photo by Thomas Rex Beverly

Thomas Rex Beverly has dangled from ropes in deep caves and off Patagonian glaciers to masterfully record the sounds of nature which help bring stories like CODA, The Last of Us, and Frozen II to life. This time, he hopes to dangle overnight from an old-growth redwood in the “Valley of the Giants” at Camp Jones Gulch, which you protected in 2022. Excited to uncover sounds of nature nearly imperceptible to the human ear alone, he cups his ears listening intently in the old-growth grove to gauge how long sounds travel beneath the ancient trees. After carefully listening to a subtle gust of wind blow through the grove, he explains the sound of the wind is formed by the length of the tree’s needles; their distance from the ground mellows the sound.

As he looks for ideal spaces to place his microphones attuned to different levels of noise on the forest floor, he hopes to hear water, rain, wind, birds, and the hollows of the redwoods as they can only be heard by one of the most sensitive microphones in the world. But recording at Camp Jones Gulch has different challenges than some of Thomas’ more remote locations. Just miles away from the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, airplanes occasionally make their way above the canopy and enthusiastic young YMCA campers below.

To capture as much of the forest’s subtle sounds as possible, Thomas camped at Camp Jones Gulch for a week. What he heard were astonishing sounds that set him on a magical microphone mystery.

Visit Sounds of the Forest for an immersive journey into this environment and hear the solitude of the forest come to life.

Join Thomas Rex Beverly on his Curiosity Stories quest to hear the redwood forest as you never have before.

Subscribe to Sempervirens Fund’s YouTube channel to follow Thomas' journey in the first season of Curiosity Stories.

More to Explore

• Watch more Curiosity Stories about the wonders of redwoods
• Subscribe on YouTube for episode 2 of Thomas’ Curiosity Story
• Learn more about redwoods

The post Recording Redwoods: Sounds of the Forest appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

Properties acquired by Sempervirens Fund since the 2020 CZU fire will help establish the Saddle Mountain Welcome Area at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

Boulder Creek, Calif. (April 26, 2024) — Today, Sempervirens Fund, California’s first land trust, announced the purchase of two properties adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, which are intended to support California State Parks in creating a new entrance at Big Basin, ensuring the long-term health of its old-growth redwoods, and improving access for visitors, especially in response to the 2020 CZU fire.

Although only 10 acres, the two properties combine with 184 acres of land protected by Sempervirens Fund since 2022, in the conservation area the state agency calls Saddle Mountain. Combined, the nearly 200 acres of redwoods will be key in Reimagining Big Basin as State Parks envisions the relocation of park infrastructure like visitor services and employee housing away from their former location near prime old-growth redwood habitat. Planning for reimagining Big Basin commenced following the CZU Fire in 2020, which burned 97% of Big Basin, including the original visitor’s center and other park services buildings.

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin’s AB 2103, which passed out of committee earlier this week, makes it easier for State Parks to acquire land for Big Basin, as well as Butano and Año Nuevo State Parks.

The view from Sterrenzee Ridgetop, one of six properties protected for the Saddle Mountain Conservation Area since the 2020 CZU fire. Photo by Orenda Randuch.

“We’re thrilled to be able to expand protected land in the Saddle Mountain Conservation Area and look forward to State Parks acquiring the 200 acres to secure the new entrance to Big Basin,” said Sara Barth, Executive Director of Sempervirens Fund. “A big takeaway from the Reimagining Big Basin process was that we need to relocate critical park infrastructure away from the old-growth forests, and this land is the perfect site to make that vision a reality. Advancing AB 2103 would help expedite Reimagining Big Basin at a critical time.”

“AB 2103 will help provide State Parks timely transfers of land acquired by conservation organizations near Big Basin, Año Nuevo, and Butano State Parks to speed up the land acquisition process and permanently protect lands for conservation, cultural, or recreational purposes,” stated Gail Pellerin (D- Santa Cruz). “Following the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Wildfire, which burned across the entirety of Big Basin Redwoods State Park and portions of surrounding parks, this bill is important to reimagine the future of Big Basin, California’s oldest state park.”

Both properties, located in the Boulder Creek Watershed, are sparsely forested with second growth redwoods and hardwoods and contain very impressive views of the upper San Lorenzo Valley. Sempervirens Fund now owns 6 properties in the Saddle Mountain Conservation Area, including the Gateway to Big Basin, Saddle Mountain Vista, and the properties that comprise Sterrenzee Ridgetop.

The Park Core Vision Concepts for Big Basin with the entrance and welcome area at Saddle Mountain. From www.reimaginingbigbasin.org

Together they are likely to be the future home for new visitor-serving facilities at Big Basin. State Parks’ Reimagining Big Basin Vision Summary from 2022 identifies Saddle Mountain as the ideal location to create a park welcome center with some new park buildings and day-use parking away from the old-growth redwood forests where they have historically been housed. Relocating park development and infrastructure, most of which were destroyed by the CZU Fire, out of the forest will increase the health and resiliency of Big Basin’s old-growth redwoods.

“Reimagining Big Basin will only be successful with partners stepping up to advance critical needs, like expanding the area of parklands around Saddle Mountain to accommodate necessary visitor-serving facilities,” said Chris Spohrer, Superintendent, Santa Cruz District-California State Parks. “We are grateful to Sempervirens Fund and their donors for protecting nearly 200-acres of forests at the entrance to Big Basin over the last three years.”

Sempervirens Fund paid $845,000 for both properties, and funding for the purchases came from the Lipman Family Foundation and more than 600 individual donors, including one bequest.

The post NEWS: Sempervirens Fund Acquires Properties for New Entrance to Big Basin Redwoods State Park; AB 2103 Advances in State Legislature appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

All photos and video by Orenda Randuch Photography

Notes on Mushroom Identification

Hundreds of fungi are known to exist in the redwoods but there are an estimated 3 million species of fungi on the planet and only about 140,000 of those have been described by science. Even those that have been described are sometimes re-classified, like the mica cap, as we learn more about them. Pictures can’t always give us all of the information needed to properly identify a mushroom, like yellow staining milk caps and southern candy caps which could look similar from above at different stages. Seeing a mushroom from below, like its gills, or inside, like the center of its stipe, can help but sometimes spore color–which can require time or a microscope–are needed to be sure, Maya notes.

Mushroom cap

Mushroom cap and stipe shape

Mushroom stipe base and gills

Mushroom stipe center

What is a Mushroom?

You may think of mushrooms as food, medicine, or psychedelics but to fungi mushrooms are reproductive organs. When you consume a mushroom, you are only consuming the fruiting body of a much larger organism. “The body of the fungus is mycelium, which is a filamentous network made up of microscopic strands called hyphae,” Maya explains. A mushroom’s role is to share its genetic information to create the next generation. The reason we see mushrooms while most of the fungus is underneath the soil, is because a mushroom rises up to where it can spread its spores on the wind or with the help of passersby.

Brown Cup Mushroom

Brown cup mushrooms (Peziza arvernensis), like these found recycling wood to enrich the soil at San Vicente Redwoods, release spores from the smooth inner surface of their cup in a delicate smoke-like wisp after its been triggered by touch or a burst of air. Maya suggests blowing on a cup mushroom with a long stream of air to see its spores dance gently away. It takes billions of spores to be visible to the human eye, Maya shares, each one of those spores contains genetic information to create the next generation of fungi.

Brown cup mushrooms

Spore Color

The color of spores can be a helpful way to confirm the identity of mushrooms like Pholiota velaglutinosa that have look-alikes with similar habitats like other fungi in the Pholiota family. Spores are tiny but a mushroom’s gills are designed to pack as many in as possible. The best way to see a mushroom’s spore color is to place the mushroom in question on a plain white sheet of paper and covering it with a bowl to see the color of the spores as they collect on the paper, Maya suggests. Pholiota velaglutinosa has brown spores. Another helpful clue for confirming Pholiota velaglutinosa, also known as the slimy-veiled Pholiota, is the thick slimy coat on the reddish brown cap when it's fresh.

Pholiota velaglutinosa mushroom

The Dangers of Decay

While many fungi help to decay wood and dead plant matter–creating space and nutrients for the next generation–a mushroom’s own decay can make it difficult to properly identify. Even past its prime, this large mushroom felt nearly as heavy as the wood it was growing on. But Maya cautions, decay can effect identifying features of mushrooms—some are even known to have their flesh change color when bruised or cut. This specimen is decayed enough that Maya isn’t confident of its identity.

