What’s the difference: coast redwoods vs. giant sequoias?
onMixing up these two redwood species is easy. From bark color to cone size, here are easy tips for telling these two iconic trees apart.
Save the Redwoods League and California State Parks Bring the Giant Sequoia Forests of California into Classrooms Worldwide
onSave the Redwoods League and California State Parks have launched a new digital field trip that explores the challenges, including wildfires, facing our giant sequoia forests. Giant sequoia, the largest living trees on Earth, are found only in California’s Sierra Nevada. Their massive size, singular beauty, and rarity have made them living icons of the natural world and subjects of global fascination. The new giant sequoia program will air live through the Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students program (PORTS).
Redwood Research Proposals Wanted
onSave the Redwoods League uses redwood science to guide our conservation work and we are ready to invest in new studies that will help us save the redwoods. Since 1997, we have supported redwood and giant sequoia forest research on …
Fog is Back
onThe fog is back. After thinking mostly of drought for the last few years, suddenly my focus is back to fog. It’s the ephemeral and unpredictable force of nature that I spent nearly a decade studying among the redwoods. The …
Learn What You Know and Don’t Know
onAs surprising as it may seem, the shaded areas on park maps indicating different kinds of habitat and vegetation do not always reflect the reality “on the ground.” This is true for Redwood National and State Parks, which contains a …
Bats at the Redwood Treetop
onIf you’ve stood in the redwoods near dusk, no doubt you glimpsed bats darting above you. I love to see them, especially when I’m camping, because I know they are hunting pesky mosquitoes. A new research study by Jean-Paul Kennedy, …
Bird in hand and two in the bush
onSeveral weeks ago, a wily Steller’s jay outsmarted me while I cooked breakfast under the redwoods in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I was about to sit down and eat my scrambled eggs, but decide to first fetch the boiling water off my …
Redwood Creek Safe from Prolific Invasive Snail, For Now
onGood news is not always easy to come by in regards to the redwood forest. Whether it is the threat of development, water diversion or unsustainable logging, bad tidings are all around us. Even though they’re not always obvious, there …
How Best to Help Kids Learn About Nature?
onEnvironmental educators are always juggling what, how much and how long to teach students in nature. Do you let students explore and observe a forest on their own, or do you give them more structured activities? Do you introduce sophisticated …
Looking for the Forest in Bloom
onWhile many people were searching for brightly colored eggs this past Sunday, I spent my Easter hiking in the forest looking for trillium and rhododendron flowers. As I walked along the Lady Bird Johnson Trail in Redwood National Park, I …
Top 5 Fascinating Redwoods Facts
onIt’s National Environmental Education Week! This week is a celebration of environmental education and a special time to inspire learning and stewardship among students. I can’t say enough about how important outdoor education is to complete the circle of land …
Salamanders in the News
onIt’s not often that salamanders make the New York Times. But last week, the ‘Science’ section featured an article on a study investigating the role of salamanders in the global carbon cycle. Basically, salamanders are among the top predators in …
BioBlitzing with students!
onOn March 28th, over 4,000 visitors and volunteer scientists arrived at Muir Woods National Monument ready to learn, discover, and explore this absolutely amazing redwood forest. Thousands more visited the Crissy Field Center for the Biodiversity Festival. Whether or not …
BioBlitz is Here!
onThe time we have been preparing for during the past few months, BioBlitz 2014, is finally here! For the next two days you will find us at Muir Woods National Monument and the Crissy Field Center as we explore, learn, …
BioBlitz at Muir Woods: What Will We Find in the Canopy?
onThe Muir Woods BioBlitz is just a couple weeks away, and folks around here are getting excited. One of the hot topics of conversation around the Save the Redwoods League office is which species the scientists will find living in …
Using Cell Phones for Science
onThese days, I think it’s a pretty safe bet that many people spend more time on their cell phones — checking email, posting to Facebook, playing games— than they do out in nature. This trend seems especially prevalent among our …
Countdown to BioBlitz!
onIn 21 days we will have a major scientific event happening throughout the Bay Area: the 2014 National Park Service BioBlitz. Here at the League we are busy preparing for this 24-hour exploration of the ecologically diverse areas of the …
Epiphyte Heaven!
onI think I first really learned the meaning of the word “epiphyte” while working in the rainforest of Ecuador. There are epiphytes all over the trees in the tropical rainforest – one of the most famous is the orchid. But …
Our Redwood Classrooms
onBay Area residents got a sneak peek into the hopes and dreams of the Department of the Interior last week when Secretary Sally Jewell came to Crissy Field (external link) to announce the department’s new campaign to connect the next …
DIY Microscope: See Nature’s Secrets
onIf there is one piece of equipment to make you feel like a scientist, it has to be a microscope. There is something exciting about being able to see the hidden secrets of an object, the minutiae that are not …