and maintaining biodiversity. Guided by our interim forest management plan, Sonoma County will continue to preserve the conservation values of the property for future generations. 

Realizing a long-held dream

Russian River Redwoods

Russian River Redwoods preserves forested views along a key stretch of river just south of Guerneville. Photo by Vivian Chen.

Securing this young forest and the beloved Clar Tree was a long-held dream for the local community—one that captured the nation’s imagination. When the opportunity arose to purchase the Russian River Redwoods property, supporters from every U.S. state quickly stepped up, helping raise more than $6 million to purchase the land from the RMB Revocable Family Trust. This included a $2 million bridge loan from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, a $500,000 matching gift from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, and donations from more than 2,000 supporters.  

Now transferred to Sonoma County, Russian River Redwoods will permanently safeguard climate resilience, biodiversity, and scenic beauty—for the benefit of local communities, visitors to this beloved recreation corridor, and all of California. It is a living realization of Save the Redwood League’s centennial vision to protect young redwoods and set them on a trajectory to become the old-growth forests of the future.