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!
