Save-the-Redwoods LeagueFall Bulletin 2007

Sinkyone Wilderness State ParkPhoto: Don Briggs

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The future vitality of the coast redwoods will dependin part on the fog, and the complex interplay of airtemperature, sea surface temperature, atmospheric andocean currents.

Eighteen years ago, sitting in the geography library atthe University of Cambridge, I read reams of researchon climate change. The evidence showed sometemperature changes taking place throughout theworld, but was it a natural cooling/warming cycle? Orthe result of human impact? Today symptoms ofchange are visible everywhere, from Britain, whereflowers are blooming earlier each year, to Chile whereglaciers are receding. Most scientists now agree thatthese changes are driven by increasing carbon dioxidein the atmosphere, caused by human activity. Ascientific, political, and public consensus hasdeveloped, spurring action to avert catastrophicchange. In this Bulletin, you will read about LeagueCouncillor, Todd Dawson, and his work to understandthe impact of climate change on the redwood forest.

For almost 90 years, Save-the-Redwoods League hasworked to protect the ancient redwood forest, resultingin the creation of a system of more than 51 redwoodparks and reserves. In the late 19th and early 20thcentury, the coast redwood and giant sequoia inspiredsome of the earliest citizen-driven conservation efforts. Inthose days the primary threat to the millennia-old forestswas the “axe and shake.” Our Master Plan for the CoastRedwoods guides our protection and restoration work toensure these places are large enough to sustain naturalprocesses and are connected to a resilient ecologicalnetwork. However, today’s threats to the coast redwood

Executive Director, Ruskin Hartley

Letter from theExecutive Director

and giant sequoia forests are more complex and insidiousand require a more sophisticated response.

We still need to work collectively, throughorganizations like Save-the-Redwoods League, toprotect and restore land (in this issue of the Bulletinyou’ll read about some critical park additions), but wemust also take personal responsibility for our actions.We can do so by reducing, re-using, and recycling, andby speaking up and letting everyone know we careabout wonderful places like the ancient redwoodforests.

How can we take action as individuals? I gave up mydaily coffee shop trip, opting for the communal pot inthe office. We replaced home lightbulbs with energysaving compact fluorescents. With a newborn child,facing the diaper-dilemma and endless laundry, weopted for cloth and a new energy efficient washer anddryer. We also walk as much as we can, or take the bus.These are all small things, but I hope that collectivelythey will make a difference

I encourage you to talk with your family and friendsand identify actions you can take to be part of thesolution. Gain inspiration by visiting the redwoodparks, explore volunteer opportunities, get involvedwith your communities in leading the charge to helpprotect our environment. Please write and share yourstories with me and other League members. Ultimatelyit is our individual actions that will save the redwoods.

Ruskin K. Hartley

When I walk through an ancient redwood forest I often get the

shivers. Not just because they are beautiful, but usually

because the misty, foggy trails leave their visitors a bit damp and cold.

Fog is the life-blood of the redwood forest, providing up to 40% of

the trees’ water during the driest months of the year. It is therefore no

coincidence that the redwoods grow more massive where the winters

are wet and the summers foggy.

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From the highest pointatop a lofty peak inGermany near the turn

of the nineteenth century,there exists a detailed accountof an immense, magnificentfigure created in the mists.Enveloped in shimmeringsunlight, it hovered phantom-like, but for a moment, overits chronicling climber. Thefigure was in fact nothingmore than the momentarilylingering shadow of theclimber, assuming a deceptivegrandeur in the sun. Thephenomenon, called the Broken Spectre, would later bedescribed as a curious incident which occurs when aperson sees his shadow—projected onto air filled withsnow-mist—as a grand, ethereal figure looming beforehim. The Spectre has remained fascinating to explorersthroughout history, revered as an instance of man findingwithin the elements of nature, quite literally, his larger self.

Over 200 years later, the idea finds its modern-daycounterpart perched high amid the coastal fog, over 200feet above the ground. This time, however, the shadowscast are significantly more imposing, for today ToddDawson and his group of researchers are placing sensorshigh in the foggy canopy of the redwood forest. For years,Dawson's research teams have ascended trees in Sonomaand Santa Cruz, installing nearly 30 pounds of gear tomonitor the moisture which giant redwoods absorb fromfog. Climbers of a different sort, Dawson and companyare making their own unique observations—and doing sofrom a spectacular vantage point.

