Flowers for Susy

Susy Barsotti, a long-time member of the Hog Farm at Black Oak Ranch in Mendocino, and tireless environmental advocate, recently stepped down from the Trees Foundation Board of Directors after a quarter-century of dedicated service. She served Trees with aplomb, commitment, and boundless energy. Longtime Trees staffer Barbara Ristow recalls Susy “always promoting Trees” showing…

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Thank You for Supporting Trees Foundation!

Photo by Douglas Fir

We rely on the generous support of our readers to fund our work. Trees Foundation provides services to a network of over forty grassroots partner groups that are leading community-based efforts in healthy land stewardship throughout California’s Redwood Coast. Your donation enables us to continue supporting our partner groups, publish the Forest & River News…

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Introducing Baduwa’t Watershed Council

A successful Invasive Species Removal event in Powers Creek. Photo by Isabelle LeMieux

Formerly the Mad River Alliance In Humboldt County, the Mad River is a lifeline, heavily utilized by its surrounding communities, both human and animal. The watershed connects wild spaces to neighborhoods. The river is the source of drinking water for approximately 90,000 community members. It is recognized as a climate refuge, provides habitat for a…

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A Busy Releaf Petaluma Season Ahead as More Shade Trees Are Planned for the Area

ReLeaf Petaluma volunteer Stacey Lisker hard at work preparing a redwood tree for planting at a local park. Photo by Marcus Moore

Releaf Petaluma ReLeaf Petaluma has an exciting and ambitious planting season ahead. We kicked off our season on October 21 with a Pod Leader training event. A pod is ReLeaf’s term for a group of 8-10 volunteers that work together to complete an assigned area. We planted eight beautiful redwood trees at Grant Park while…

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Introducing Humboldt Waterkeeper!

On July 8, English Express students and their families joined us for a kayak tour of Humboldt Bay led by the wonderful guides at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center. Photo courtesy of Marcus Moore

New Name, Same Fantastic Bay Tours Humboldt Waterkeeper We have a new name! Humboldt Waterkeeper, formerly known as Humboldt Baykeeper, was founded in 2004 after the resounding defeat of a proposal for a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) import facility on the Samoa Peninsula. 2023 Humboldt Bay Tours Program From April to October, Humboldt Waterkeeper offers…

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Collaboration in McKee Creek

Two CCC members assist as community volunteer, Georje Holper (left), demonstrates for the crew how to branch-pack an incised tributary to McKee Creek. Photo by Ash Brookens

Sanctuary Forest By Ash Brookens, Sanctuary Forest Tucked between the winding county road and a densely forested hillslope as you approach the community of Whitethorn is McKee Creek, a headwaters tributary to the Mattole River. From the road, you might not even notice that it’s there. But this stream holds promise for coho recovery in…

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Jackson State Forest Update: CAL FIRE Poised to Restart Logging While Promises for Tribal Co-Management and Protection of Sacred Sites Go Unfulfilled

Activity in Jackson Forest in January of 2022 (Redtail plan) Photo by Chad Swimmer

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters By Karen Pickett, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH), Coalition to Save Jackson State Forest The good news is that quiet and calm settled into the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) during the last year and a half, absent roaring chainsaws and falling redwoods. The bad news is that the…

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The Roots of Cooperative Management

A meeting of the minds: Michael Evenson All photos this article courtesy Michael Evenson

By Michael Evenson With the formation of the Trees Foundation in 1991, founding directors Rick Klein and I sought a path for forest communities to continue to work in the woods while “restoring ecological functions,” terminology that changes with the times, but means healing from the outrageous disturbances of the past. The path to achieve…

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Pacific Reedgrass in the Garden

The author’s original planting of Pacific reedgrass in the partial shade of an oak tree. All photos were taken in late summer, before the rains. All photos this article by Cheryl Lisin

Calamagrostis nutkaensis This article was adapted from an article written by Cheryl Lisin for the journal Grasslands, Vol. 33, No. 1, Winter 2023 Pacific reedgrass is a large, showy perennial bunchgrass that ranges from Alaska to Central California, where it grows along the coast as well as in the mountains of the Coast Range. It…

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