Mushroom specimens too decayed for confident identification

Violet Tooth

Rarely seen in the Santa Cruz mountains or on conifers–trees that make cones–this violet tooth (Trichaptum biforme) was found helpfully breaking down the wood of a burned Douglas-fir at San Vicente Redwoods. It’s violet edge helps differentiate it from the more common turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) but the color can fade as the mushroom ages.

Violet tooth mushroom

Rosy Conk

Another colorful soon to be fan-shaped fungi decomposing a scorched fallen Douglas-fir is the rosy conk (Rhodofomes cajanderi). When young, the rosy conk can be hoof shaped like these. Look closely and you may see what appear to be drops of blood but don’t worry, the reddish droplets are enzymes the mushrooms release.

Rosy conk mushrooms

Mica cap mushroom

Mica Cap

While foraging isn’t permitted in San Vicente Redwoods fragile recovering ecosystem, this common edible mushroom can be found growing in clusters near the stumps, dead trees, and logs that it breaks down from fall into spring throughout the redwood range. Mica cap (Coprinus micaceus, formerly known as Coprinus micaceus until 2001) doesn’t have much flesh but can be used to make flavorful sauces and gravies. One of their easiest identifying features is its deliquescing gills which means they release their spores in an inky liquid.

Copy Caps

Yellow staining milk cap (Lactarius xanthogalactus) can be found growing from southern California to Oregon where these mycorrhizal fungi network with the roots of trees to exchange nutrients and information. But this yellow staining milk cap was seen growing at San Vicente Redwoods where it has a look-alike. Maya explains yellow staining milk cap isn’t edible and can give you a tummy ache while its similar looking cousin southern candy cap (Lactarius rufulus) is edible. Her bonus tip? She likes to place southern candy caps on the dashboard of her car and enjoy their maple syrupy smell as they dry like a natural air freshener before cooking with them. Southern candy caps grow and partner with coast live oaks and so will yellow staining milk caps. Maya says the best way to make sure you don’t have a yellow staining milk cap is to look for their namesake yellow milk-like substance that they lactate.

Southern candy cap mushroom

Southern candy cap mushroom

Yellow staining milk cap mushroom

Yellow staining milk cap mushroom

Confusing these cap mushrooms is a mistake you can certainly survive to regret. However, there are three mushrooms in the Santa Cruz mountains that Maya says it could be possible not to survive misidentifying.

Poisonous Mushrooms and Mistaken Identity

Despite common misconceptions of deadly mushrooms, Maya says you can touch or take the tiniest bite of any mushroom and you’ll be fine. However, the three most common deadly poisonous mushrooms in the Santa Cruz mountains—death cap (Amanita phalloides), deadly galerina (Galerina marginata), and western destroying angel (Amanita ocreata)—can easily be mistaken for other mushrooms and consumed in dangerous amounts.

Destroying Angel

Thankfully, a western destroying angel (Amanita ocreata) can be identified by its white gills, wide bulbous volva (sack) at the base of of its stipe, and tough stipe that is not hollow, Maya explains. A stipe is what us non-mycologists might think of as a stem or stalk. Young western destroying angel mushrooms start out in white egg shapes that look a lot like edible puffball mushrooms. When foraging, Maya highly recommends slicing any puffball mushrooms in half to look for signs of a mushroom growing inside, like a stipe and cap, which could indicate it's actually an “egg” of a young western destroying angel.

Western destroying angel mushroom

Orange Jelly versus Witch’s butter

Orange jelly fungi can look alot like witch’s butter. While both are edible, by most accounts neither is terribly appealing once cooked and Maya advises against eating raw mushrooms. Raw mushrooms can have brown garden slug slime on them which can carry a disease, and all mushrooms contain chitin which–fun fact–gives them their rigidity just like insect and crustacean exoskeletons and can give us tummy troubles. Orange jellies are more orange and less “snotty” than witch’s butter but unless you have them side by side, the easiest way to tell them apart is by what they’re growing on. “A lot of mushroom identification is rotting log identification,” Maya laughs. This orange jelly spot (Dacrymyces chrysospermus) was found growing on a Douglas-fir which makes cones whereas witch’s butter (Tremella aurantia) is a parasitic fungus that grows on false turkey tail fungi on broad-leaved trees like oaks.

Orange spot jelly mushroom

Orange spot jelly mushroom

Witch's butter mushroom

False Turkey Tail
and Sudden Oak Death

Unlike turkey tail (Trametes versicolor), false turkey tail (Stereum hirsutum) never has the solid white pore surface underneath that turkey tail does. But of course, its not always so simple to identify. While false turkey tail is usually seen in fan shapes you might expect of turkey tails, they can also make crust-like formations. False turkey tail is the most common mushroom in the Santa Cruz mountains, Maya says. Unfortunately, each false turkey tail seen growing on an oak or tan oak tree is a sign that the tree might be infected with Sudden Oak Death, she explains. While false turkey tails decompose the wood of trees including those killed by the invasive, quick spreading disease, the number of trees dying adds to the amount of wood that can fuel the next wildfire to more damaging levels. Although Sudden Oak Death can increase the spread of fire, fire can decrease the spread of Sudden Oak Death. Maya says, “good fire dramatically reduces Sudden Oak Death.”

Fire can also support fungi that support the trees and the future.

False turkey tail mushrooms

High severity burn area at San Vicente Redwoods

Fungi and Fire

From the trail, Maya points out how much better the forest fared where techniques based on traditional tending practices like prescribed burns and shaded fuel breaks were done before the CZU Fire tore through San Vicente Redwoods in 2020. “Burning practices that care for the oak trees also tend the fungi under the trees that benefit the oaks too,” she explains.

Mycorrhizal fungi that create a network for exchanging nutrients and information among trees in the forest benefit from low intensity fires like prescribed and cultural burns. Low intensity fires recycle the nutrients from dead branches, leaves and plant material into the soil where their tree partners can access them. Burning off that debris also reduces fuel the next wildfire can burn to grow hotter, faster and more damaging to mycorrhizal fungi’s forest friends.

Less severe burn area at San Vicente Redwoods

Biscogniauxia

Upon first glance, you may think Biscogniauxia is wood charred in a fire, but it is actually a fungus that Maya has only seen post-fire. This possible fire mimicry may just be a coincidence, but to tell whether you are looking at burnt wood or a fungi working to break down wood after a fire, look closely for tiny dots which release spores.

“Fires break down nutrients in the summer, fungi break them down in the winter,” Maya explains.

Biscogniauxia fungi

Coltricia perennis mushrooms

Coltricia Perennis

Although much more could be learned about Coltricia perennis, sometimes called brown funnel polypore, it is known to have a preference for burned areas like San Vicente Redwoods. More than one fungi species currently uses the name Coltricia perennis but they are all different than most other small polypores. Coltricia perennis is ectomycorrhizal and forms helpful connections with coniferous trees in the redwood forest–especially pines–helping them to access nutrients and information rather than decay wood as many small polypores do.

Sulfur Tuft

Colorful sulfur tuft mushrooms (Hypholoma fasciculare) like these yellowish orange ones have been used for dye but Maya advises against using it for cooking. Sulfur tuft can cause what she politely calls “gastrointestinal discomfort”. Like other saprotrophic fungi, sulfur tuft has a crucial role in the forest. It mostly grows on Douglas-fir trees in the Santa Cruz mountains where it breaks down dead, woody debris and returns the nutrients to the soil. After the CZU Fire burned most of San Vicente Redwoods, there is lots of woody debris that would be beneficial to break down before it can become firewood for the next wildfire.

Sulfur tuft mushrooms

Fungi and the Future

The vast amount of woody debris that could fuel the next fire isn’t the only issue fungi can help with at San Vicente Redwoods. Maya shares that oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) are being studied at San Vicente Redwoods to see how they can help reduce further impacts from the CZU Fire on the environment. Oyster mushrooms are known for their ability to break many toxins down through their mycelium underground. By breaking down buried logs underground, Maya hopes oyster mushrooms can keep more of the carbon San Vicente’s trees had trapped out of the air. Near the creek, Maya hopes their mycelium, which act as underground sponges helping trees through droughts, can filter toxins from burned homes from washing into San Vicente Creek’s crucial habitat for endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout. Fungi can even break down organic materials in petroleum and are being utilized to help clean up oil spills. However, as fungi help clean the environment around them, heavy metals can concentrate in their mushrooms, so Maya advises not picking mushrooms near a gas station or a road.