Dawson, a UC Berkeley professor and Save-the-Redwoods League Councillor, has spent much of hiscareer studying the intricate relationships between thephysiological and ecological characteristics of plants andtheir dynamic environments. His prior studies inAmazonian forests described the elaborate manner inwhich trees use water, distributing it upward, while

amplifying both carbon uptakeand atmospheric cooling. Afew years ago, Dawson showedthat fog is a crucial source ofwater for redwood forests.Perhaps most importantly, hehas also noted how increases inair temperature reduce coastalfog in California. Havingmade this chain of keydiscoveries, Dawson nowwants to know how the forestswill be affected by globalclimate change—a studysupported by Save-the-Redwoods League's research

grants program. “What happens if our climate ends upchanging?" he asks. “How might that influence waterintake? And, in turn, how might that affect the forest?”

Global warming has, since its initial emergence into thepublic consciousness, been fundamentally associatedwith the basic functions of trees. As anyone who hasmade a terrarium in grade school knows, it is thephotosynthesis of trees and plants which convertscarbon dioxide (CO2) to oxygen. On the one hand, livetrees absorb atmospheric CO2, which they store asbiomass (“carbon stocks”) for hundreds or—in the caseof an ancient redwood—even thousands of years.However, when disturbed (by cutting, or naturaldisturbances such as fires and floods), forests release thisstored carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2.Forests, therefore, play a multifaceted role in climatechange, at once providing a reservoir or “sink” whichcollects atmospheric carbon dioxide, producing a“buffering” influence on overall climate, and effectively“recycling” CO2 and water from forest soil back intotheir respective cycles.

So, while a tree is essentially a reservoir which can holdcarbon and thereby protect the atmosphere, itsrelationship to overall climatic change is difficult topredict due to the complex interaction of the carboncycle, the water cycle, and other environmental cycles.

Anthony Ambrose, research team member, placing wireless sensornode in Sonoma County redwood photo: Kevin Simonen

By Stephanie Jakob

Casting a Long Shadow:Redwoods and Climate Change

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and giant sequoia forests will bealtered by climate change, exactlywhat will happen is subject to furtherstudy and debate. Existing modelsprovide conflicting predictions aboutCalifornia's future climate.

What is clear, however, is that theforest will change. Any hope ofprotecting it will require studyingthe changing forests relative to anormal baseline and developingspecific models for assessing thesechanges. Unfortunately, there arecurrently few available baselinevalues and parameters against whichthe changes may be measured andmonitored. Since no “climateresponse” baseline has yet beenestablished for either the coastredwood or giant sequoia, it is firstnecessary to conduct basic researchon the ecology of redwoods.

This is essentially what Dawson isdeveloping today. Using new stableisotope methods along withinnovative molecular andphysiological techniques, Dawson’sresearch group is building a workingmodel of the redwood’s basicbiological functions—including how

trees breathe, use fog, and processenergy. With the aid of several yearsof climate records and tree ring data,the group has explained the climatevariations which have affectedredwoods in the past. By measuringtree rings, researchers are able to

northern hemisphere to the coast ofNorthern California. Deforestationand development of the coast sincethe 1850’s have added to the risk ofthe forest’s survival. Today, theremaining ancient redwood forests,including both the coast redwood(Sequoia semipervirens) and the giantsequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)are but a mere fraction of what theyonce were. Both species have fallenprey to overzealous logging anddevelopment. Likewise, both ofCalifornia’s redwoods are likely to beimpacted by climate change, just asthey have in the past. The pivotalquestion then becomes: how willglobal warming alter these redwoodforests?

At present, the answer remainsunclear. While the forest sciencecommunity believes coast redwood

Todd Dawson, UC Berkeley professor and Save-the-Redwoods League Councillorphoto: George Koch

Fog interception collectorphoto: Todd Dawson

It is believed that, while forests docontribute to global CO2 emissions,they generally do not contribute toglobal warming because they fixmore carbon than they release,essentially “cooling” thesurrounding atmosphere with theirown transpired water. For these andother reasons, Dawson claims, treesand forests ultimately contribute tothe solution, minimizing overalleffects of climate change. Or, as heputs it, plants act as “this skin onthe Earth, pulling carbon dioxideout of the atmosphere and lettingwater go in a dynamic way whichhas climatic implications.”

