Help Save Noyo River Redwoods with Save the Redwoods League

The Save The Redwoods League has been a major force behind protecting stands of old growth redwood trees, and now they are fighting for the Noyo River Redwoods. Many of the state parks you hike in California’s coastal counties are there because of the tireless efforts of the league.

And now they have a  new struggle: purchase and protect the Noyo River Redwoods before April 1. If they fail, the towering trees will get the ax — literally.

Help Save Noyo River Redwoods

The Save the Redwoods League has kindly allowed me to reproduce much of their webpage about their 2010 campaign to save the Noyo River Redwoods:

The last surviving old redwoods in an important Mendocino County, California, watershed face logging after April 1, 2011, so Save the Redwoods League needs your help to raise $7 million to purchase and protect the trees.

The 426-acre property contains 123 acres of ancient and old redwood and Douglas-fir forest — about 30 percent of all remaining old forest in the Noyo River watershed.

This region has the fewest ancient redwood stands in the coast redwood range, making its purchase a high priority according to our science-based Master Plan.

The League’s purchase of the property would protect these last survivors of an ancient forest and allow restoration of habitat for imperiled salmon in the Noyo River, which runs through the property. The Noyo River watershed drains west and is the source of drinking water for Fort Bragg and the surrounding area.

Protecting the redwoods also would safeguard the wide variety of animals that depend on this complex forest for their survival. In addition, this project could provide habitat for other imperiled species such as the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet.

To protect the property permanently, the League would create a land preservation agreement and eventually transfer the acreage to a permanent steward such as a conservation organization or private party.

Current and future generations could see these remote, ancient redwoods from the Skunk Train, the 125-year-old railroad running between Willits and Fort Bragg.

We can’t afford to lose a single one of these living giants. A Timber Harvest Plan has been approved for the property, and trees are already marked for logging — which could begin as soon as the sale deadline passes if we don’t succeed.

The San Francisco Chronicle also has a very good article about the campaign here.

You can help by spreading the word, and also by giving a donation like I just did.

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