Oyster mushrooms

More Mushrooms

Are you eager for more mushrooms?

Join Maya Under the Redwoods

Want to learn more about how fungi offer nature-based solutions for human impacts like floods, fires, and climate change? Join Maya Elson for a free Under the Redwoods webinar on February 27th from 1- 2 pm Pacific.

Take A Hike

You can follow in Maya and Orenda’s footsteps by taking the mâ-rŭs trail to Vista Point and hai-mĭn’ trail back when you visit San Vicente Redwoods to see if you can spot the mushrooms above.

A Few Guidelines

1. Please stay on the trail. Like tree roots, fungal mycelium networks underground can be damaged by our weight above ground.
2. Please do not forage. Foraging is not permitted at San Vicente Redwoods to protect fragile and recovering ecosystems that have already suffered many human impacts.
3. This is not intended to be a foraging guide, and Maya notes the challenges that similar looking fungi species can present even to mycologists in identifying. If you are interested in foraging, please consider reaching out to a professional guide. Maya leads fungi foraging hikes and mycology workshops with Mycopsychology Experiences.

Stay Tuned for Shrooms

Maya and her UC Santa Cruz students are beginning to survey fungi at San Vicente Redwoods. We look forward to finding out about more fungi species at San Vicente Redwoods from the class’ research visits. If you want to be the first to what about more fungi found on properties you help protect and care for, you can sign up for email here.

Fungi Photos

As Maya points out, mushrooms can be very difficult to identify from photos, even for experts. While we worked closely with mycologist and researcher Maya Elson in the field and on this guide to provide you with helpful tips to get to know mushrooms at San Vicente Redwoods, there are many fungi yet to be described by science and ever evolving species. If you think a mushroom above has been misidentified, let us know.

The post Fungi of the Forest: Meet the Mushrooms of San Vicente Redwoods appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

Contact: Matt Shaffer, Sempervirens Fund, 415-609-2750, mshaffer@sempervirens.org
Note to media: Images and maps of San Vicente Redwoods are available for download here.

Redwood and mixed fir seedlings were planted across burned areas of San Vicente Redwoods. Photo: Matt Dolkas/POST.

DAVENPORT, Calif. (Sept. 13, 2023) – Leaders from the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and Sempervirens Fund, who co-own and manage the 8,852 acres of San Vicente Redwoods (SVR), gathered last month with their partners Save the Redwoods League and Land Trust of Santa Cruz County to review their joint progress in advancing restoration of the property that burned completely in the CZU Lightning Complex wildfire of 2020. Their work has aimed both to restore the health of a forest that was heavily logged at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as to build wildfire resilience back into the regional landscape as part of CAL FIRE’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan for San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. The partners’ work on the property has also aimed to benefit adjacent communities through infrastructure improvements and safety measures.

Since early 2022 – 12 years into their unique co-management of this property ‒ the SVR partners have treated more than 820 forested acres, roughly 10% of the property, using a variety of forest restoration techniques including removal of hazard trees along critical infrastructure (like roads and powerlines) and restoration thinning to encourage maturation of redwoods. The partners tended thousands of redwood and mixed fir seedlings planted last year across 270 acres of San Vicente Redwoods to accelerate the regrowth of the forest that burned in the CZU wildfire. Crews also cleared 5.7 miles of roads that had been blocked by aggressive post-CZU understory plant growth, restoring management access to the Coast-Cotoni Ridge.

Crews at SVR are creating nine miles of shaded fuel breaks along Warrenella Road that will help to slow future wildfires and protect nearby communities such as Davenport and Bonny Doon. Warrenella Road runs along a key ridgeline and was used by CAL FIRE to slow the 2009 Lockheed Fire. A total of 8,000 tons of biomass were removed from the forest in related efforts led by the Bonny Doon Fire Safe Council. All were incinerated on-site utilizing air curtain burners provided by CAL FIRE, which significantly reduce the release of both airborne pollutants and sparks ‒ and the risk each carries.

Redwood and mixed fir seedlings were planted across burned areas of San Vicente Redwoods. Photo: Matt Dolkas/POST.

The 2022-23 winter storm season brought an exceptional 75.15 inches of rain and multiple bomb cyclones through the property. Nevertheless, the team ensured that improvements to nine creek crossings on Cal Poly Road held up. These improvements reduced sedimentation along three miles of the environmentally sensitive Scott Creek watershed. Additionally, the driving surface of a bridge over San Vicente Creek, heavily damaged in the CZU fire, was repaired with redwood cut during fuels management efforts and milled on the property.

As a “living laboratory” for forest restoration and natural resource management, SVR hosts 24 researchers from 11 institutions, who are engaged in ongoing studies about the region’s sensitive resources, long-term impacts of and recovery from the CZU fire and the efficacy of restoration techniques. A botanical study revealed nine special status species and four locally rare species across 23 biological hotspots at SVR. These findings will help SVR partners target future restoration activities, like invasive plant management and ecologically focused prescribed burns. With support from the Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s Native Stewards, University of California Santa Cruz and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers also confirmed the presence of rare coho salmon further into the property than ever noted before, swimming through a stream that was reopened to the ocean after a 2021 dam removal.

“Our work at San Vicente Redwoods is driven by both conservation and community-serving goals,” said Walter T. Moore, president of POST. “As we’re able to build wildfire resilience back into the landscape, we’re providing meaningful protections for local communities as well as the greater Santa Cruz Mountains ecosystem.”

SVR partners performed repairs on storm-impacted roads to ensure that Davenport Sanitation District can access critical water infrastructure to support their customers. The partners also installed six new water tanks at three locations on the property to support emergency fire suppression for the region and maintenance operations on the property.

Additionally, the partners have engaged local partners and civic organizations in numerous ways, including hosting trainings for the Sheriff’s search and rescue crews; CAL FIRE chainsaw-use training and certification classes; and hose-laying training for the Bonny Doon volunteer fire-fighting team.

“Despite the CZU fire, San Vicente Redwoods is a case study in the promise of active, science-centered stewardship,” added Sara Barth, executive director of Sempervirens Fund. “We are succeeding, and it would not be possible without our ongoing partnerships, including with CAL FIRE, the Amah Mutsun Land Trust and the many state and regional agencies who are actively supporting and participating in the work.”

The partners built and opened 7.3 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails in December 2022, the first of several phases envisioned for the property. To date, more than 5,000 people have registered for a free lifetime pass issued by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County to use the trails at San Vicente Redwoods.

The many types of work happening at SVR are both important and costly. In the past year, the partners and their property manager have secured $3 million in new grants and project-specific donations to ensure that the project continues uninterrupted. The funding sources include CAL FIRE, California Coastal Conservancy, Regional Water Quality Control Board, U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service, Board of Forestry and numerous private and individual donors.

What’s Next at San Vicente Redwoods
In addition to continuing to create shaded fuel breaks and reduce fuels across the property, the partners are preparing for a conservation-focused commercial redwood timber harvest on 205 acres of the working forest section of the property. This innovative timber harvest is aimed at helping the forest recover from the CZU Fire by removing the smallest trees which were most impacted by the fire. By removing these severely damaged smaller redwoods, the remaining larger, healthier redwoods will have more space to thrive and recover from the fire damage. Partners expect these trees will continue to grow around damaged tissues, sequestering more carbon and creating crevices in the bark used by bats and other wildlife.

“Our conservation approach to harvesting is innovative and experimental compared to common practice, where we’re taking out the smallest trees rather than the larger ones,” explained Susan Petrie, senior stewardship project manager at POST. Any revenue generated by the harvest will go back into funding the ongoing restoration work at SVR.

Petrie added, “Even the harvest is part of our living laboratory approach at San Vicente Redwoods. Thanks to a Board of Forestry grant, we are tracking individual fire-damaged trees through the milling process to understand how external fire damage corresponds to internal wood condition. This knowledge will help foresters make more informed decisions about post-fire recovery and tree selection in the future throughout the redwood range.”

