forest restoration

We're trying a variety of restoration techniques at Mill Creek.

Sustainability or Resilience?

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Do you feel tension?  No, not emotional tension, the intellectual kind.  Does intellectual tension invigorate you?  It invigorates us at Save the Redwoods League.  There is a debate among conservationists:  should our goal be sustainability or resilience? At Save the …

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Photo by Jon Parmentier

Three Northern Forests Paint a Picture of Hope

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I don’t get out to the woods for work nearly enough these days (then again, who does?), but last week was an exception.  During a trip to the Northern California forests for some meetings, I was lucky enough to get …

Giant in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Redwoods and the Passage of Time

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Time.  Einstein said, “Time is an illusion.” We all feel that it goes by too fast. Dr. Seuss said, “How did it get so late so soon?” To make a difference, we have to focus on now.  As Mother Teresa said, …

Another Side of Cemex

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This week I explored Cemex Redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains with my colleagues.  I’d been there many times, but this time felt different because I walked into corners of the expansive property that I hadn’t seen before. During my …

The League will own, steward and manage Shady Dell for the foreseeable future until we can transfer it to a permanent steward.

The Tasks Ahead

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“To some it might appear that, having accomplished what will be considered one of the greatest pieces of conservation work in America, the Redwoods League might not have a place of as great importance in the future as that occupied …

Grove in Hendy Woods State Park.

Life on the Forest’s Edge

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It takes a long time to get to Hendy Woods State Park from San Francisco. It takes a while to get there from pretty much anywhere, but it’s worth it.  Approaching the park through the Anderson Valley wine country, the …

(c) 2012 National Geographic

Large Old Trees at Risk

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Open up the 2012/12 issue of National Geographic to see photos of an incredible giant sequoia and the phenomenal diversity of plants and animals that live with this redwood in the forest. On the backside of the fold-out photograph of …

Giant redwood crowns loom over a canopy of lesser trees (Picea sitchensis, Tsuga heterophylla) in JSRSP. Photo by Stephen Sillett

Cap-and-trade among the redwoods

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This was a big month in California. While the election may be the first thing that comes to mind, we also witnessed the first auction of carbon credits to companies that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every …

Hiking in the Wasatch Range east of Salt Lake City.

The Future of the Forest: Why Saving Land is Just the Beginning

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Hiking in the Wasatch (Mountain) Range east of Salt Lake City, the Aspens are golden and shimmering, doing their quaking thing in the autumn sun. I am with land conservation colleagues, taking an afternoon off from the seminars at the …

Sudden oak death in Marin County, California. Photo by USFS Region 5, Flickr Creative Commons

Oaks and Ashes and Chestnuts, oh my!

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A recent article in the Observer, “Die-back kills off 90% of Denmark’s ash trees,” had me both remembering my childhood and thinking ahead to the future of the redwood forest.  Growing up in Britain, I remember the scourge of Dutch …

Alerce. Photo by andrea ugarte, Flickr Creative Commons

80 Degrees of Separation

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If you leave Redwood National Park and journey 80 degrees south you will arrive at the coastal town of Valdivia, Chile.  These two areas—equidistant from the equator, north and south—are about to be united through a sister park relationship that …

Giant Sequoia

25 Years of Controversy amid the Monarchs

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I just got back from a trip to see the cinnamon-colored giants of Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest in the southern Sierra. It was a real treat to explore a giant sequoia grove for the first time, especially when accompanied …

Redwoods compete for sunlight.

The Olympic-like Competition among Redwoods

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There’s nothing quite like the image of five Olympic rings to remind me of good old competition! I love the excitement that builds up as the games begin, wondering who will reign supreme. Trees may not be aware of our …

Selection harvest in Mendocino County.

We Can Halt Animal Extinction by Restoring Forests

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To prevent species extinctions it is necessary to take advantage of the window of opportunity for forest regeneration. Restored forests gradually recover species richness.