Today, redwoods stand at a critical point. The current and projected interactions of these stressors jeopardize more than 90 years of League conservation work. We must act today to protect redwoods from these threats in the future. Learn more about you can help.
Wonderful redwoods enthusiasts like you contributed the $100,000 needed to gain a matching gift for San Vicente Redwoods, the largest unprotected redwood forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Pete and Patty Mattson, long-time Save the Redwoods League members, generously donated the matching funds.
National Geographic magazine’s December cover story includes the remarkable findings of League scientists who are studying how redwoods can survive sweeping environmental changes. The feature includes incredible photos, such as a portrait of a 3,200-year-old giant sequoia.
Thanks to your support that enabled Save the Redwoods League to provide an education grant to our partner, The Forest Foundation (external link), the next generation of forest caretakers is taking root. Over two days, the Auburn-based foundation took 65 high school students from Humboldt County-area schools on a learning adventure called “Map It, Manage It, Sustain It.” Learn more about this program.
Today, redwoods stand at a new crossroads of environmental change where rapid climatic changes and other factors threaten them in ways they have not experienced before in their long history on Earth. Our Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative research project will help us understand redwoods’ vulnerabilities to climatic changes so we can protect these forests in the future. Now Initiative scientists are studying 450 redwood saplings.
Your support helps Save the Redwoods League study redwood forests and their surrounding land and waterways to understand how to best protect these resources. Research also helps us learn what the forest’s survival means to the health of people and our planet. Now you can read details of the League-sponsored science symposium, The Coast Redwood Forests in a Changing California. Highlights include the keynote speech on conservation by Ruskin K. Hartley, former Executive Director of Save the Redwoods League, and a paper on how plants absorb fog by Emily Burns, former Director of Science.
Did you know that redwoods are not only highly resistant to fire but are nearly indestructible? Just one year after devastating fires, redwoods that had been scorched were already covered with the green fuzz of new foliage. Are you aware that installing rest boxes (like birdhouses) on trees can help save members of the weasel family known as martens? These agile creatures are redwood forest dwellers that have nearly vanished.
As the story goes, in 1852 a hunter wounded a grizzly and chased it into a forest, only to find trees that were three times bigger than any he’d ever seen before. The hunter spread the word about the red-barked giants. Today, Calaveras Big Trees State Park (pictured) still surprises visitors with its spectacular giant sequoias.
Just a few hours north of San Francisco in northern Mendocino County lies a special place for redwoods, wildlife and American Indians. Known as Four Corners, this 164-acre parcel is covered with beautiful redwoods and offers a home to threatened wildlife. For more than a thousand years, this land has been the meeting place for native and non-native local residents. With your gifts, Save the Redwoods League has protected and donated the property to descendants of the land’s original inhabitants. Learn about our unique agreement.
Michele Luna shared a story about an inspiring moment with a child who participated in her organization’s redwood education program (pictured), thanks to your support of Save the Redwoods League. The anecdote is from Luna’s colleague:
Stephanie Rico feels fortunate to live among the redwoods in the San Francisco Bay Area. One of her favorite things is standing in a circle of redwood trees at a nearby park with her son. “I look up and feel humbled,” said the Wells Fargo Vice President of Environmental Affairs. Troubled by how climate change will affect our lives, Rico wants to motivate more people to work toward solutions. Learn more about Wells Fargo’s support of the redwoods.
Unless we take care of the land and waterways around Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, the amazing 2,000 year-old giants at Stout Grove and other parts of the park will suffer. The streams running through the Mill Creek property just south of the park should nurture Stout Grove and imperiled salmon, but they’ve been damaged by 100 years of logging. See how Save the Redwoods League and California State Parks are restoring Mill Creek’s waterways.
In Humboldt Redwoods State Park near the town of Pepperwood is a swath of ancient redwoods so dense that it seems impenetrable (pictured). Abundant fog nurtures the lush ferns and sorrel that cover the ground. The Eel River runs turquoise nearby. Save the Redwoods League has been protecting this park’s forest piece by piece since 1921, safeguarding an area that today is the size of four Manhattan islands.
It can be a long, winding even stressful drive to Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park at the northernmost tip of California. But it only takes moments to be completely at peace here. Step into this cathedral-like stand, and you’ll gaze upon immense redwood columns rising to a canopy that filters the sunlight. A thick carpet of needles and ferns traps every sound, creating remarkable silence.
We thinned and restored dense forest to reduce fire risk and prepared the Beaver Creek property for transfer to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The League also installed fencing to mark the new park boundary. This property will buffer Calaveras’ amazing giant sequoias.
Save the Redwoods League awarded 34 grants to nonprofit organizations to foster a deeper understanding of redwood forests through personal visits and educational experiences among diverse groups of adults and children. Learn more about these grants.
Tell the kids in your life the story of the redwood forest and other trees with these three great books.
The Tall Trees Grove (pictured) in Redwood National Park gained more protection after Save the Redwoods League recently facilitated the donation of a 120-acre buffer property from private landowners to the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The weight of salamanders in the redwood ecosystem is greater than that of all other vertebrates collectively because there are so many of the amphibians! Predicted drier forest conditions may threaten amphibian species, said David Wake, Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Wake and other scientists discussed the impact of climate change on redwood ecosystems at a recent Save the Redwoods League-sponsored symposium.
Conrad Benedicto (pictured), Executive Director of Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative (WALC), is the first recipient of the Save the Redwoods League Redwood Educator of the Year award. WALC helps underserved San Francisco high school students learn about redwoods through an integrated curriculum and extended field trips to redwood parks.
