Willow Walls, Cottonwood Containment, and Flood Control
Town Creek Restoration Project in Covelo Gives Round Valley Students Hands-On Experience By Eel River Recovery Project In 2021, the Eel River Recovery Project (ERRP) was awarded a grant from the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) Urban Streams Restoration Program (USRP) for work in Covelo in northeast Mendocino County. The Town Creek Restoration and Education…
Read MoreMarshall Ranch Flow-Enhancement Implementation Project Underway
Innovative Flow-Augmentation Project to Restore Flows in Redwood Creek By Salmonid Restoration Federation This summer Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF), Stillwater Sciences, and Edwards Excavation will build an innovative flow-augmentation restoration project on the historic Marshall Ranch to improve instream flows in Redwood Creek (a tributary of the South Fork Eel River) for threatened salmon and…
Read MoreAdd Butterflies to Your Garden!
Restoring Habitat for Pollinators Benefits Salmon and Other Wildlife By Audrey Fusco, Restoration Ecologist for the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network Along with plants, insects form the base of the food web and the bulk of the diet for fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Plants and insects have co-evolved. Native insects require a diverse set of…
Read MoreRedwoods and Climate Change
Vulnerability, Resilience, and Hope in the World’s Tallest Trees By Marie E. Antoine and Stephen C. Sillett, Cal Poly Humboldt Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) has a narrow and highly fragmented distribution along 460 miles of western North America. Although they occupy only a small land area, primary (unlogged, old-growth) redwood forests are globally renowned. Extreme…
Read More25th Annual Coho Confab on the Mattole River
Returning to the Roots of Coho Salmon Restoration, August 25-27, 2023 Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) is coordinating the 25th Annual Coho Confab that will take place August 25-27 on the Mattole River in Humboldt County. This year’s Coho Confab will be held at the Mattole Retreat Center which is on the banks of the beautiful…
Read MoreNorthern California Tribes and Agencies Plan for Tribal Land Return
Tribes Ask State to Update Policies and Join Fight for Unrecognized Tribes and Water Protection at LandBack Symposium Arcata, CA, from March 28, 2023 Press Release—Save California Salmon and Cal Poly Humboldt’s Native American Studies Department hosted the Northern California LandBack Symposium. This first-of-its-kind free event featured Tribal and State leaders, university representatives, foundations, NGOs,…
Read MoreGrowing Trees Foundation
In an effort to better serve our community and our partner groups, Trees Foundation has grown. We have new Staff, new Board Members, and a bustling new Forest Health and Fire Resources Program. After serving nearly four years as our Organizational Development and Partner Outreach Director, Kerry Reynolds is moving into a new position as…
Read More2022 Cereus Reports
In 1998, a generous individual contacted Trees Foundation with the desire to support local grassroots environmental activism. Shortly thereafter, the Cereus Fund of Trees Foundation was created. Her desire was to give annually, not only to Trees Foundation, but also to our many Partner groups. For 23 years, with direct input of the Cereus Funder,…
Read MoreEnter to Win! 2022 Quilt Raffle
$5 each or five for $20. Quilt is King Size. Drawing March 21st, 2023. Tickets available at TreesFoundation.org
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Annual Pikeminnow Dive Provides Insight
into Health of South Fork Eel River
By Eel River Restoration Project The seventh annual Eel River Recovery Project pikeminnow survey of a key reach of the South Fork Eel River took place on June 28th and 29th. It was determined that despite the population of this non-native predator remaining high, there were a surprising number of salmon and steelhead juveniles and…
Read MoreGrassroots Spotlight: Native Health in Native Hands
Revitalizing Wailaki Cultural Practices By Kerry Reynolds, Organizational Development & Partner Support, Trees Foundation In late 2021, an email came into Trees Foundation that asked about our mapmaking services. That was nothing unusual—GIS mapmaking is one of our most popular services. Little did I know then, that we had just made contact with Perry Lincoln,…
Read MoreThe Richard Gienger Report
The record October 2021 rains are a distant memory, but those rains seemed to have triggered some very good coho spawning numbers in many North Coast streams. Then we had basically no rain from January 1st through March, and we started getting frantic. April and May rain came as a real blessing and changed our…
Read MorePublic Records Requests and the Maintenance of Democracy
A Jackson Demonstration State Forest Case Study Implicit in a democratic process is the notion that government should be accountable for its actions. In order to verify accountability, individuals must have access to government files. Such access permits checks against the arbitrary exercise of official power and secrecy in the political process. (California Supreme Court:…
Read More24th Annual Coho Confab on the South Fork Eel River
Evolving Strategies to Enhance Coho Salmon Habitat Salmonid Restoration Federation Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) is coordinating the 24th Annual Coho Confab that will take place September 9–11, 2022 on the South Fork Eel River in Mendocino County. This year’s Coho Confab will be held at the Rangjung Gomde Buddhist Retreat Center, which is nestled in…
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Prescribed Fire:
An Indigenous Perspective
By Margo Robbins, Cultural Fire Management Council The following is a transcript of the talk given by Margo Robbins during a webinar hosted by Trees Foundation on Oct. 3rd, 2021 titled “Pathways to Fire Resilience.” She refers to some photos from her slideshow that don’t appear here, but you may watch her full presentation with…
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The Buckeye Ridge Prescribed Fire:
A Nonprofit’s Perspective
By Ali Freedlund, Mattole Restoration Council Charged into the marrow of my life is how I felt participating in the Stansberry Ranch’s 109-acre prescribed burn that occurred in February just outside Honeydew, California. The Buckeye Ridge burn was supposed to happen in the fall of 2020, but the river was the force that prevented it.…
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The Oak Knoll Prescribed Fire:
A Landowner’s Perspective
By Mitchell Danforth Wildfires represent the single greatest threat to most of our inland communities, especially in recent times, as fires have grown in size, intensity, and damage to people and property. It is critical to acknowledge that fires are not good or evil, they simply are—and like floods, landslides, snowstorms, and earthquakes, how we…
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The Old Briceland Ridge Prescribed Fire:
An Ecological Field Observer’s Perspective
By Kyle Keegan Ecological Restoration Is Not a Race: Lessons from Western Pond Turtle It was a 70-degree afternoon in February 2022 on Old Briceland Ridge: 1,960 feet of elevation amidst stands of Douglas-fir, scattered Tanoak, and Chinquapin. Winds were light out of the southwest, and relative humidities were in the high 40s. Fire had…
Read MoreTell PG&E to STOP Ravaging our Trees and FIX their Infrastructure Instead!
