Update on the Long-Awaited Pfeiffer Falls Trail
onAfter a tumultuous decade for Big Sur, we can expect a new Pfeiffer Falls Trail in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to reopen in early 2019, thanks to our funding partners and lots of hard, sweaty work.
After a tumultuous decade for Big Sur, we can expect a new Pfeiffer Falls Trail in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to reopen in early 2019, thanks to our funding partners and lots of hard, sweaty work.
As the Chief of the California State Parks Partnership Office, Christina Jaromay’s primary challenge is figuring out connections: how to make new ones and strengthen old ones. The long-standing partnership between Save the Redwoods League and California State Parks is one such relationship Jaromay oversees.
Fire is a natural part of the environment and benefits many forests. Prescribed fires have long been used to encourage growth of beneficial and native plant species and reduce the amount of combustible vegetation that could fuel catastrophic wildfires. Thousands of prescribed fires are carried out across the country every year, and they are integral to forest restoration and stewardship.
Bob grinned as he confirmed to us that in fact, we would be crossing the bridge. “Weren’t you warned? It’s the only way across. Move slow, stay on the left, and you’ll be fine.” After Bob climbed onto the first plank, his dogs jumped past him and trotted fearlessly across the bridge. We followed and separated ourselves to ease the stress on the old cables and limit any swaying. The milky-emerald water of the Mattole River rushed below, overflowing from recent storms.
Through thoughtful stewardship practices, the ways we seek to emulate aspects of the natural state of the forest can also work in conjunction with how we manage forestland into the future.
During a brief burn window in October, crews from California State Parks and the National Park Service diligently worked to restore the natural process of fire to various ecosystems in over 2,800 acres of Redwood National and State Parks.
In the scenic redwoods country near Eureka, California, lies Headwaters Forest Reserve. You might remember Headwaters as the subject of a very contentious, very public, decade-long struggle in the 1990s to protect ancient redwoods from continued logging. When you walk among its massive, moss-draped giants, it’s easy to see why so many people fought so hard for their preservation.
For the past few years the League has been actively restoring our Cape Vizcaino property along the wild and beautiful Mendocino coast. Our wildlife cameras have captured pictures of deer, foxes, coyotes, mountain lions and even bears.
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 …
The towering giant sequoias of Yosemite National Park are the iconic trees that catalyzed our Nation’s conservation movement, inspiring Congress in 1864 to designate both the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley “for public use, resort, and recreation”. Today, these mammoth …
This week, we walked onto our Orick Mill property and were greeted by a large herd of Roosevelt elk. The League purchased this 125-acre property in the heart of the Prairie Creek Corridor a few years ago and are actively …
Have you ever thought about what it takes to take care of protected land at the landscape scale? Most of us don’t manage areas of land much greater than our own backyards — it’s difficult to think on the scale …
Recently, I visited Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and was surprised to see mesh bags dotting the forest floor. Taking a closer look, I saw a variety of plants hidden under the mesh coverings. Park ecologist Jeff Frey explain the park …
The League’s Cape Vizcaino property is in need of a little TLC. Well, maybe a lot. In a previous blog, I described the problems we have with Douglas fir and tanoak trees encroaching into one of the property’s coastal meadows. …
During my annual monitoring visit to one of our lands, I noticed thick brush growing up around the redwood forest. Something would need to be done about it! California’s drought has brought dry conditions that create an increased chance for …
Happy first day of Spring! While our thoughts turn to rebirth and new beginnings of the season, I’m thinking about another kind of new beginning, because conservation as we know it is undergoing some substantial changes. It’s hokey, I know, but …
Like many in the land conservation arena, I often use the term “land ethic” in discussing the vision and work of Save the Redwoods League and our partners. As the League approaches its 100th anniversary, I’ve been thinking a lot …
When we want to restore forests, it’s as simple as just planting some redwoods, right? You may be surprised to hear that the business of replanting a forest is a bit more complicated than that. When we work to restore forests, we try to make sure that the forests we rebuild are as close as possible to those that were lost — and there are also very practical reasons for doing so
Last week’s blog began, perhaps a little cavalierly, with the assertion that growing big trees may be the easy part of redwood forest restoration, and so far as it goes that’s a fair assessment. It also may be a little …
On a cold December morning, I arrived at Rancho Mark West in Sonoma County to the sight of twenty-two sixth graders huddled in a circle beneath towering redwood trees. They were listening silently as their instructors explained how they were …