The post NEWS: San Vicente Redwoods Progress Report on Wildfire Resilience Restoration Three Years After CZU Wildfire, Amid Continued Risk appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

Contact: Blake Case, 601.832.6079, blake@emccommunications.com

Los Altos, Calif. (Sept. 12, 2023) — Sempervirens Fund announced its purchase of Castle Rock Hollow today to preserve the 51-acre property, which shares a boundary with Sempervirens Fund’s former Castle Rock West property that was recently added to Castle Rock State Park.

Map of Castle Rock Hollow in context of Castle Rock State Park, in Los Gatos, CA. Map includes recent additions to the park by Sempervirens Fund in August 2023.

The Castle Rock Hollow property, acquired by Sempervirens Fund from landowner Jim White for $1.3 million, is the largest remaining private landholding within the natural western boundary of Castle Rock State Park. Sempervirens Fund plans to eventually transfer the land to California State Parks to expand Castle Rock State Park, as they recently did when they added 222 acres to the park in August 2023.

“Without protection, the property faced the potential sale and development for housing or marijuana farming, which would have had harmful impacts on the natural resources protected nearby,” said Sara Barth, the Executive Director of Sempervirens Fund. “Acquiring the property holds significant importance for Sempervirens Fund, given the property’s considerable potential for outdoor recreation and the presence of second-growth redwoods and mature hardwoods like madrone, tan oak, and Douglas fir.”

The property is adjacent to nearly 6,000 acres of protected land and supports native and rare species like the San Francisco dusky-footed woodrat, pileated woodpecker and the Santa Cruz black salamander. It is located at the headwaters of the San Lorenzo River—a designated critical habitat for the endangered coho salmon and Central Coast steelhead trout.

Prior to the devastating 2020 CZU fire that ravaged the region, State Parks had expressed a keen interest in incorporating the Castle Rock Hollow property into their strategy to reroute the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail (one of the most popular backpacking routes in the Bay Area) away from Highway 9. Under the future ownership of State Parks, the property could serve as a base for various recreational activities, including camping.

“Castle Rock State Park is the gateway to recreation in the Santa Cruz mountains and securing properties within its borders is essential for its conservation and recreation future,” said Chris Spohrer, the Santa Cruz District Superintendent of California State Parks. “We are grateful to Sempervirens Fund for protecting Castle Rock Hollow and helping complete the western border of Castle Rock State Park. We will work closely with them on stewardship of its redwoods and San Lorenzo headwaters.”

Lush green redwood trees tower over the edge of a meadow whose wildflowers stretch just into view at the bottom of the frame at Castle Rock Hollow, by Orenda Randuch

The property also contains prehistoric cultural resources, with a meadow that suggests past Indigenous use, though further investigation is necessary to determine if there are any archaeological sites on the property.

Sempervirens Fund is grateful for the many donors that stepped up to support this project and the future care of the land. Stewardship efforts will include removal of debris and non-native plants as well as restoration of fish habitat.

Sempervirens Fund helped establish Castle Rock State Park in 1968, realizing the vision of Dr. Russell Varian, a pioneer of x-ray and radar technology. Over the decades, the organization has expanded the park, purchasing 42 properties and protecting more than 4,200 acres.
In the mid-2010s, and in response to fears that Castle Rock State Park might close, Sempervirens Fund stepped in, guiding Castle Rock into a new era, planning and funding modernized facilities at the Robert C. Kirkwood entrance and a sustainable funding model, with operational support from Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks.

Read more about Castle Rock Hollow

The post NEWS: Castle Rock Hollow Purchase to Complete Protected Natural Boundary of Castle Rock State Park appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

Aerial view of Sterrenzee Ridgetop, Saddle Mountain Vista, and the Gateway to Big Basin, along Highway 236. Since early 2022, Sempervirens Fund has purchased these three properties in the Saddle Mountain conservation area, at the eastern edge of Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Photo: Jordan Plotsky

San Mateo, Calif., May 17, 2023 — Today, Sempervirens Fund, California’s first land trust, announced the acquisition of Sterrenzee Ridgetop, a 16.5-acre forested property adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Sterrenzee, Dutch for “Sea of Stars,” offers stunning views along the eastern edge of the park, into Big Basin, and out to Boulder Creek to the east. The property features second-growth redwoods and hardwoods, which were minimally affected by the 2020 CZU wildfire that swept through most of the park.

Sterrenzee Ridgetop directly connects the park with the 153-acre Gateway to Big Basin, which Sempervirens Fund purchased for protection in 2022. This acquisition follows the purchase and permanent protection of another property, Saddle Mountain Vista, in January of this year. That 15-acre property on the south side of California Highway 236 has impressive views of the San Lorenzo Valley.

“This series of land acquisitions will expand protection of the old-growth forests at the heart of Big Basin and support efforts to re-establish the park as a vibrant destination where people can experience ancient redwoods,” said Sara Barth, Executive Director of Sempervirens Fund. “As we face down the threats of climate change, acquiring and conserving these lands is more critical than ever.”

The timely purchase and protection of these properties—Gateway to Big Basin, Sterrenzee Ridgetop, and Saddle Mountain Vista—is significant for California State Parks’ forthcoming public planning process to reimagine the park’s conservation, recreation, and visitor-serving infrastructure as it recovers from the CZU wildfire. The eastern edge of the park, Saddle Mountain, is envisioned as the likely hub for new visitor services and staff infrastructure rather than rebuilding in the ecologically sensitive old-growth areas. These protected properties may also provide recreational and interpretive experiences. These purchases align with the next phase of State Park’s Reimagining Big Basin planning process, slated to begin this summer.

The Sterrenzee and Saddle Mountain properties abut existing state park land and are intended to expand the park’s footprint in the future — increasing their conservation value even more.  They are also adjacent to a series of properties that Sempervirens had previously purchased and transferred to the park.

“We believe permanently preserving forests adjacent to Big Basin is essential to the park’s future,” said Chris Spohrer, California State Parks Superintendent. “Sempervirens Fund’s newly protected properties at Saddle Mountain extend the park’s protection of redwood forests and the Boulder Creek watershed. As we work on Reimagining Big Basin, these properties align with our and the public’s expectations for the park’s future.”

Sempervirens Fund will actively manage the properties as conservation lands, with a focus on supporting forest recovery from wildfire, until they are added to the park.

“Not only are forests in the Santa Cruz mountains still recovering from wildfire, but they’ve had to deal with drought, heat, and flooding,” said Laura McLendon, Sempervirens Fund’s director of land conservation. “Active forest management is critical to restore these forests and help diminish the severity of any future wildfire, especially in the years following a major event like the CZU fire. It is vital for community safety, as well as forest health.”

Stewardship of the properties will continue to feature hazard tree removal, selective thinning to boost tree health and canopy cover, removal of non-native species, and other interventions to boost forest recovery.

Sempervirens Fund has established stewardship funds for both properties, which will be managed in conjunction with the Gateway to Big Basin for forest health, recovery, and resilience. Sterrenzee Ridgetop was purchased for $500,000 from Kurt and Mary Mortensen, and Saddle Mountain Vista was purchased for $376,500 from Andrea Potter. Funding for the purchases was secured with support from Resources Legacy Fund and the generosity of Sempervirens Fund donors.

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Sempervirens Fund and The Y of San Francisco Finalize Purchase of Conservation Easement to Permanently Protect Camp Jones Gulch and Redwood Forests in Santa Cruz Mountains

Nearly $10 million deal between Sempervirens Fund and The Y of San Francisco is complete and protects some of the region’s oldest redwood forests while bolstering outdoor education opportunities for future generations of students

Contact: Matt Shaffer, 415.609.2750, mshaffer@sempervirens.org

Old-Growth Redwoods, including trees more than 500 years old, tower over 39-acres and may provide habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet which is known to fly from the sea to the area’s forests to lay their eggs in uppermost branches. Photo by Canopy Dyanmics.

La Honda, Calif. (Dec. 15, 2022) — With the transfer of $9.625 million, Sempervirens Fund and The Y of San Francisco have finalized the deal to preserve the 920-acre property that Camp Jones Gulch has occupied for more than 80 years in La Honda, CA. Sempervirens Fund’s purchase of a conservation easement begins a permanent partnership between the two organizations that enables the state’s oldest land trust to ensure the now protected land is cared for, including the largest unprotected stand of old-growth redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains.