Already, forest lands have faceddaunting challenges to their survival.Over the millennia, natural climatefluctuations restricted the range ofredwood forests from the entire

“…forests…fix more carbon than theyrelease, essentially ‘cooling’ the

surrounding atmosphere with theirown transpired water…”

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A low-carbon lifestyle beginswithin one’s own walls. While theUnited States alone accounts forover 20 percent of the world’sannual CO2 emissions,individuals are responsible forapproximately 55 percent of these.In fact, the average Americanlifestyle creates 20 metric tons ofCO2 every year.

While this is the individualequivalent of less than onemillionth of one percent of allGHG emissions, it is, putglobally, considerable. The WorldDevelopment Movement, forinstance, estimates each American“emits” more CO2 in just twoweeks than the average resident ofNigeria, Pakistan, or Vietnamdoes during the entire year. Wetherefore have the wherewithal toeffect significant change bychoosing low-carbon options inour daily lives.

The following are steps you cantake to reduce your carbonfootprint, from small measures tomore sweeping ones.

Beginner:• Recycle papers, bottles, and cans.

(100g carbon saved per item)• Rather than leave appliances and

chargers on standby, turn themoff when not in use. (300g)

Intermediate:• Turn down the thermostat by

one degree for the entire year.(240kg)

• Replace your boiler with an eco-friendly model. (100kg)

• If you own a car, makealternative transportationarrangements (public transit,walking, cycling) for seven days.(60kg)

Advanced:• Buy only local, seasonal fruits

and vegetables. (480kg)• Replace at least five light bulbs in

your house with compactfluorescent bulbs. (300kg)

• Reduce the number of long-haulflights taken. When possible,travel by train or other means.(Reduces emissions to 1/10 oforiginal value)

gauge yearly growth and, comparingthis to climate data, revealconnections between, say, fog

frequency and tree growth.Collectively, these efforts willprovide the necessary linkagesbetween our disparate bits ofknowledge: connecting carbonuptake to water usage, temperatureto fog, fog to growth, andultimately, climate change to forests.

In addition, a separate researchprogram, under the direction offellow Berkeley professor JohnBattles, is currently underway in thegiant sequoia groves. Battles and histeam are exploring how this mostmassive of living species on earthregenerates under differentenvironmental conditions.

And yet, any assessment or plan forthe forest also requires a practicalresponse to potential threats. It isperhaps unreasonable to attempt torestore forests to their pastconditions in light of rapid climatechange. It also remains unclear whatthe climate changes brought uponby carbon accumulation, such asincreased temperatures, might meanfor carbon sequestration.

Even so, Battles’s and Dawson’swork is rapidly painting a clearerpicture of these areas. Initialresearch suggests that, as averageglobal air temperatures increase, sotoo will sea surface temperatures.

Consequently, rising sea surfacetemperatures will diminish the fogin the coastal redwood’s habitat.Altered temperature regimes andwarmer oceans will likely reducerain and fog, creating more intensesummer droughts and causing severestress to forests. The pivotal windowof opportunity for action, therefore,is now.

All the efforts of Dawson, theLeague, and conservationistseverywhere are lost, however,without an appreciation of whatsomething immense as the redwoodforest ultimately signifies. Thoughthe studies primarily focus on

The Low-Carbon Diet: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

climate factors, they take as theirunderlying force the eminent,constant entity which the redwoodsembody. Like the oceans on whoseedge they prosper, redwoods arevast, wild treasures to behold notsimply for their inherent beauty, butalso for their unknown and perhapsuntapped potential to buffer climatechange. It is something Dawson,held high aloft in the canopies,realizes daily. This—considered withtheir stately permanence, timelessappeal, and all-encompassingpresence—is enough to elicit themost inspired awe, even fromground level.

