News & Events

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Big Basin’s Campfire Center Restored

After years of work, Big Basin Redwoods State Park’s historic Campfire Center has been fully restored. The restoration project was funded with over $275,000 in funds allocated by Sempervirens Fund’s Board of Directors, including a $50,000 grant from the Jeangerard Foundation. The Campifire Center includes a covered stage, 139 redwood benches, and a huge fire ring that provides light fo the free and unforgettable nature and history shows put on by Big Basin staff. The restoration project involved replacing all of the damaged benches with new ones made from naturally downed redwood trees, milled on site at the park. To read the Mercury News article about this restoration project, click here. To get a schedule of upcoming State Park programs at the Campfire Center, please call (831)338-8883 or visit www.bigbasin.org/activitiesmain.

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Sempervirens Fund Makes Another $100,000 Grant for Redwood Climate Change Study

Sempervirens Fund’s Board of Directors recently approved a $100,000 grant to support Save the Redwoods League’s Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative. This is the second $100,000 grant that we have given in support of this important project. The Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative is designed to help us to better understand the impacts of climate change on California’s redwoods and to plan adaptation and mitigation strategies. Click here to learn more about this initiative.

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State Park Closures

As you are likely aware, in May 2011 California State Parks announced its plan to close as many as 70 of California’s 278 state parks due to proposed budget reductions over the next two fiscal years. The closures are due to take effect in July 2012, at the beginning of the state’s 2012-2013 budget year. Sempervirens Fund is working with State Parks and a coalition of nonprofit organizations to help determine a long-term solution that will ensure that our state parks and the resources that they protect are maintained and available for public use and enjoyment. We are hopeful that with enough support and creative solutions the park closure list will be significantly reduced in size or eliminated all together.

Here is what you can do to help:

• Visit a California state park with family and friends.   Remind your community about California’s incredible natural, recreational, and cultural resources by bringing your family and friends out to experience a park first hand. And if you can’t get them all to a park, bring them along on a virtual trip. Take lots of photographs and then share them on Facebook and Twitter. Or, simply send a park post card.
• Become a state park steward. If you have the time and energy, become a steward of a state park. With a backlog of maintenance and repairs at every state park in California and with limited state funding, volunteers will be playing an increasingly important role in keeping our parks healthy and accessible. Visit the State Parks website for information about volunteering.

  There are also a number of local groups that organize volunteers, including the Big Basin Trail Crew, the Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Association, and the Wildlands Restoration Team . Or you can join the California State Parks Foundation’s Park Champions Program to learn about volunteer opportunities across the state.

• Write your local legislators. Ask your local legislators to protect our state park system. Visit the California State Parks Foundation website to send an action email to your legislators asking them to oppose the proposed closure of California’s state parks.
• Support Sempervirens Fund. Make a donation to Sempervirens Fund to help support our continued efforts to expand and protect the redwoods parks of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

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Eradicating Invasive Grass from the Redwood Ecosystem

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is working to eradicate slender false brome, an invasive perennial grass that has spread to Oregon and the Woodside area of California. The District’s grant-funded program helps homeowners identify and safely remove the weed from their property and compensates them $350 per acre treated. Slender false brome forms dense stands that inhibit the growth of native trees and plants, damaging the redwood forest ecosystem. If you have seen this grass or would like help identifying it, contact Slender False Brome Coordinator Ellen Gartside at egartside@openspace.org or (650)691-1200 x577.

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National Land Trust Census Brings Good News for Land Conservation

The Land Trust Alliance (LTA) recently released the National Land Trust Census, which finds that 10 million acres have been conserved nationwide since 2005, including 2,303,442 here in California. The census also reveals that voluntarily protected land increased 27 percent between 2005 and 2010. A total of 47 million acres—an area over twice the size of all the national parks in the contiguous United States—is now protected by land trusts. In California, there are 197 land trusts operating, including 103 staffed groups and 44 all-volunteer groups. As a signal of the land trusts community’s commitment to excellence, there are now 16 LTA-accredited land trusts in California, including Sempervirens Fund.

You can read more about the census here.

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