Our three year fight to protect 224 acres of redwood forest along the Russian River from logging has likely succeeded.

We are delighted to announce that Save The Redwoods League has secured an agreement to purchase 394 acres of forest, including the 224 acres set aside for the Silver Estates Timber Harvest Plan (THP).

This means that some 40 acres of old growth redwood trees plus the 2,000 year old Clar Tree will be protected, together with hundreds of acres of delicate forest ecosystem.

“This is tremendous news and we are incredibly grateful to Save The Redwoods for agreeing to step in and protect these majestic trees and the land that sustains them,” said GFC working group member, John Dunlap. “Trying to save this forest from the sawmill has been quite a journey and we are indebted to hundreds of supporters who have given their time and money to help us.”

Save the Redwoods League has agreed to purchase the property for $6.5 million and will launch a fundraising campaign to help finance the deal. The conservation group stepped in quickly to avert imminent logging and will eventually transfer ownership to the Open Space District and Sonoma County for long term stewardship and conservation. The property will be renamed the Russian River Redwoods.

According to today’s Press Democrat, the forest “might already have been logged but for opposition from community members and others who opposed its approval on environmental, procedural and other grounds. Organized mainly as the Guerneville Forest Coalition, they argued the harvest would have affected threatened and endangered species, risked undermining steep, unstable hillsides and harming water quality, among other things. Cal Fire delayed approval 23 times over three years before finally granting consent to an amended plan last November, prompting the coalition to sue Cal Fire and Redwood Empire in a still-pending case.”

We could not have done this without your support - thank you!!

We still believe that the antiquated process that allowed such a flawed plan to be approved needs to be revised and we urge lawmakers in Sacramento to review the Forest Practice Act. There is an urgent need to strip CalFire of its forest management role so that it can focus on what it does best - fighting fires. Ironically, we very nearly lost an entire redwood forest and its ecosystem thanks to CalFire.

But today we can celebrate!

To read more about Save The Redwood League’s plan, click here.