Fog condensationphoto: Kevin Simonen

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Humboldt Redwoods State ParkIn April, the League acquired a 10-acre parcel in HumboldtCounty located on the southern stem of HumboldtRedwoods State Park. This property offers expansive views ofthe Eel River valley and the redwood forest. It is surroundedon three sides by parkland and located up-slope from apristine grove of ancient redwoods inside the park. Theacquisition halted the construction of a cabin, and will allowfor restoration of the forest habitat thereby protecting thetrees below.

Butano State ParkFour years of effort finally paid off when the League acquired100 acres of redwood forest in the Santa Cruz mountains inlate July. This rich forestland straddles the watersheds of twokey tributaries of Pescadero Creek, an important resource forsteelhead spawning and a target for restoration of cohohabitat. The purchase links Butano State Park to a prioracquisition now owned by California State Parks and itsmarbled murrelet nesting grounds.

Adifferent kind of transaction, completed in late May,marks the culmination of many years of League work. In

August 1998, the League purchased the 33-acre Hartsook Innproperty. The Inn, located in a grove of majestic old growthredwoods on Highway 101 just outside Richardson GroveState Park, had served since the 1920’s as the “gateway to theredwoods.” The Inn suffered financial hardship for manyyears, and it seemed likely that the old growth trees would beharvested to help defray debts. The League made the purchaseto protect the trees, but with an eye to fostering a continuingrole for this key juncture on the redwood highway.

In the fall of 2006, the League found a prospective buyerwho shares the League’s vision of maintaining the integrityof the ancient forest, while planning to make use of thecelebrated Inn as a wellness center. The League’s sale of theproperty, protected by a stringent conservation easement,frees the League from maintaining the Inn buildings,provides funds for future acquisitions, and ensures that theancient trees at this gateway are preserved for all time.

Recent Acquisitions Protect Eel RiverHabitat and Endangered Species

Sale of the Hartsook InnPreserves Gateway to theRedwoods

Hartsook Inn on theRedwood Highwaycirca 1930

These towering redwoodsgrace the League’s latestacquisition at ButanoState Parkphoto: Jed Manwaring

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In mid-April, the educationstaff at Muir Woods National

Monument hosted 15 Bay Areaenvironmental educators for atwo-day Questing workshop.The goal was to create a newplace-based program thatdeepens the redwood forestexperience for local students,using an interpretive tool calledQuesting.

In a typical quest, participantsfollow a series of clues (often inrhyme) which help them toexplore more deeply a uniquenatural or cultural setting. Aquest usually ends with finding a special treasure, butmost people find the quest itself to be the greatestreward.

Growing Communities: A Quest at Muir Woods is anextension of Muir Woods’ popular Into the RedwoodForest curriculum; Save-the-Redwoods League hasprovided funding for school bus transportation to MuirWoods for the last 6 years and is fully funding the newQuesting program.

“Without Save-the-Redwoods League’s encouragementand support, we could not have reached out to inner-city and low income students, affording them the

opportunity to experience thewonders of the redwoodforest,” said Park Ranger JimMacDonald. “Now, with theQuesting component, we canbroaden our impact by invitingInto the Redwood Forest‘graduates’ to return and sharetheir experience with familyand friends.”

Steve Glazer, Director of theValley Quest Program inVermont, facilitated theworkshop. His quests haveinspired people of all ages inNew England towns and parks.

Muir Woods National Monument looks forward tohosting up to 400 students on their quest this summer.All park visitorswill be able toenjoy the MuirWoods questsometime this fall.

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Bestselling Author Richard Preston Reveals the Redwood CanopyThe Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring, written by bestselling author of The Hot Zone,Richard Preston, is a spellbinding account of courage in one of the last great unexplored realms onearth: the giant redwoods’ canopy. In the 1990’s, a handful of climbers and naturalists beganexploring the topmost reaches on the coast of Northern California, where the last remaining giantredwood trees are hidden. Richard Preston tells the story of Dr. Steve Sillett, a four time recipient ofresearch grants from Save-the-Redwoods League, and Marie Antoine, botanist, both climbers whoopen to human knowledge the secrets of the world’s tallest forests.

Richard Preston is the author of seven books, a writer for The New Yorker since 1985, and winner of numerousawards. He mastered the techniques of tall-tree climbing and has worked as a professional expedition climber. Heaccompanied Dr. Sillett on the expedition organized by the League last year to measure Hyperion, the world’s tallestliving thing.

