Save the Redwoods League is a century-old conservation group who just seized the world’s largest private holding of the world’s most towering trees. It had been a long-held dream to purchase the land, and now it’s a reality thanks to worldwide donations ranging from one dollar to several million dollars.
The foundation raised almost $16 million with the help of nature lovers across the country and around the world. Half of it they raised in only four months! They received enough to close the deal on the for 530 acres of the Alder Creek Grove of giant sequoias and save the ancient beauties for all to enjoy and nobody to chop down.
They finalized the purchase on December 30, 2019 – taking the title to the Sierra Nevada property under their protection. Officials from the League said that the total sum given by individuals ($15.65 million) was the most the foundation has ever raised in purely private donations for a single conservation project. Over 8,500 donors from all 50 states, including 30 countries outside of the U.S., contributed to the cause.
Becky Bremser, the league’s director of land protection, said: “It was incredible. We are so thrilled. And so proud.”
The fundraiser began with a handful of significant donations before the League even launched the campaign publicly. When it did release the news to the public, the campaign received extensive media coverage. Big-name outlets like Oprah’s magazine and Taipei Times ran the story. The enthusiasm was a testament to the universal appeal of the beloved shaggy-headed giants.
There are 483 giant sequoias with diameters of at least 6 feet on the Alder Creek property. This includes the 3,000-year-old Stagg tree, which is the world’s fifth-largest giant sequoia tree, as measured by trunk volume. To illustrate its size, the giant is as tall as a 25-story building and wider than a two-lane road!
The previous owners of the property, the Rouch family, had owned the land since the 1940s. They had initially purchased the mountain land for logging. At one point, they opened a ski operation and developed a small resort community called Sequoia Crest, but that endeavor proved to be short-lived. Throughout it all, the family left a majority of the giant trees alone. The grove currently contains sequoias that are 1,000 to 2,000 years old as well as some younger ones that are 50 to 200 years old. The range adds to the grove’s conservation value.
The foundation will spend the next decade tending to the trees, thinning out non-sequoias that it says have grown too dense in the absence of wildfire. Then, it will sell the property to the U.S. Forest Service for inclusion in the neighboring Giant Sequoia National Monument at a discounted price.
Now there are only around 739 acres of giant sequoias left in private hands – all smaller holdings than Alder Creek. Aside from that, most of the 73 groves of giant sequoias growing on the western slopes of the central Sierra Nevada are located on state land – in national forests or national parks.
