Rethinking monuments to the League’s founders
onIt is now well past time to rethink those memorials to League and to tell the whole story.
Why Are There Few Black Voices in Redwoods Conservation?
onThe more we learn about the cultural context of the early 20th-century conservation movement, the better we understand how the racist and classist beliefs and practices of the era created systemic impacts on today’s conservation and outdoor recreation.
Save the Redwoods League Announces Redwoods Research Starter Grants for Undergraduate and Graduate Students of Color
onSave the Redwoods League today announced Redwoods Research Starter Grants of up to $5,000 for undergraduate and graduate students of color interested in research in coast redwood and giant sequoia forests. Proposals are due December 1, 2020.
Reckoning with the League Founders’ Eugenics Past
onSave the Redwoods League has long disavowed our founders’ connections to eugenics. We now publicly acknowledge that piece of our history.
Instagram Inspiration from LGBTQ+ People in Nature
onWe at the League are inspired by the awesome work being done by the LGBTQ+ community to bring beautiful diversity to the culture of outdoor recreation and nature appreciation. This June, we wish to celebrate Pride by honoring the rich tapestry of identities that together make up a wonderfully diverse and colorful spectrum of queer experiences.
Connecting Communities and Redwoods
onA hike through Harold Richardson Redwoods Reserve reflects the League’s vision for linking diverse populations with the restorative power of redwood forests.
We Stand Together Against Racism
onBlack Lives Matter. We at Save the Redwoods League are deeply disturbed by historical and recent racial violence against Black Americans. We understand that there is a very real connection between the history of racism and exclusion in the conservation movement and the racism and injustice that persists in people’s everyday lives today. As members of a larger conservation movement, we at the League commit to being better allies to Black and other marginalized communities by not only standing in solidarity at this moment, but also by elevating their perspectives, needs, and interests in our work.
Redwoods Helped Connect My Latino Family to the Outdoors
onGuest writer Amanda Machado in Redwoods magazine recounts how visiting the redwoods with her family and friends made the outdoors feel culturally like home. “People shouldn’t have to search outside their community to find magic outside,” she writes.
Teresa Baker Blazes Trail for Racial Diversity in Parks
on“America is changing demographically,” said Teresa Baker, founder of the African American Nature & Parks Experience. “People of color will soon be in the majority, and we need to do everything possible to connect them to the outdoors, to help them experience the power of nature.”
Taking Action on Cultural Relevancy and Inclusion
onWhat I hoped to gain from the recent Cultural Relevancy and Inclusion in Outdoor Organizations convening was a sense of togetherness on a topic that very few outdoor organizations and foundations are addressing in action. It is a complicated topic to wrap one’s brain around in reaching an action plan, I get it, but what is at stake is a country that will be majority people of color in 20 years, and if people of color are not developing relationships with the land now, we certainly won’t care about saving the redwoods or protecting endangered species as we grow into a majority status.
Student Perspectives: Are You in the Redwoods?
onYour help is wanted and needed to increase the accessibility of parks to people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and economic statuses. National and state parks offer an experience that you simply cannot know from frequenting your local urban park. Serene naturalness, breaths of fresh air and lush trees abounding, and never-ending trails – what more can a person ask for? This begs the question, are you in the redwoods? And if not, why?
Parks for All: Californians Underserved by State Parks, Commission Finds
onCalifornia State Parks is one small yet important step closer to a more sustainable future, and it’s becoming clear what else must be done to get there. At the Parks Forward Commission meeting in San Diego yesterday, we reviewed the …
How Open Space Can Bring Us Together
onIn honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the National Park Service offered free admission to its parks on Monday. I hope you were able to take advantage, because visiting a park — whether national, state, or neighborhood — is …