Muir Woods to Send Bay AreaStudents on Redwood Quest

…A log ahead creates a small waterfallFrom there take giant steps, about 15 in allStep through an arch of bay laurel treesA wonder of different life and light you’ll seeIn the opening spin aroundHow many types of trees can be found?

Sun kissed you are now, but that was not always soA giant bay laurel tree here did growAs it stretched for the sun, over it blewOpening a gap so light could shine through…

~ excerpt from Growing Communities: A Quest at MuirWoods, encouraging visitors to fully appreciate a light gapin the forest

Exploring at Muir Woods

To receive email updates about our work, send your email address to membership@savetheredwoods.org.

Save-the-Redwoods League 114 Sansome Street • Suite 1200 • San Francisco • CA • 94104

(415) 362-2352 voice • (415) 362-7017 fax • www.savetheredwoods.org

9 Printed on 100% post consumer recycled paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC),which promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable managementof the world’s forests. The printer, Watermark Press, is also FSC-certified.

Redwood GrovesDedicated BetweenJune 15, 2006 andJune 14, 2007

Butano State Park• The Haynie-Samuel Grove

Grove of Old Trees• The David Charles Johnston

Memorial Grove• Don and Louise Johnston Grove

Jedediah Smith RedwoodsState Park• Barbara Knowles Anderson

Memorial Grove

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park• Smith Family Grove - Benjamin

Steen Smith, Ellen Lott Smith &Bristlecone

Prairie Creek RedwoodsState Park• The A.S.W. Grundy Grove,

in memory of Doris (Ulrich)Grundy

• Illes Family Grove - Sandor, Etel,Theodora & Rex

Purisima Creek Redwoods OpenSpace Preserve• The William and Hazel Gilman

Memorial Grove

Sinkyone Wilderness State Park• Carl Moseley Grove

Wilder Ranch State Park• Mandello Maxwell Family Grove

Dedicating a redwood grovethrough a gift to Save-the-RedwoodsLeague allows your family to enjoya special place in the forest whilesupporting ongoing protection efforts.

League supporter Sheila Baumgartner didnot envision that her $10,000 bequest gift tothe League for a tree in the HumboldtRedwoods State Park Honor Grove wouldresult in such a memorable experience forher nephew, Matt Darling, and his family.Last Labor Day, the family met HumboldtRedwoods State Park Ranger, Dan Ash, tochoose the perfect 10’ diameter tree to memorialize Matt’s aunt and uncle.Matt’s sons loved making their way through the undergrowth, comparing theavailable trees and finally selecting a tree with a visible scar – the result of anattempt to cut it down over 100 years ago. Matt particularly liked this treebecause he said both the tree and his aunt had survived a loss. Just as the treehad healed itself, so did Aunt Sheila after her husband Richard’s death in 1985.Ranger Ash helped Matt then spot and mark the tree so that family memberswill be able locate it easily.

For more information about dedicating a tree or grove please contactAndrea Tyler, by calling toll free: (888) 836-0005, ext. 328 or email atatyler@savetheredwoods.org.

Robbie, Richie and Matt Darling

Give the Gift of RedwoodsThis Holiday SeasonPLANT A REDWOODSEEDLING: Truly the gift thatkeeps on giving – for a donationof $50 or more, the League willhonor or memorialize a friend orfamily member by having aredwood seedling planted in oneof California’s redwood parks.We will also send a beautifulcommemorative card to thespecified beneficiary or his/herfamily.

To make an honor or memorialgift, visit our web-site or call theMembership Department at(888) 836-0005.

The Honor Treewith the Scar

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2008 AnnualMembership RenewalWe’d like to thank you for your 2007membership gift to Save-the-RedwoodsLeague – your membershipcontribution is vital to our workprotecting the trees we all love. Weknow there are many non-profitorganizations deserving of yourfinancial support, and we hope that youwill continue to support the programsof Save-the-Redwoods League byrenewing your membership when yourrenewal notice arrives this fall.

You’re Invited!Membership ReceptionSan Francisco, CA: November 13, 2007(for details see www.savetheredwoods.org)

Cert no. SW-COC-1530