“This is a remarkable moment for some of the oldest redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains, for the youth that will learn from them, and for conservation across the region,” said Sara Barth, Executive Director of Sempervirens Fund. “We’re thrilled to make this new partnership official, especially at a time when the uncertainty of climate change is putting our forests at increasing risk.”

The property includes 39 acres of rare old growth redwood forest, 668 acres of young growth redwood, Douglas fir, and hardwood forests, mature oak woodlands, and other riparian woodlands. In addition to the purchase of the conservation easement–which forever protects natural resources associated with the property while keeping it in The Y of San Francisco’s ownership–Sempervirens Fund has created a $422,000 stewardship fund to support ecological restoration work on the property and implement stewardship programs to improve the health and resilience of the forest habitats. Sempervirens Fund is in the process of creating a stewardship plan for the property, which could include conservation measures such as fuel reduction, pond restoration, and vegetation management. They are also planning for marbled murrelet surveys, corvid surveys, and invasive species removal.

Since 1968, it has been a rite of passage for fifth and sixth grade students in San Mateo County, to experience a week at Camp Jones Gulch, giving them an opportunity to explore nature among the region’s ancient redwoods. The partnership, which has been in the works for a decade, is already reaping benefits at Camp Jones Gulch. Camp staff have begun construction of new facilities, replacing decades-old cabins and upgrading other infrastructure and buildings. These and future facilities will also be built in accordance with the guidance of the conservation easement.

"We are overjoyed to make this partnership with Sempervirens Fund official. A pillar of our mission is to connect young people with nature, and this deal ensures our ability to continue enriching their lives for generations to come,” said Jamie Bruning-Miles, President and CEO of the YMCA of San Francisco. “This long-term relationship means we can sustain our work at Camp Jones Gulch, be great stewards of our lands and help connect children to nature in new and exciting ways. Our commitment to nature has been ongoing for more than 80 years, and provides the resources needed to inspire young people for another 80 years.”

The partnership is an emerging model between conservation groups and community organizations to preserve land from development and address the ongoing climate crisis. The deal, secured with a blend of public and private funding including several state bonds, aligns with President Biden’s goal, and Governor Newsom’s 30x30 Initiative, to conserve 30% of lands and waterways by 2030 through collaborations that center on conservation, resiliency, and inclusion, especially at the community level.

The YMCA of San Francisco’s outdoor engagement programs are committed to creating accessibility in nature for the communities they serve. As a part of their 2030 Vision, their programs will provide more equity and access, especially to youth, to the opportunities that inspire healthy connections to nature and community. They will continue to offer nature engagement programs for those who wish to learn about natural habitats and ecosystems, to build social and emotional skills, to learn outdoor leadership skills, and more. They are dedicated to ensuring their programs and their benefits are accessible for all.

“This collaboration between Sempervirens Fund and The Y can be a model for others as we change the way we think about conservation,” said Barth. “Using this unique blend of public and private funding, including state dollars, various private funders, and our friends at Peninsula Open Space Trust, we have the ability to forever protect some of the region’s most precious trees.”

Funding for the $10 million project includes funds from Sempervirens Fund donors. In addition, Sempervirens Fund donors also funded costs associated with the easement monitoring for the next 20 years.

Purchase of the conservation easement was also funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation ($2.4 million), Peninsula Open Space Trust ($2 million), the State of California Wildlife Conservation Board ($2 million) through the Habitat Conservation Fund, Fish and Game Code Section 2786(a); the California Department of Fish and Wildlife ($1 million) through the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1); and the California State Coastal Conservancy ($950,000), through the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018 (Proposition 68).

“Funding for this conservation project represents the exact kind of investments across public and private sectors that make a difference,” added Barth. “Every donor dollar went three times further with public funds. Bringing together multiple sources of bond funding makes each voter-approved measure more valuable.”

“This is a rare and important conservation opportunity to protect not only old-growth redwood forest, but also headwater streams, and coastal prairie grassland.” said Dan Winterson, who manages the Bay Area Conservation Program at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “We are very pleased that we were able to support Sempervirens Fund’s persistent efforts to bring this project to fruition.”

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Without a representative from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, handling a federally endangered species like a coho salmon would not have been allowed. Since our California Department of Fish and Wildlife Biologist was present, it was possible to take coho fin clip samples for DNA and genetic testing that can determine down to a family level where the coho came from–providing a better understanding of this species’ migration and this exciting sighting.

Across three sampling sites on Mill Creek, 15 juvenile coho salmon were recorded downstream from the former dam location. Podlech pointed out that although we do not have evidence that the coho are present in Mill Creek as a direct result of the dam removal, coho salmon are a relatively reliable indicator of good stream conditions. “It is reassuring to know that the dam removal project has opened access to additional habitat should the species expand its range upstream in Mill Creek in the future,” Podlech said.

photo by Ian Rownotham

1. The Amount of Sediment Movement

Earlier projects to restore natural conditions to Mill Creek downstream from the dam were instrumental in preparing the creek bed for the cobble and sediment to come. Large Woody Debris (LWD)—trees and branches that fall into the water—are common in forested waterways but over the last 150 years people saw them as obstructions to moving logged trees out of the forest, moving boats and logs down the water, to their views, and as the causes of potential floods, and removed them.

Interestingly, one of the LWD sites that was specifically installed to restore the creek’s natural floodplain was instrumental in recreating prospective salmonid spawning habitat, because today we know how crucial LWD is for many of the forest’s inhabitants. The LWD was placed to shift Mill Creek back across its former flood plain, where water can typically spread wider and shallower, giving the fish access to more food and spawning beds.

But the LWD was like a great catcher receiving a stellar pitch. The historic storm just two weeks after the dam was removed increased Mill Creek’s flows enough to move the granite, cobble, and sediment built up over 100 years down the stream to collect around the LWD much faster than the several years that had been expected. Although monitoring will continue, conditions indicate the potential for spawning beds will continue to improve without further intervention.

photo by Melisa Cambron Perez.

2. No More Barriers

The dam on Mill Creek at 12 feet high and 25 feet wide was a large and obvious obstruction for water, cobble, sediment, and fish alike. Its removal added another half mile of free flow to Mill Creek. But after it joins with San Vicente Creek it continues its journey all the way out to the Pacific ocean, and even though its lack of estuary makes being stopped by a sandbar less likely, other barriers for fish passage could occur along the way. However, the first documented appearance of coho salmon downstream in Mill Creek and steelhead trout upstream from the former dam site for the first time in 100 years indicate the waterway for their migration is passable for the time being.

3. Nothing Went Wrong with Downstream Infrastructure

While the Mill Creek dam that was removed was defunct, Mill Creek still provides a secondary source of water to the nearby town of Davenport. The water lines that used to run across the top of the defunct dam were damaged in the 2020 CZU Fire but new water lines were re-routed and installed. Fortunately, since the dam’s removal and the historic storm that quickly followed, important infrastructure on Mill Creek, like Davenport’s waterline, has continued to function properly so the creek’s improved flow and water quality benefit people and fish alike.

photo by Ian Bornarth.

Around the Bend

In the creek itself, Rowbotham and Perez say adding more LWD to strategic locations will create more shelter, pools, spawning grounds, winter refuge, and food sources for fish.

Perhaps most importantly, with so many potential factors in the ecosystem that can cause the fish populations to change in Mill Creek, like the amount and timing of rain as Podlech mentioned, continuing to collaborate on surveys with our partners like the Amah Mutsun Land Trust, University of California Los Angeles, and San Jose State University is crucial to ensuring Mill Creek endangered species like coho salmon are supported with a healthy habitat.

Ideally, the first documentation of coho salmon in Mill Creek will generate more interest and funding to continue geomorphic and eDNA research in addition to new regular fish surveys to monitor Mill Creek’s fish community to ensure this newly restored habitat for a federally endangered species can continue to improve and thrive. However, if Mill Creek can sustain an endangered species–which are often sensitive to change–like a coho salmon, it is likely a healthy habitat from which many other plant and wildlife species in the redwood forest and beyond will benefit from as well.

We hope this is the beginning of many more exciting signs of health and healing thanks to the support of more than a decade of conservation and restoration efforts in San Vicente Redwoods.

photo by Ian Bornarth.

