Good news on the environmental front! While you were busy worrying about Trump, an ambitious nonprofit from San Francisco called Save the Redwoods League has been buying up huge, expensive, redwood-filled properties in Sonoma County — with the goal of filling a “crucial gap between conserved lands stretching all the way from the Bohemian Highway to the Pacific Ocean,” org leaders say. The latest plot of land on their list, just south of the Russian River next to the county’s existing Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park, should open up all sorts of cool thoroughfares for humans and animals. That is, once they officially buy it (they’re still raising money) and hand it over to Sonoma County Parks this summer.

Here are more details on the purchase from SF Gate:

San Francisco environmental group Save the Redwoods League has announced plans to purchase 1,517 acres of forest near the Russian River, filling a gap in a chain of protected land that now stretches over 34 square miles across the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast.

Parcels that make up the property will be purchased from the Mendocino Redwood Company for $24 million, the league announced in a press release [on Feb. 11]. The purchased land is set to connect Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park to the east and Sonoma Coast State Park to the west, adding to an existing swath of protected land that blankets much of the Russian River Valley and a large stretch of coastline. 

“The property really makes a connection from the town of Monte Rio all the way to the ocean and also is a fantastic corridor for habitat movement,” said Jeff Stump, the league’s director of land protection.

Most of the property included in the purchase has been subjected to timber production for the past century, the league wrote in its release. Though the land is largely made up of second- and third-growth coast redwood and Douglas fir forest, it does include some scattered old-growth trees, including a 200-foot, 1,500-year-old redwood that Stump refers to as “the decadence tree.”

“It’s been struck so many times by lightning and had so many reiterations. It’s just really, really neat-looking tree,” Stump said.

And the Press Democrat reports that another “special place on the property” is known as “The Sound of Music“ for its sweeping view of the Russian River, the Pacific Ocean and the Jenner Headlands, all at once.

Just last month, this same organization bought an even larger piece of redwood land on the Sonoma coast: 1,624 acres for a reported $16 million. They say the coastal plot is filled with a whole bunch more “second-growth” redwoods, plus picturesque prairies and stunning ocean cliffs. From their Jan. 14 announcement:

Sonoma Coast Redwoods lies within the traditional homeland of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, the original stewards of this vibrant landscape. Safeguarding the 1,624-acre property from development will reconnect nearly 8 miles of streams and more than 7.8 square miles of protected habitat for fascinating plants and animals. It also creates an exciting opportunity to extend the California Coastal Trail from adjacent Fort Ross State Historic Park and expand recreational access for locals and visitors alike.

Securing this essential redwood landscape will also increase wildfire resilience in fire-prone Sonoma County and set this former timberland on the path to becoming an old-growth forest once more. Currently the property is covered by more than 800 acres of coast redwood forest, ranging from young trees bouncing back from the 2020 Meyers Fire to scattered old-growth giants that have stood for 1,000 years. This variety indicates a healthy recovering forest — the kind where maturing second-growth trees can grow quickly and pack away large amounts of carbon when the planet needs it most.

I should also mention that the Save the Redwoods League isn’t the only one buying up and conserving redwood land in Sonoma County these days. A gorgeous 356-acre, $2.2 million plot just opened in the Camp Meeker area along Bohemian Highway, thanks to the county’s own “Ag + Open Space” agency. And that same agency is currently in the process of conserving another 394-acre, $6.2 million plot right next door. We seem to be having a full-on redwood renaissance these days — and since none of its funding is federal, the war on wokeness can’t touch it, for now.

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!

We’ve all been hearing some pretty scary things lately about important land-stewardship projects across California losing their federal funding and support — national park and forest maintenance, wildfire prevention programs and more. But there’s one ongoing environmental initiative with big implications for the North Bay’s water supply that it seems we can be cautiously optimistic about: the Potter Valley Project up in Humboldt County. That’s because, two Thursdays ago, a whole host of different state agencies, county governments, tribes and other orgs reportedly reached a “historic pact” on the project’s future.

Potter Valley is an old, defunct power plant with two dams that PG&E officials run along the Eel River — one they’ve been wanting to get rid of for years now. In fact, there are very few remaining fans of the Potter Valley Project. Local tribes especially would love to see the Eel River undammed, with dreams of a salmon revival and ecological renaissance like what we’re seeing along the newly dam-less Klamath River to the north. The complication being, of course, that this same Potter Valley apparatus currently diverts Eel River waters into the Russian River and the Lake Mendocino reservoir — a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people living downstream in Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin counties, who use this water to survive. (Here’s more info from the Sonoma Water agency about how that whole system works.)

Which brings us back to the new pact, signed in a feel-good ceremony on Feb. 13. The Press Democrat reports:

Officials from three counties and the Round Valley Indian Tribes have reached a historic agreement that paves the way for continued diversions from the Eel River to bolster flows in the Russian River.

The agreement represents a critical development for anyone whose water comes from the Russian River.

