Restoration

Video: Redwoods Rising gets to work

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Save the Redwoods League, California State Parks, and the National Park Service got together in June on Facebook to talk about Redwoods Rising, a joint partnership to restore 70,000 acres of redwood forest in Redwood National & State Parks. Work on this massive endeavor got underway in earnest in June.

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.

2019 Redwoods Rising Apprentices.

Redwoods Rising Student Apprentices Help Restore Redwood National and State Parks

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Eighteen students from Humboldt State University (HSU) are participating in a collaborative restoration project known as Redwoods Rising, gaining valuable knowledge and work experience studying the historically logged coast redwood forests in Redwood National and State Parks this summer.

Study Suggests Fires Increase Relative Abundance of Redwoods

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Researchers believe that fires burned through most redwood forests every six to twenty-five years; in other words, it was a normal occurrence. What is not normal, is the lack of wildfires in the redwood forest.

While it takes mere decades for second-growth redwoods like these to reach impressive heights, it takes can more time for the forest to truly recover.

How Long It Takes for a Forest to Recover after Clear-cutting

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For the sake of redwoods conservation, it’s crucial to understand the patterns of natural recovery in second-growth forests. Researchers at San Jose State University wondered how long it takes for a forest to truly recover after clear-cutting, and decided to approach the question by comparing forests in different age classes.

Shady Dell trail

Shady Dell

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For more than 100 years, this forest was a private, hidden treasure. Your generous gifts enabled Save the Redwoods League to buy the 957-acre Shady Dell and plan its restoration.

In fall 2015, California Conservation Corps crews and contractors removed part of the old Pfeiffer Falls Trail’s concrete and constructed a beautiful, small dirt section of trail. League members’ gifts have supported the planning and rebuilding of the rest of the Pfeiffer Falls Trail.

Restoration of Popular Trail Under Way

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Progress has started on rebuilding the Pfeiffer Falls Trail in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park! In October we kicked off the rehabilitation of the Pfeiffer Falls Trail by tearing up and removing asphalt along 260 feet of the beginning of the trail, closest to the Visitor’s Center.

Building a Trail in Paradise

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You’re closer to discovering our remote Shady Dell forest, home of the candelabra-shaped redwoods. Construction of the 2.3-mile trail will begin on June 15, 2015! The trail will feature about 50 feet of boardwalk, 231 steps, 30 feet of bridge, six interpretive signs, benches and a parking area. Construction is tentatively scheduled for completion by summer 2016.

High-severity treatments have boosted the growth of isolated giant sequoias in what is now Giant Sequoia National Monument. Photo by Rob York

Disturbances Benefit Giant Sequoias

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Being dwarfed by Earth’s most massive tree, the giant sequoia (aka “Sierra redwood”), fills you with wonder. It’s hard to believe that a living thing can be so enormous and old. It may be alarming to see these forests on fire, but research funded by your gifts shows that disturbances such as these actually are good for giant sequoias. Learn more about this research.

In Mill Creek forest, tree removal experiments explored how to bring old-forest features (such as giant redwoods and diverse plants and animals) to young forests like this one as quickly as possible. Photo by Kevin L. O'Hara

Forest Restoration through Thinning

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For more than half a century, the Mill Creek region in Northern California produced lumber. After clear-cutting, too many seeds were planted, producing a forest in which too many young trees competed for light, water and other resources. Now, thanks to Save the Redwoods League, Mill Creek is protected as part of Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park and is becoming a laboratory for redwood forest restoration. Learn more about this research.

Photo by cm195902, Flickr Creative Commons

Pre-Logged Northern Redwood Forests

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If you want to restore a logged-over redwood forest, how do you decide what should be there? In the past, land managers looked at the mix of species in nearby protected areas. But no one knew for sure whether they represented typical redwood forests—or just the ones with the most interesting or abundant redwoods. Learn more about this research.

In this logged forest, alders compete for dominance with Douglas-fir and redwoods. Redwoods here were stunted compared with their relatives in a untouched "old-growth" forest. Photo by Emily King Teraoka

Thinning Would Spur Old-Growth Qualities

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Upland forests in Redwood National Park have been studied extensively. But until a few years ago, less was known about streamside, or “riparian,” forests, which benefit the park’s salmon habitat by providing shade, erosion control and woody debris in the streams. So Humboldt State University graduate student Emily King Teraoka decided to compare two of the park’s riparian forests: one along Lost Man Creek, which had been clearcut between 1954 and 1962; and one along Little Lost Man Creek, which was mostly untouched. Learn more about this research.

Study results showed that at better-watered sites (similar to this one in Humboldt County), redwoods were randomly distributed. Photo by Daniel Lofredo Rota, Flickr Creative Commons

Old Redwood Forest Restoration

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Old-growth redwood forests are prized for their biological and aesthetic riches. If you’re a land manager trying to restore lands where redwoods have been logged, the old-growth forest is the ideal to which you aspire. But how do you move toward old-growth characteristics most efficiently? Learn more about this research.

Fire is an example of a disturbance event that redwoods face.

Fires Were Common in Rainy Northern Forests

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For years, Steve Norman had been told that the humid forests of coastal Northern California must be too wet to burn. Scientists who research fire acknowledge its power as a tool for reshaping the landscape, but some areas were considered nearly immune to fire. This assumption meant that the damp forests of Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park remained a blank file in the coastal forest fire records.

Growing New Giants Through Canopy Gaps

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It seems unfathomable that the tiny seedlings Rob York sowed among ash piles in a clearing at Whitaker’s Forest could someday grow to be among the largest creatures on earth. Yet these green specks grew into giant sequoias two years after seeds were strewn in canopy gaps. This species of titan tree has stagnated in regeneration efforts for nearly a century. York, along with his graduate advisor, John Battles, is working on unlocking the secrets to growing new giants. Learn more about this research.

Photo by  William K. Matthias

Land Use and Forest Conservation

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Dr. Sarah Marvin, professor of Geography at the University of Oregon, has set out to understand how the shape of the land and its use by owners reflect the probability of a privately owned coast redwood forest being protected. The two questions she has asked are: “Are privately owned forests more likely to be protected if they are on bigger parcels?” and “Do traditional, rural land uses as opposed to traditional, residential land uses promote forest preservation?” Answers to these questions might help predict the likelihood of future, private redwood forest protection and—of logged forests—regeneration. Learn more about this research.

Mill Creek. Photo by Evan Johnson

Thinning Speeds Recovery to Old-Growth

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Dr. Christopher Keyes and Andrew Chittick have found that thinning—removing select trees in a second-growth coast redwood forest—speeds up the forest’s development of old-growth characteristics, which include tall and bulky trees, small gaps in the canopy through which sunlight can penetrate, trees of varying heights, thicker tree branches, understory shrubs and ferns, and healthy young saplings. Learn more about this research.