The post Coho, Cobble, and Creek Beds: A Year After the Mill Creek Dam Was Removed appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

7.3 miles of multi-use trails open Saturday, December 3, with free registration pass required. Pre-registration period begins October 3.

Contact: Matt Shaffer, 415.609.2750, mshaffer@sempervirens.org

San Vicente Redwoods with location of first trails, opening December 3, 2022

DAVENPORT, Calif. (September 22, 2022) – The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County (LTSCC) and the three conservation partners who own and manage the nearly 9,000-acre San Vicente Redwoods property will open the first phase of an envisioned 38-mile multi-use trail system Saturday, December 3, 2022. The other partners are Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), Sempervirens Fund, and Save the Redwoods League.

The first phase, 7.3 miles of new trails, will be open during limited daytime hours (9 a.m. - 5 p.m.) for use by hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Visitors will be required to register for a pass and carry it while on the property.

Online pre-registration for passes begins October 3 at the Land Trust’s website: https://landtrustsantacruz.org/svr-trail-pass-registration 

Passes are valid beginning December 3 and will not expire. Visitors who do not pre-register will be able to obtain a single-day-use pass from on-site kiosks, starting December 3. Parking at the site will be limited to 72 vehicles.

“We are excited to welcome everyone – walkers, hikers, bikers and equestrians – to explore these new trails starting December third,” said Sarah Newkirk, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County executive director. “When you’re out on the trails, you'll be able to witness firsthand how nature is rebounding from the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire. Looking to the future, our trails will be doing double duty—serving as part of a new fuel break to protect the community in the event of future wildfires.”

“It is a rare treat for the public to gain new access to the redwood forests of our region, especially in such close proximity to a city,” added Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League, which holds the conservation easement over all of San Vicente Redwoods. “In envisioning the trail system, the partners have worked to balance public access with our conservation objectives of restoring the forest and protecting the astonishing biodiversity on the property. Careful placement of the trails and limited hours of operation will ensure that both humans and wildlife can enjoy responsible, healthy access to this remarkable landscape.”

Commitment to Responsible Public Access in an Actively Managed Forest
The 8,852-acre San Vicente Redwoods property is a model of environmental conservation and collaboration. Most of the area was permanently protected by the conservation partners in 2011, after decades of intensive commercial logging in the last century left much of the forest unhealthy. Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and Sempervirens Fund jointly own and actively manage the property. Save the Redwoods League holds a permanent conservation easement that ensures ecologically sensitive land management practices, as well as sustainable harvesting in the working forest areas of the property. LTSCC is developing and will manage the property’s public access trail system.

“These trails offer a rare opportunity for the public to witness a forest in active recovery from recent wildfire and decades of commercial logging,” said Walter T. Moore, president of POST. “While they are dramatic and exposed right now, the trails offer ocean views from a few places. To ensure visitor safety in a working forest, everyone should note and respect any temporary trail closures as we continue to actively manage its recovery.”

Public access was part of the original vision for San Vicente Redwoods. Wildlife behavior studies helped trail planners to balance recreation and conservation objectives. The partners employ motion-activated wildlife cameras and audio sensors – both near human activity and far from it – to track numerous animal species and to see how they respond to human presence. This ongoing research will inform trail management and future development to ensure that needs are met for all – humans and wildlife – who inhabit and use the lands.

In recognition of the people who inhabited and stewarded these lands for millennia, the new trails are named in the Awaswas language. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, who respect and wish to honor these people, collaborates with the partners at the property to ensure that indigenous methods are included in its management.

Plans for what is ultimately envisioned to be a 38-mile trail system at San Vicente Redwoods were created in 2019 and have been revised in response to impacts of the CZU wildfire. The next phase of trail construction may begin within three to five years, depending on monitoring results from visitor usage, wildlife behavior and available funding.

"Opening San Vicente Redwoods to the public is an honor and is a testament to the partnership working carefully over the last eleven years to orchestrate an ambitious conservation and public lands project," said Sara Barth, executive director of Sempervirens Fund. "Come explore, discover, and appreciate this remarkable park—new to many, and very special to Sempervirens Fund and our great partners."

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The funds will help protect more than 1,000 acres of critical redwood forests including Camp Jones Gulch and the Gateway to the Big Basin

Contact: Blake Case, 601.832.6079, blake@emccommunications.com

San Mateo, Calif. (Sept. 16, 2022)—Sempervirens Fund, California’s first land trust, announced today it has successfully raised $15.3 million as part of its capital campaign to permanently protect more than 1,000 acres of redwood forests and care for 11,000 acres of redwoods for generations to come.

The funds will enable Sempervirens Fund to protect and preserve key properties, including a $9.6 million conservation agreement with The Y of San Francisco to protect 920-acres of redwoods at Camp Jones Gulch near La Honda. Also protected is the 153 acres of redwood forests located in the Gateway to the Big Basin. Funds raised will also support active management and conservation techniques on these two properties and the other 11,000 acres under Sempervirens Fund’s care.

Announced in May, the pursuit to purchase a conservation easement at Camp Jones Gulch will simultaneously preserve one of the largest unprotected stands of old-growth redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains and outdoor educational opportunities for children in San Mateo County. The purchase of the conservation easement provides Camp Jones Gulch with funds to improve facilities that provide access for youth outdoor education. Sempervirens has also committed to being a partner to The Y in caring for the natural resources featured in their educational programming. In addition to protecting Camp Jones Gulch’s seven distinct ecosystems, including old-growth redwoods, the partnership allows Sempervirens Fund the opportunity to help restore habitat health and enhance forest resilience, especially in the face of climate change and increased threats, such as wildfire.

Earlier in 2022, Sempervirens Fund supporters helped complete the urgent purchase of the Gateway to Big Basin, which was burned over by the 2020 CZU fire. The purchase permanently protected 153 acres of second-growth forests that make up the scenic entrance into Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California’s oldest state park.

Monies raised will also advance on-the-ground stewardship work at the Gateway and at Camp Jones Gulch, and will fund and inform enhanced stewardship of the more than two dozen additional properties under Sempervirens Fund’s care in the Santa Cruz mountains, most of which were directly impacted by the 2020 CZU wildfire.

“We are so grateful to the more than 1,300 supporters who answered our call to protect redwood forests,” said Sempervirens Fund Executive Director, Sara Barth. “In the face of threats like drought, wildfires, and climate change, it is more important now than ever to ramp up conservation and double down on our efforts to protect these magnificent trees, and we are deeply honored that so many people have placed their faith in our work and vision.”

Since 1900, Sempervirens Fund has protected more than 35,000 acres of redwood forests in the Santa Cruz mountains. The health, resiliency, and vibrancy of the Santa Cruz mountain region depends on connected, healthy redwood forests, but less than 5 percent of redwoods remain. As the climate continues to rapidly change, producing more extreme weather and fires, it is more important than ever to protect and preserve ancient redwoods. Redwoods sequester more carbon per volume than any plant species on the planet, have shown incredible resilience against fire and drought, and are a vital tool available to mitigate harmful impacts of the changing climate.

The campaign exceeded its $14 million goal and gifts to the campaign came from 1,312 donors and range in amount from $5 to $2.4 million. Donors and grantors include the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Peninsula Open Space Trust, the Midgley Foundation, Acton Family Giving, the Lipman Family Foundation, Sempervirens Fund’s Board of Directors, and many others.

Funding was also secured through the State of California Wildlife Conservation Board; the California Department of Fish and Wildlife through the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1); and the California State Coastal Conservancy, through the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018 (Proposition 68).

The post NEWS: Sempervirens Fund Celebrates $15M in Donations for Capital Campaign: Redwoods Now, For All, Forever appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

Rare old-growth redwoods, seven different ecosystems, and nine miles of streams have supported countless plant and wildlife species on these 920-acres for millenia. For the last 80 years this area has been known as Camp Jones Gulch, and these acres have connected three to four generations—nearly one million young people—to nature. But for The Y, managing 1,000 acres facing increasing threats of wildfire and climate change required a new approach. By protecting Camp Jones Gulch’s ancient redwoods, forests, streams, and the wildlife they support forever with a conservation easement, you can ensure that generations to come can have their interest and joy sparked by nature and become lifelong stewards.

