News
A Stewardship Story: Return to Nature
Surviving since nearly the age of the dinosaurs, redwoods are resilient—but only 5% of them have survived the last century and a half. Human impacts have left redwood forests struggling to recover. Together, we are carefully caring for the redwood forests you protect, resetting their natural systems, and helping them return to nature. Take a peek behind the trees at how you have helped the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz mountains–some of the most biodiverse and threatened on Earth–this year.
Read MoreSempervirens Fund welcomes Dana McRae to its board of directors
Dana McRae, a resident of Santa Cruz and the former County Counsel for Santa Cruz County has joined the Sempervirens Fund Board of Directors. She served as the county’s main legal representative for more than 20 years and remains heavily involved in the Santa Cruz community.
Read MoreExploring Trails and Their Benefits: Vamos Outdoors
It might be called The Great Outdoors for several reasons. It can be beautiful. It can be fun. It can be inspiring. But did you know that it can also be great for your health?
Hit the trail with our partners at Latino Outdoors to explore the beauty and benefits of the places you help us protect in the Santa Cruz mountains, and learn how visiting these places can help protect you. Let’s vamos outdoors!
Read MoreStatement on the Passage of Measure Q (Santa Cruz County)
Santa Cruz County’s Measure Q is a landmark initiative and a significant step forward in the County’s unified approach to water and wildfire protection.
Read MoreStatement on the Passage of Proposition 4
This landmark $10 billion bond measure, Proposition 4, represents a crucial investment in our state’s immediate environmental future and demonstrates Californians’ commitment to addressing climate change, protecting our water, forests, parks, and natural resources, and enhancing community safety.
Read MoreAn Extraordinary Look at an Ordinary Lizard
You’ve seen them. They are one of the most commonly seen lizards in the Santa Cruz mountain region. That is, if they want to be seen. As herpetologist and creator of the #FindThatLizard game Dr. Earyn McGee shows us, these masters of disguise can hide right beneath our very eyes. But you’ve probably never seen them quite like this. Photographer Orenda Randuch, zooms in to share an extraordinary look at an ordinary lizard. Are you ready to see the Western fence lizard in a whole new way?
Read MoreFind That Lizard
The redwood forests you protect support countless species in and below their canopies. But some of the forests’ inhabitants are such great masters of disguise, they’re hiding right beneath our eyes. We reached out to Dr. Earyn McGee, creator of #FindThatLizard and Coordinator of Conservation Engagement at the Los Angeles Zoo, to help us find reptiles and amphibians and to help her discover more about the habitats of the Santa Cruz mountains.
Meet Dr. McGee to learn about her redwood research below, then join her Under the Redwoods for more tips to #FindThatLizard.
Read MoreWater and Wildfire Protection for Redwoods
At Sempervirens Fund we are proud to support Prop 4, a $10 billion statewide climate bond, and Measure Q, which would establish the Santa Cruz County Safe Drinking Water, Clean Beaches, Wildfire Risk Reduction, & Wildlife Protection Act. Learn more below and take action.
Read MoreThe Opposite of Redwoods
Redwoods drew artist Jane Kim to California more than 20 years ago and today she returns the favor, drawing redwoods to help people better connect with and draw inspiration from the natural world around us. The more she learns about redwoods as Sempervirens Fund’s first Forest Fellow, the more she contemplates people as redwoods’ exact opposite. Get a sneak peek at her new art and how she hopes celebrating redwood adaptations can inspire us to adapt to our ecosystem rather than change it.
Read MoreNEWS: Statement on Ca. Governor’s Veto of AB 2013 (Pellerin)
Mountain View, Calif. (Sept. 23, 2024) – Today, Sempervirens Fund, California’s first land trust, responded to Ca. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of AB 2103 (Pellerin – Santa Cruz). Sempervirens Fund Executive Director Sara Barth said, “Conservation groups like Sempervirens Fund have been working for years to get our state leaders to make the necessary investments…
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