The Redwood Chapter of Sierra Club is leading a campaign to demand that PG&E stops ravaging our trees and instead invests in modern infrastructure that will greatly reduce wildfire risk. State leaders must hold PG&E accountable for its negligence. Why This Matters PG&E’s antiquated infrastructure is vulnerable to high winds and its outdated lines create…
Read MoreThe Cereus Fund of Trees Foundation Continues to Help Grassroots Environmental Advocacy in the Redwoods Region
The following pages highlight grassroots environmental projects supported by the Cereus Fund of Trees Foundation in 2021. Established in 1998, the Cereus Fund is a part of Trees Foundation’s Donor Advised Program which allows individuals to donate and direct funding to projects of their choice, which Trees Foundation administers on their behalf. To learn more…
Read MorePomo Perspective with Michael Hunter
The following is a partial transcript of the Oct. 18, 2021, KZYX Public Affairs show hosted by Alicia Littletree Bales, edited for length. Alicia Littletree Bales: Good morning, this is Alicia Bales. I’m live in the Ukiah studio with Michael Hunter [Chair of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians] …and we’re going to hear…
Read MoreThe Map: A Mythic Recollection
By Jeff Hedin Editor’s Note: We are excited to announce that the Mateel Region Conservation Context map—23 years in the making—is now available on our website at treesfoundation.org/map. We would like to acknowledge the dedicated work of activists Jeff Hedin and Rob DiPerna in the creation of this map, and to Trees Foundation’s past GIS…
Read MoreThe Early Days of Trees Foundation
By Leib Ostrow, co-founder and current Board Treasurer of Trees Foundation Ah, tracing the roots of Trees Foundation. For me its starts with fleeing my birthplace, as industrial a place as you can find, Detroit, Michigan. I had witnessed some of the worst of what humans could do to our Mother Earth and was searching…
Read MoreBack in Person! 23rd Annual Coho Confab to be Held on the Navarro River Aug 20-22, 2021
Evolving Strategies to Enhance Coho Salmon Habitat Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) is coordinating the 23rd Annual Coho Confab that will take place August 20-22 on the Navarro River in Mendocino County. This year’s Coho Confab will be held at River’s Bend Retreat Center in Philo which is nestled in the redwoods. The Coho Confab is…
Read MoreTrees Foundation Services Spotlight
ReLeaf Petaluma wanted to display the work they had completed for the planting season just ending, and turned to Trees Foundation for help. We created a map for them to identify the Parks and Schools where they planted trees in 2022-2023, and also to show those planned for next planting season and the one after.…
Read MoreThe Richard Gienger Report
Nancy Peregrine and the Fight for Sally Bell Grove Remembered, Paying Attention to Local Forestry, Enacting Good Stewardship, Book Nook Once again, some things to share: Part of my last column was dedicated to Nancy Peregrine, Fred “Coyote” Downey, and Lon Mulvaney, all lost by the community recently. This column is being drafted just before…
Read MoreAn Ecosystem of The Mind
For the record, I continue to investigate this lifelong obsession: forest, forests, but in particular, this forest outside my backdoor, this sister-city to the foggy, mossy, disorderly ecosystem of my mind. Jackson—I must use the name, not because I like it or approve of it, but because we haven’t agreed on a better name. English—I…
Read MoreOregon grape, Berberis aquifolium
Oregon grape is a beautiful shrub, especially when in bloom. The sweetly fragrant flowers bloom in late winter and early spring and are pollinated by bees and moths. After pollination, berries appear in clusters and ripen to a deep purple—hence the use of ‘grape’ in the common name. Birds love the berries, which are tart…
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