Redwoods Rising is Putting Northern California’s Damaged Forests on a Better Path

Redwood National and State Parks are home to almost half of the world’s remaining protected ancient old-growth redwood forests. These parks also safeguard the tallest redwoods trees known to exist, imperiled salmon and trout, and rare creatures such marbled murrelets and the endangered western lily. Additionally, these ancient redwoods store more carbon per acre than any other forests on Earth.

However, despite their ecological riches and stunning beauty, these forests are far from being pristine, untouched wilderness. Approximately 80,000 of the parks’ 120,000 acres of redwood forests bear the scars of decades of industrial-scale commercial logging— some of which took place as recently as the 1990s.

Redwoods Rising is a collaboration between Save the Redwoods League, the National Park Service, and California State Parks that will greatly accelerate redwood forest recovery within these parks and help protect their remaining old-growth groves.

“This restoration project is essential to the long-term health of California’s redwood forests and the region’s environmental well-being, and it will also play an important role in the local economy by employing nearly 100 people during this difficult economic period,” said Victor Bjelajac, district superintendent, California State Parks, North Coast Redwoods. “Redwoods have a vital role to play in maintaining California’s climate resilience. This work and the employment opportunities it provides are key to the health and welfare of the region. We have an imperative to push this long-term project forward.”

Over the next several decades, this restoration program and partnership will ultimately restore more than 70,000 acres of coast redwood forests in RNSP. These forests were severely impacted by decades of commercial logging before being protected as public parkland. Since the launch of Redwoods Rising in 2018, the project has been undergoing critical regulatory compliance processes, surveying and data-collection at initial restoration sites, and reviewing public comments.

Donate to help make Redwood National and State Parks a place where giants rise across the North Coast once again.