Redwoods and Climate Change

In the wettest, foggiest part of the range, canopy communities include ferns, shrubs, and even trees growing high above the ground. Photo by S. Sillett

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…

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Northern California Tribes and Agencies Plan for Tribal Land Return 

Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk (left) addresses panelists at the Northern California LandBack Symposium. All photos this article courtesy of Save California Salmon.

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,…

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Building a Local Workforce for the Restoration Economy

Crew break and check-in with the crew boss on the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI) portion of the Northern Mendocino County Forest Health Collaborative project. all photos this article by Will Emerson, Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance

By Cheyenne Clarke and Will Emerson, Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance Extraction-based economies boom and bust. Resources run out. Industries collapse. Therefore, extraction is not a viable form of economic growth for the future. So, what is? Restoration, regeneration, and renewal. The restoration economy can fill the void left behind by extractive industries. To quote…

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Musings on Forest Health

Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities, Healthy Comebacks PG&E’s Line-Clearing, Why We Need More than Memes, and Some Key Definitions of Healthy and Forest By Jeff Hedin, Institute for Sustainable Forestry, Commissioner, Piercy Volunteer Fire Department This article has been edited for length. For the whole “poetic song” and its long email response thread, visit instituteforsustainableforestry.com/articles/forest-health. In…

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The Richard Gienger Report

A beautiful example of a decommissioned and recontoured road healing and growing back. photo by Ash Brookens

Time moves fast, stalwarts in mirror reflections, and we anxiously wait—while trying to prepare—for what Winter and Spring will bring. I feel daunted, almost swept away, in the layers of complexity of “all the relations,” the history, and realities we face. Remembering Influential Community Members Along with the joy of life-returning rains in September has…

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“Stacking” Restoration Strategies for Greater Impact on Water Flows in the Mattole

A completed log weir (left) and beaver dam analog (right) in the South Fork of Lost River.

Understanding the Complicated Relationship of Hydrology and Geology By Anna Rogers, Sanctuary Forest, Inc. Since 2002, when the community called upon Sanctuary Forest to help address low-flow problems in the upper Mattole, we’ve been busily applying ourselves, trying different strategies to reduce the effects of drought and legacy impacts. We’ve worked closely with the community…

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Little Things Matter Most: Preparing Your Home for Embers from Wildfires

ember resistant home
This is an example of what makes a home vulnerable to embers. From top middle proceeding clockwise: 1) Tree canopies are too close together and too close to the roof edge. 2) Wooden gate attached directly to the wall allows high intensity fire to burn right up to the structure. 3) A woody shrub with dead material adjacent to the wall and the wooden fence could easily catch embers and spread flames to the home. 4) Another woody shrub with dead material, this time underneath trees, a textbook example of a ladder fuel. Also, the woody mulch would likely burn in an ember storm and spread to the shrub and the wooden fence. Photo source: http://fitzpatrickfenceandrail.com/wood-gates/

The Next Step in Maintaining Defensible Space By Mitchell Danforth, Community Fire Resources Coordinator,Trees Foundation Summer is here, and as we all know, so is wildfire season. Often wildfires are depicted as an indomitable force that sweeps across the landscape, leveling all in its path like a lava flow, and the homes left standing are…

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Defining and Working Toward Forest Health, Utilizing Wood When It’s Cleared, and Regenerating Community

Tan Oak Park

Reviewing a Community Event Series Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance By Cheyenne Clarke The Eel River Recovery Project and Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance have concluded their Spring community event series, which was made possible by the Trees Foundation Cereus Grant. Here’s what happened: Forest Health and Fire Resilience Workshop On April 3rd we kicked…

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A Tree Canopy for Every Park, School, and Yard

Releaf planting

With a Goal of Creating an Urban Native-Plant Oasis, ReLeaf Petaluma Hits the Ground Planting ReLeaf Petaluma As a new organization we are making rapid progress planting native trees in our city. People are wanting to take personal action against climate change, and this action is generating lots of support among both citizens and city…

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