Recent Science and Education Projects

If you ask high school students what the impacts of climate change have been, they can tell you that the polar ice caps are melting, that we have extreme weather, and that California has been in a drought for the past few years. But if you ask them how climate change will affect our forests and the plants and animals that live in them, they find it harder to come up with an answer.

Coast Redwood Science Symposium showcased a tremendous amount of progress in the field of redwood science in topics ranging from genetics to wildlife.

The most common plant in the redwood forest is probably a fern: the Western sword fern. And this prehistoric plant, which is found in every redwood forest, is telling us a story about how the forests are responding to changes in climate.

Redwoods are in the news this week, reminding the world once again that Earth’s tallest trees are truly ecosystems in their own right. Teeming with life from quite literally their roots to their highest leaves, the magnificent coast redwoods are home to hundreds of other species.

When we take a close look at what makes redwoods survive and thrive, the trees have remarkable stories to tell. That’s what researchers discovered thanks to three studies supported by research grants from Save the Redwoods League over the past … Continued

Jackson does what she can to expand the horizons of her students. Each month she takes three or four students to a regional park for an extended hike. She has also participated in outreach programs sponsored by universities and conservation groups, including Exploring Your Watershed, a Save the Redwoods League project that teaches kids about the linkages between the East Bay’s redwood forests and San Francisco Bay.

Through our Redwood Phenology Project, we are collecting data on how our redwood forest plants are changing with climate.

We all know that redwood forests are part of a larger ecosystem, the components of which can find themselves closely intertwined and interconnected. This system can often be referred to as a watershed, where all the land-borne water downward, starting at the tops of the hills and making its way to the ocean. Everything in a watershed is connected, from the redwood forests to the San Francisco Bay — and knowing your place within the watershed can be a powerful tool in protecting these natural areas.

Redwoods are Humboldt County’s greatest treasure. They also happen to be an awesome teaching tool. Yet many of the area’s young people know little about redwoods and forest stewardship careers. Thanks to your support, which enabled Save the Redwoods League to provide an education grant to our partner, The Forest Foundation, the next generation of forest caretakers is taking root.

Sixth-graders trundle off buses and into a sun-speckled redwood forest. It’s terra incognita for most of them. But they are in good hands with educators from LandPaths, a Sonoma County organization supported by Save the Redwoods League education grants program … Continued