redwood science

The PORTS program connects students to their state parks through videos and interviews with a park ranger. Photo courtesy of California State Parks.

Save the Redwoods League and California State Parks Bring the Giant Sequoia Forests of California into Classrooms Worldwide

by Save the Redwoods League on

Save 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).

Photo courtesy Save the Redwoods League

Redwood Research Proposals Wanted

by Emily Burns on

Save 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

by Emily Burns on

The 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 …

Coastal Trail, Skunk Cabbage Section, Redwood National Park, CA

Learn What You Know and Don’t Know

by Joanne and Doug Schwartz on

As 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

by Emily Burns on

If 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, …

Longtime League Councillor and research advisor, Bill Libby, says hello to a squawking Steller's jay being studied at Big Basin State Park.

Bird in hand and two in the bush

by Emily Burns on

Several 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 flows through Redwood National and State Parks before reaching the ocean.

Redwood Creek Safe from Prolific Invasive Snail, For Now

by Richard Campbell on

Good 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 …

Students conduct scientific investigations of redwood trees as well as explore the forest in Little Basin.

How Best to Help Kids Learn About Nature?

by Deborah Zierten on

Environmental 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 …

(HSU) interns, Shawna and Jake, conducting weekly plant monitoring.

Looking for the Forest in Bloom

by Deborah Zierten on

While 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 …

Here at the League, we love learning about the forest! Photo of RCCI researcher collecting data, by Steve Sillett.

Top 5 Fascinating Redwoods Facts

by Sam Hodder on

It’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 …

Small salamanders are having a big impact. Photo by Anthony Ambrose

Salamanders in the News

by Richard Campbell on

It’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 …

Deborah Zierten worked with junior high students from San Francisco to document species at Muir Woods during BioBlitz. Photo credit: Tonatiuh Trejo-Cantwell

BioBlitzing with students!

by Deborah Zierten on

On 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 …

View of the coast redwood canopy. Photo by Stephen Sillett

BioBlitz is Here!

by Deborah Zierten on

The 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, …

Will wandering salamanders be among the creatures found in the canopy during the BioBlitz? Photo by Dan Portik

BioBlitz at Muir Woods: What Will We Find in the Canopy?

by Richard Campbell on

The 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 …

Marin high school students use their cell phones to participate in Redwood Watch, our citizen science program.

Using Cell Phones for Science

by Deborah Zierten on

These 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 …

Crown‐mapping involves measurements of heights, diameters, distances, and azimuths of all branches. Here Jim Spickler (left) extends a steel tape to measure the horizontal extension of a dead branch while Bob Van Pelt (right) records the measurement. Photo by Stephen Sillett, Institute for Redwood Ecology, Humboldt State University

Countdown to BioBlitz!

by Deborah Zierten on

In 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 …

Epiphytic mushrooms and moss growing on a redwood branch. Photo by Steve Sillett

Epiphyte Heaven!

by Deborah Zierten on

I 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 …

Students measure fern fronds through a Save the Redwoods League education program at Redwood Regional Park. Photo ©Save the Redwoods League.

Our Redwood Classrooms

by Sam Hodder on

Bay 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 iPhone microscope.

DIY Microscope: See Nature’s Secrets

by Deborah Zierten on

If 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 …

You can be a scientist and help redwoods, too! Image © Save the Redwoods League

You Too Can Be A Scientist – Join Redwood Watch Today

by Richard Campbell on

Did you ever want to be a scientist but think it’s just for professionals?  Love the redwoods but don’t know how to help?  Lucky for you, the League has a project that can solve both these problems. As part of …