The ridgeline dividing Redwood National Park and Humboldt Lagoons State Park offers a spectacular view that’s uniquely Californian. To the far west is the rocky shoreline of the sapphire blue Pacific; closer is freshwater lagoon and open meadows where iconic Roosevelt elk roam in thriving herds. To the east, ancient coast redwoods rise from fertile soils.
Here, Save the Redwoods League has made a strategic move to acquire and protect this ridgeline and the nearby old-growth forest of Redwood National Park. Over the last nine years, the League has acquired four properties totaling 90 acres, protecting this important natural corridor from subdivision and development.
In 2020, the League plans to transfer the properties to the National Park Service for inclusion in Redwood National Park, connecting it with Humboldt Lagoons State Park, protecting the mixed conifer forest and wildlife corridors on the properties, and enhancing recreational opportunities. The project also buffers from development the nearby old-growth redwoods in Redwood National Park. Because of their sweeping views and proximity to roads, each of the four properties faced significant threats of development.
Expanding the Protected Redwood Landscape
The acquisitions are the latest action on a vision that began in the early 1920s when the League started on an ambitious path to return the core of California’s redwood country to its historical greatness – establishing parks, connecting preserves, healing damaged forests, and expanding recreational and educational opportunities for visitors to the region.
Redwood National and State Parks, a unique collaborative comprised of Redwood National Park and Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks, covers more than 130,000 acres of spectacular wilderness, and is home to 45 percent of the world’s remaining old-growth redwoods. Acre by acre, Save the Redwoods League has helped build Redwood National and State Parks to what it is today, acquiring and transferring more than 50,000 acres over the years.
The project also continues the League’s effort to safeguard the larger Prairie Creek Corridor, the gateway to northern California’s core redwoods country. The goal here has been to create seamless protected lands in the larger Prairie Creek area, restoring the landscape to provide nature’s benefits and recreation for visitors.
Tags: 2019, acquisitions, current, Humboldt Lagoons State Park, land acquisition, Prairie Creek Corridor, Protect, Redwood National Park