Celebrate the League’s Centennial in 2018

Participate in events and activities to mark 100 years of redwoods conservation

You’re invited to join Save the Redwoods League in celebrating 100 years of redwoods conservation leadership that protected the world’s greatest forests and helped inspire the national conservation movement.

Established in 1918, the League and generations of our dedicated supporters have protected more than 200,000 acres of majestic redwood forests in California, including 66 redwood parks and reserves. The League has pioneered innovative, science-based forest-restoration techniques and touched the lives of hundreds of millions of people by connecting them to the marvels of nature throughout the redwood forest. More than 31 million visitors from around the world visit the redwood forest each year.

To celebrate 100 years of redwoods conservation, the League is launching multiple initiatives that extend current programs and break new ground toward fulfilling our three-part mission: to protect, restore and connect.

Here are highlights of upcoming programs. Get the latest details by signing up for our emails and joining our social communities shown at the bottom of this page.

CONNECT: The League connects people to the peace and beauty of California redwoods through a network of magnificent parks and protected areas.

Big Basin is among the parks participating in the League's 2018 Free Second Saturdays at Redwood State Parks program. Photo by Paolo Vescia
Big Basin is among the parks participating in the League’s 2018 Free Second Saturdays at Redwood State Parks program. Photo by Paolo Vescia

Centennial initiatives include:

    • JANUARY and MONTHLY: Free Second Saturdays at Redwood State Parks
      In collaboration with California State Parks, the League is now offering free day-use admission to more than 40 redwood state parks on the on the second Saturday of every month throughout 2018. The first Free Second Saturday is January 13. If you didn’t get a pass for January 13, passes for February 10 will be available starting on January 15. With generous support from Centennial sponsor Oracle Corporation and Save the Redwoods League members, more than 16,000 free vehicle day-use passes are available in 2018 across more than 40 parks.
    • JANUARY and ONGOING: #Stand4Redwoods
      Share why redwoods are special to you and add a photo or video to your post on our social communities.  Please include #Stand4Redwoods in your posts so that we can see them and share them. We may feature your post in Redwoods magazine!
    • JANUARY: Tu B’Shevat in the Park
      Join Save the Redwoods League and Reboot from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, January 28, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish Arbor Day and New Year for Trees. The event will reimagine the Tu B’Shevat ritual and inspire how we as a community can plant and protect trees for our future. Help us plant a tree, enjoy great music and activities for the whole family and learn about the important work we must do to keep our planet green and healthy for generations to come. Join us at the WWI Memorial in Heroes Grove (external link).
    • JANUARY and ONGOING: ExploreRedwoods.org
      On Tuesday, January 23, the League will launch a mobile-friendly online guide and trip planner for visiting more than 100 redwood parks and places in California.

 

PROTECT: The League protects ancient redwoods and the vibrant forest landscapes that sustain them.

McApin Ranch. Photo by Mike Shoys
McApin Ranch. Photo by Mike Shoys
  • McApin Ranch: The League has signed a purchase agreement for McApin Ranch, protecting the last and largest remaining unprotected old-growth forest in private ownership – thanks to the generous gifts of our supporters! We have exceeded our goal of matching $2 million in challenge grants offered by two longtime supporters to protect McApin, a magnificent hidden wonder along the Sonoma coast. Stay tuned for our plans to open this magical forest to the public.
  • The League will continue to build on its extensive history of redwood forest protection with land acquisitions that will protect critical resources and expand the acreage of public parks. Significant projects will be announced later in 2018.
  • State of the Redwoods Conservation Report: This first-ever report will be released in April, cataloguing the current state of the coast redwood and giant sequoia forests.
  • Redwoods Climate Change Initiative (RCCI): In the spring, we’ll announce the phase 2 results of this groundbreaking research project, which began in 2009. RCCI reveals how redwoods are responding to climate change and, in fact, how redwood forests are a critical resource to combat it. Answers will guide the League’s protection and restoration efforts.
Residual old-growth redwoods rise above a second-growth stand in Redwood National and State Parks. Photo by Mike Shoys
Redwood National and State Parks are the site of a major restoration project. Photo by Mike Shoys

RESTORE: The League restores young redwood forests to become the old-growth forests that will benefit future generations and the future of our planet.

  • Redwoods Rising, a major restoration project in collaboration with California State Parks and the National Park Service, will be officially announced in spring 2018.
  • The League is working with many nonprofit and public agency partners to heal the redwood forest landscape with innovative treatments that will accelerate the development of old-growth conditions in young, historically clearcut forests.
  • Fuels reduction projects are being implemented on League-owned properties as models for similar treatments throughout the range that will reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire and enable a broad variety of restoration practices.

Redwoods History: The Past and Future

The ancient coast redwood forest originally stretched over 2.2 million acres across 450 miles from California’s Big Sur Coast to just over the Oregon border. In the wake of the 1849 Gold Rush and California’s demand for lumber, primeval redwood forests that flourished undisturbed along the North American West Coast for more than 100 million years suddenly began to disappear. In just a few generations, they were reduced to just 5 percent of their original range. Similarly, giant sequoia, among the largest and oldest of the planet’s living things, also suffered huge losses, with nearly a third logged or otherwise destroyed.

Coast redwoods dwarf cars along The Redwood Highway. The redwoods' stunning beauty along this road spurred the establishment of Save the Redwoods League in 1918. Photo by HC Tibbitts.
Coast redwoods dwarf cars along The Redwood Highway. The redwoods’ stunning beauty along this road spurred the establishment of Save the Redwoods League in 1918. Photo by HC Tibbitts.

A hundred years ago, the League’s visionary founders rallied to protect these incomparable trees from extinction by launching the world’s first conservation organization devoted exclusively to the permanent protection of coast redwood and giant sequoia forests. Their efforts also launched this country’s land conservation movement. As the League developed the tools of modern land conservation, the organization inspired a cultural shift in the country: a recognition that the value of redwoods and giant sequoia extends well beyond planks, vineyard stakes and fence posts. Ancient redwoods became emblematic of the American landscape, treasured for their intrinsic ecological value and for the psychological, emotional and spiritual benefits they bring to those who explore these majestic forests.

Today, we continue to protect redwood forests with the same passion and foresight our founders shared. We thank all our generous supporters for helping the League get to this historic moment.

“One hundred years ago, the ancient redwood forest was disappearing at an extraordinary pace,” said Sam Hodder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Save the Redwoods League. “Thanks to the unwavering commitment of League supporters and partners over the past century, we saved the world’s most iconic forest from elimination. But our work is just beginning. Throughout this landmark year, we will be announcing major initiatives, scientific discoveries and our vision for the future of the redwood forest. Today, we begin with new and expanded programs to connect yet more people to redwoods this year and beyond. To walk among these giants is to look upon the original face of nature and experience the incomparable majesty of the world’s tallest and some of the largest living things.”

About the author

Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has protected and restored redwood forests and connected people with their peace and beauty so these wonders of the natural world flourish.

bear reading the blog
Get the latest redwood updates in your inbox

Leave a Reply