Benefits and Barriers

In San Mateo County, for many 5th and 6th grade campers, attending Camp Jones Gulch isn’t just their first time being away from home without family, its their first time really experiencing nature—an experience that the Y of San Francisco–which runs the camp–and researchers agree are helping to improve children’s independence, confidence, and physical, mental, and social health. Often those most impacted by the environmental pollution and stressors of urban living and who could benefit the most from time in nature, have the least access to it. Camp Jones Gulch helps to overcome barriers, like transportation, fees, mobility needs, and underrepresentation that can leave people feeling daunted, unwelcome, or like nature isn’t meant for them.

Sean Dries, Branch Operations Director at Point Bonita YMCA, explains, ”All nature-based education and recreation programs are focused on supporting communities most impacted by climate change which are also typically the same communities which have experienced historic challenges having access to or feeling welcomed in public outdoor spaces.” Through strategic partnerships, every 5th and 6th grader in San Mateo County has the opportunity and transportation to attend a week at Camp Jones Gulch for free. “Camp Jones Gulch is foundational to creating a lasting legacy of environmental stewardship,” said Dries. That connection to the outdoors extends well beyond a week at camp and is creating the next generation of conservationists.

Camp alumni Gabriela Jimenez at Camp Jones Gulch

For Gabriela Jimenez, the love of nature was always there—she couldn't remember a time before she became enamored with helping her mom in their large backyard garden—and she was fortunate to have many opportunities to visit nature, but attending Camp Jones Gulch allowed her to broaden her connection with nature, others, and herself. She first attended Camp Jones Gulch when she was 8 years old. “Going to camp was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life,” she said.

Seeing nature at the scale of Camp Jones Gulch, especially the size of the giant, ancient redwood trees, compared to her garden at home was a new experience. “It was fascinating to see the different animals and plants that Camp Jones Gulch was home to,” Jimenez said. “During my first time at camp, I was in awe of nature but I also felt at home because of how welcoming camp is.”

After her first year at Camp Jones Gulch, Jimenez was hooked and went back each summer and with her class for 5th grade outdoor education, “camp is the best part of every year for me,” she said. Among the many treasured memories she has of Camp Jones Gulch over the years, a favorite was an activity during her third year of camp to build a fort with a neighboring cabin in the roots of several trees, “It was the biggest fort I’ve ever made since there were so many people helping out. I always think back on making that fort because I’m still close friends with Edward, who was a camper who helped my cabin make the fort,” Jimenez explained.

Claire Elkes was also fortunate to have spent lots of time outdoors camping and hiking, “my parents made it part of my life before I could really remember–before I could even walk.” But when she attended Camp Jones Gulch for outdoor education in 5th grade, it also left a lasting impression. She recalled a night hike, campers kissing banana slugs, all the lyrics to the “zero food waste” song, and perhaps most importantly getting to experience nature with friends.

“It’s nice for us to be able to get outdoors and spend time with friends away from our phones and computers,” Elkes said. Now, she is following her appreciation for nature to Pacific Northwest College of Art to study photography: “Landscapes and nature photography are my favorite.” She hopes youth will continue to be able to experience Camp Jones Gulch like she did and noted not everyone has the ability to get outdoors as often as she did, “it gives people who want to go outside a chance to go.”

Claire Elkes in the redwoods

From Camps to Careers

Summer campers at Camp Jones Gulch by YMCA of San Francisco

After their introduction to nature at Camp Jones Gulch, the Y of San Francisco offers a myriad of pathways and programs for 5th and 6th grade camp alumni to continue to experience the outdoors and deepen their relationship with nature. By creating programs that appeal to different interests and ways to interact with nature for youth of all ages, young campers stay engaged with the outdoors and are encouraged to go beyond just attending camp to pursuing careers in camps, parks, or forestry.

The result is more youth connected with nature and more opportunities for younger generations to see people that look like them in careers connected to the outdoors, which can help to knock down the barrier that youth of color may feel they don’t belong in nature or that it doesn’t belong to them. “Camp Jones Gulch's Counselor-in-Training program gives youth experience working in outdoor recreation with a focus on creating a diverse pipeline of teens excited to work in support of nature-based programming,” says Dries.

Since her first year as a camper when she was just 8 years old, Jimenez was amazed by the counselors at camp, “I always looked up to them and it made me want to become a counselor in the future.” After coming back to Camp Jones Gulch every summer, she volunteered as a Junior Counselor for four weeks in 2019 and this year became a professional counselor. “It means so much to me to be able to give other youth the experiences that changed my own life,” she said.

Now, she leads campers through the fort building activity from her own cherished memory making forts with her friend Edward who also became a counselor at Camp Jones Gulch. Jimenez explains the challenge to build a fort to withstand rain and wind—which she tests by pouring water on the fort roof to see if it seeps through and shaking it to test its wind resistance. Activities like this teach survival skills that empower campers to feel more confident outdoors and also “to work with a group and share ideas to build effectively.” “It feels like a full circle moment,” Jimemez said.

by YMCA San Francisco

Cultivating Conservationists

Although Jimenez and Elkes both enjoyed outdoor experiences for as long as they can remember, Jimenez notes that most of Camp Jones Gulch’s campers live in cities and aren’t used to being in nature. She shared a story of the transformative experience of Camp Jones Gulch for one of her campers:

Forest bathing activity at Camp Jones Gulch by Jordan Plotsky

Every week at Camp Jones Gulch, hundreds of young campers like Jimenez’s have their first introduction to nature, and hundreds more like Jimenez and Elkes broaden and solidify their passion for nature and find pathways to pursue a professional or lifelong commitment to protecting and sharing the outdoors. “I am a proud environmentalist and activist for the protection of nature,” Jimenez said.

The results of the Y of San Francisco’s programs for youth are clear, however permanently protecting the camp’s nearly 1,000 acres does not fall into the Y’s considerable skillset. That is where Sempervirens Fund’s partnership with the Y comes in. A collaboration between the Y of San Francisco and Sempervirens Fund will permanently protect Camp Jones Gulch’s old-growth redwoods, forests, and streams forever through a conservation easement which will allow Sempervirens Fund to care for the land and increase its resilience for the challenges ahead.

The conservation easement will also provide funding for Camp Jones Gulch’s outdoor education programs that lay the foundation for lifelong environmental stewardship for the next generation who will care for lands after us. Dries explained, “The partnership with Sempervirens will provide a foundation of fiscal sustainability from which Camp Jones Gulch and the Y of San Francisco will be able to continue and deepen its environmental education and recreation programming.”

To protect Camp Jones Gulch’s forests for wildlife and generations of youth, Sempervirens Fund has launched the Redwoods Now, For All, Forever campaign to conserve redwood forests and help make them accessible for all youth to connect with and learn to care for. “By inspiring young people today, we will create a future where pro-environmental practices are the norm,” Dries said.

The post Camp Jones Gulch: Childhood Connections Create Conservationists appeared first on Sempervirens Fund.

Hundreds of Acres and Heaps of Habitats

From the mighty old growth redwoods of the “Valley of the Giants” scraping the sky with their leaves right down to the roots of the grasslands, Camp Jones Gulch’s 920 acres are extraordinary and essential for protecting and connecting a healthy habitat in the Santa Cruz mountains. Although its habitat classifications could be expanded or collapsed, Laura McLendon, Director of Land Conservation for Sempervirens Fund, describes the land at Camp Jones Gulch in 7 different ecosystems.

Oak Woodland

Oak Woodland scattered over 37 acres provides canopy, acorns, and cover for black-tailed deer, western gray squirrel, band-tailed pigeon, rough-skinned newts, and San Francisco dusky-footed woodrat.

Douglas-Fir Forest

Douglas-Fir Forest featuring mature Douglas-firs, coast live oak, Pacific madrone, California bay, and California buckeye above an understory of ferns, California blackberry, pink honeysuckle, snowberry, and woodland strawberry dominate 433 acres of the property.

Coastal Scrub

Coastal Scrub, a mosaic of drought tolerant native plants like coyote brush, toyon, yerba santa, sticky monkeyflower, and California blackberry offer habitat to California quail, California towhee, white-crowned sparrow, peregrine falcon, brush rabbit, and gray fox, make up 91 acres.

Riparian Woodlands

Riparian Woodlands follow nearly nine miles of streams that flow into Pescadero Creek, important habitat for California giant salamander and rough-skinned newt, as well as spawning grounds for Northern Pacific tree frog, endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout which produce their next generations and nourish both the forest and its creatures.