The complex accord resulted from years of negotiations to preserve supplemental flows in the Russian River, the water lifeline for residents, ranchers and wildlife in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The agreement also supports the restoration and fish recovery in the Eel River, which was crucial to securing support from environmental interests, tribes and Humboldt County residents.

It is, at last, the “two-basin solution” envisioned by regional stakeholders in 2019 and even earlier, when Pacific Gas & Electric first raised questions about whether to continue operating the small, aging hydroelectric plant in Potter Valley through which Eel River flows have been redirected.

But the path to sustainability isn’t over yet. It’ll be a long and expensive one, by the sound of things. To start, we’ll get less water now — around 12% less per year, according to the PD — because diversions to the Russian River will mostly only happen in rainy months, when Eel River waters are high enough to support it. So we’ll still have to figure out how to make up the difference. Also: Under the agreement, Russian River water users are expected to ”wean themselves from the Eel River by developing new water storage and supply solutions” and “raise $50 million or more for new diversion facilities and $50 million or more for additional restoration funding.” In addition, we’ll need to pay around $1 million per year to the Round Valley Indian Tribes, who will now own Eel River water rights instead of PG&E, for continued diversions — and up to another $1 million per year for ongoing environmental restoration efforts.

As far as I know, it’s not yet clear where exactly this money will be coming from. (And I have no idea what’s going on with that $15 million in federal funds promised to the project by U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman last month; I’ve been asking his office about it, but last I heard from them, they were “still gathering information and updates so don’t have a solid read out right now.”) So, yeah — everything is not all figured out forever. The latest plan still has its critics, too, like folks in Lake County who rely on water from the Lake Pillsbury reservoir. (Pillsbury is currently fed by the Eel, and would go dry under this plan, as I understand it.)

Still, the big thing that many others are celebrating at this juncture is how many groups with opposing interests came together to compromise and agree on something, in an age of chronic division and discord. Here are some choice quotes from the pact-signing ceremony last week, via the PD:

While the paradigm for addressing contentious issues, especially water, is conflict and litigation, “you all chose a different way among a lot of different interests, different needs,” [California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot] said. “This pathway is a model not only for California but for our country at this time.”

In a nod to recent rhetoric from President Donald Trump regarding California water policy, [California Fish & Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham] referenced critics who call the state “crazy,” incompetent and foolish for choosing “fish over water” supply.

“We can do ‘yes, and …’” Bonham said. “We can do it all in California.”

Another reason to celebrate is that, under this plan, we’d potentially be entering into more of a right relationship with an outside water source we seized as our own more than a century ago. No one is celebrating this aspect harder than Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, whose district includes the Lower Russian River Area and the Sonoma coast. She could hardly contain her excitement in a newsletter she sent to constituents last week. I’ll reprint the whole thing here, even though it’s long, because it feels important. Lynda writes:

It’s not every day that you get to take part in a historic moment. Last Thursday was one of those days where I had to pinch myself and ask, is this real life? Is this really my day job?

On Thursday February 13, an MOU was signed between the Round Valley Indian Tribe, Mendocino County Inland Power & Water Commission, County of Humboldt, Trout Unlimited, CalTrout, Sonoma Water, and the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. This couldn’t have happened without the leadership of Secretary Wade Crowfoot and California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham.

This MOU will support water security for Sonoma County. It will allow us to continue to provide more than 600,000 people in Marin and Sonoma Counties with drinking water. It will support agriculture in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. In the lower Russian River, it will support maintaining our minimum instream flows which is critical for native fish and our summertime economy. This is a big deal for us here locally.

But much more importantly… this MOU will begin to right a wrong that started one hundred and twenty-five years ago.

Ground was broken on the Potter Valley Project in 1900. Think about that: 125 years of the Russian River Watershed taking, without asking, from the Eel River Watershed, all because some guy had the bright idea to punch a hole through a mountain. 125 years of impacts to Tribal culture, fisheries, riparian and estuarine ecosystems. 125 years of a transactional relationship that only went in one direction. The Eel River was treated like a bank that we only ever withdrew funds from.

Last week we committed to taking water only in high flows. This is known as the “run of the river” solution, and the “two basin” solution. And what’s more: we committed to compensating the People and the lands that have been harmed by this transfer for more than a century. The sovereignty of the Round Valley Indian Tribe is honored as the holders of the water rights. The Tribe will be receiving annual payments for as long as the water flows between the watersheds. Additional annual payments will go towards an Eel River Restoration fund. 

In my 8 years in government I’ve never witnessed such diverse interests come together to make the world a better place. Tribal leadership. Local governments who were on opposite sides of a 125 year deal (with some of us benefitting, and some of us being harmed). Environmental groups. A state agency more accustomed to regulating than creating. We all stepped out of our comfort zones and did something today. Was it a compromise? Absolutely. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. We still have a long way to go — to honor our agreement, and to ultimately transition to a self-sufficient Russian River watershed.

But it felt like the arc of the universe bent a little bit more towards justice on that day. And it was an honor to be there and be part of it. We CAN change the world. It starts with respecting and honoring each other, and history.  

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!