Coastal Prairie Grasslands

Coastal Prairie Grasslands filled with native grasses like purple needle grass, California oatgrass, and blue-eyed grass, crucial wildlife habitat and a diverse food source that have been disappearing at an alarming rate across the country, blanket 100 acres.

Redwood Forest

Redwood Forest made up largely of second and third-growth coast redwoods regrowing after clear cutting and later logging, with carpets of redwood sorrel, ferns, and redwood violets, shelter banana slugs, rough-skinned newts, and many birds like Steller's jay and Sawinson’s thrush in its snags, hollows, and logs, cover 192 acres.

Old-Growth Redwoods

Old-Growth Redwoods, including trees more than 500 years old, tower over 39-acres and may provide habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet which is known to fly from the sea to the area’s forests to lay their eggs in uppermost branches.

photos by Michelle Kubik and Canopy Dynamics

Oak Woodland

Oak Woodland scattered over 37 acres provides canopy, acorns, and cover for black-tailed deer, western gray squirrel, band-tailed pigeon, rough-skinned newts, and San Francisco dusky-footed woodrat.

Douglas-Fir Forest

Douglas-Fir Forest featuring mature Douglas-firs, coast live oak, Pacific madrone, California bay, and California buckeye above an understory of ferns, California blackberry, pink honeysuckle, snowberry, and woodland strawberry dominate 433 acres of the property.

Coastal Scrub

Coastal Scrub, a mosaic of drought tolerant native plants like coyote brush, toyon, yerba santa, sticky monkeyflower, and California blackberry offer habitat to California quail, California towhee, white-crowned sparrow, peregrine falcon, brush rabbit, and gray fox, make up 91 acres.

Riparian Woodlands

Riparian Woodlands follow nearly nine miles of streams that flow into Pescadero Creek, important habitat for California giant salamander and rough-skinned newt, as well as spawning grounds for Northern Pacific tree frog, endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout which produce their next generations and nourish both the forest and its creatures.

Coastal Prairie Grasslands

Coastal Prairie Grasslands filled with native grasses like purple needle grass, California oatgrass, and blue-eyed grass, crucial wildlife habitat and a diverse food source that have been disappearing at an alarming rate across the country, blanket 100 acres.

Redwood Forest

Redwood Forest made up largely of second and third-growth coast redwoods regrowing after clear cutting and later logging, with carpets of redwood sorrel, ferns, and redwood violets, shelter banana slugs, rough-skinned newts, and many birds like Steller's jay and Sawinson’s thrush in its snags, hollows, and logs, cover 192 acres.

Old-Growth Redwoods

Old-Growth Redwoods, including trees more than 500 years old, tower over 39-acres and may provide habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet which is known to fly from the sea to the area’s forests to lay their eggs in uppermost branches.

“It’s a surprisingly diverse property. We don’t usually encounter a property with so many ecosystems. It presents both a challenge and an opportunity,” McLendon explained. Camp Jones Gulch’s old-growth redwoods alone are unique because unprotected old-growth are rare in the Santa Cruz mountains she said, and when there are surviving old-growth they are usually much fewer and far between, scattered, making them more difficult to protect and without the more intact ecosystem that a larger forest like this provides.

Despite the innovative and wildly popular camp whose facilities are tucked into these diverse ecosystems, 90% of the property will be deemed the “Conservation Zone”. That means 835 acres of Camp Jones Gulch will be protected from commercial, industrial, or residential development forever through the conservation easement.

Conserving the Camp

A conservation easement protects the land and its natural resources from being depleted or developed forever. A conservation agreement can be a win-win solution for conservationists and landowners to protect the land while the landowner continues to own it. Sempervirens Fund has entered into an agreement to purchase a conservation easement on Camp Jones Gulch’s 920-acres to protect its forests, creeks, plants, and wildlife forever. The purchase of the conservation easement provides Camp Jones Gulch with funds to improve facilities and access for youth outdoor education, and a partner in caring for the nature that has inspired youth for generations. In addition to protecting Camp Jones Gulch’s phenomenal diverse ecosystems and old-growth redwoods, the partnership allows Sempervirens Fund the opportunity to help restore its health and enhance its resilience in the face of climate change and the increased threats, like major fire, it brings. “This conservation easement will protect the forest forever from fragmentation and it will give a mandate for ongoing stewardship. We are bringing resources and experience to help tend the forest that has been so integral to a million youth,” McLendon said.

Camp Jones Gulch campfire circle by The Y Of San Francisco

Camp Jones Gulch won’t be the first youth outdoor education-based camp Sempervirens Fund has protected through a conservation easement. In 2012, Sempervirens Fund worked with the Girl Scouts of Northern California, whose goals of environmental outdoor education and preservation align with ours, to purchase conservation easements on two of their camps, Camp Butano Creek and Skylark Ranch, permanently protecting more than 400 acres, 1,400 old-growth trees, and providing funds to keep both camps operating to provide outdoor learning opportunities to girls and young women across the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Like Camp Jones Gulch, both camps’ forests and the endangered wildlife habitat they provide were at risk of being logged and lost but through the conservation easement the land is not only protected but the owners are now connected to partners like the Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network to proactively manage the land including projects to reduce hazard trees from CZU fire damage and fuels for future fire resilience.

What makes the Camp Jones Gulch conservation easement different is Sempervirens Fund’s support with stewardship. With more than 900 acres of diverse habitats to take care of at Camp Jones Gulch, it's the largest acreage camp in the Santa Cruz mountains. That amount of land with unique habitat needs requires more time and expertise than the camp staff have the capacity to care for. “This partnership is unique in that we get to collaborate and support YMCA with their stewardship needs,” said Beatrix Jiménez-Helsey, Natural Resource Manager who has been coordinating the stewardship plan which will help inform how to best care for the varied habitats protected by the conservation easement.

Stewardship Plan

The stewardship plan compiles expert data on the property’s ecosystems, geology, soils, watersheds, and history to determine the best ways to care for the land including enhancing the health of the forest and wildlife habitats, and reducing the threat of fire. “We’ll be able to steward these forests into the future through the stewardship plan, through restoration projects, mentoring, and establishing a relationship with more sophisticated forest management for health and resilience in the face of climate change’s present and future threats like increased drought, heat waves, and catastrophic fires,” McLendon explained. Sempervirens Fund will create a $422,500 stewardship fund to monitor the easement and enhance and restore forest health, reduce the threat of wildfire, and promote climate resiliency across multiple wildlife habitats.

Sempervirens Fund's Matt Shaffer looks up at an old-growth redwood on a property visit to Camp Jones Gulch by Canopy Dynamics

Forest and Fire

Long before it was a camp, the forests here had been clear cut over at least 192 of its acres in the early 1900’s. “We know this landscape was tended for millenia by Indigenous Peoples, and then there was an exploitation of resources here,” McLendon said. After the camp opened its doors, smaller amounts of logging called “selective timber harvests” were utilized in 1976 and 1985 to help fund the camp’s growing needs for outdoor education. But when the need arose again in the 2000's and The Y submitted new plans for logging, the opportunity to find an alternative solution that would be win-win for the camp and the forest that supported it became clear and talks to establish a conservation easement began.

Ohlone Village sign across from a logged stump by Canopy Dynamics

This conservation easement though, would need to go beyond the status quo which often preserves the land and remains hands off. That type of approach is how the fuel loads of dense, overgrown and unchecked dry brush built up and entire forest areas grew back at the same time—the same age and too close together—after clear cutting. Older trees with more space between them and less dry plant matter on the ground are more resilient to fire. Redwoods are relatively resistant to fire thanks to thick tannin filled bark and canopies typically well above flames but drought, built up dry brush on the ground, and young trees close together have created conditions for fires to burn hotter and faster than even some of the native fire-adapted plants like redwoods can handle.

Each year, the fire season seems to get a little longer and fires seem to occur more frequently, hotter, and consume larger areas in the Santa Cruz mountains. And each year, The Y and Camp Jones Gulch staff worry the fires burn closer and closer to Camp Jones Gulch. Through the conservation easement’s stewardship plan, the land can be tended again with a combination of cutting-edge science and traditional ecological knowledge and techniques to better withstand the increased threats of drought, hotter temperatures, and increased fires that lie ahead.

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