News
Why Cut Redwoods?
More than a decade ago, Sempervirens Fund was confronted with a choice: do we actively manage the forests we protect to improve their health, or do we continue to protect the redwoods as we have for more than a century and allow nature to heal on its own timeline? Active management to restore the forest would include the need to cut down trees for the benefit of the forest. With the increasing urgency to help redwoods recover from past human impacts and prepare for accelerating climate changes ahead, we collaborated with Bay Nature Magazine and author Audrea Lim to look at the shift in our redwood revolution and explore the outcomes.
Read More
Growing Old-Growth
An old-growth redwood is huge. One of the largest living things to ever grace the planet. And their size isn’t just impressive, it’s important. In the Santa Cruz Mountains very few old-growth redwoods remain, but you’re helping to grow the old-growth of tomorrow, today. Together, we’re restoring redwood forests faster for the trees, for wildlife, for the fight against climate change, and for future generations.
Read More
Honoring Herb Grench
Herb Grench at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. Sempervirens Fund joins the conservation community in mourning the passing of Herb Grench, a visionary leader whose efforts helped shape the Bay Area’s open space landscape. Herb dedicated his life to protecting the natural world, and his contributions continue to benefit our region’s forests, wildlife, and communities.…
Read More
Sempervirens in Elementis
In her new art series, Sempervirens in Elementis—Latin for ever living in the elements, Sempervirens Fund’s Forest Fellow Jane Kim explores the relationship between redwoods and the elements: water, fire, earth, and air.
Read More
David Cowman joins Sempervirens Fund as Director of Land Stewardship
David Cowman joins Sempervirens Fund as its new, and first-ever, Director of Land Stewardship, signaling the 125-year old organization’s increased emphasis on the restoration and future health of redwood forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Read More
Redwoods and Fog
We know fog when we see it, but what is fog? Fog clouds linger in cool, damp forests, lending an air of mystery and beauty around us, but the mystery is a simple one. Read on to learn about fog and their magical relationship with redwoods.
Read More
Recording Redwoods: Sounds of the Forest
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Field recordist, Thomas Rex Beverly, found an answer to the age-old philosophical question, and so much more, on his quest to capture the sounds of the redwood forest. Among the protected old-growth redwoods of the “Valley of the Giants” at Camp Jones Gulch, Thomas records the subtle sounds of nearly silent spaces. Follow his Curiosity Stories quest to hear the redwood forest as you never have before.
Read More
Sempervirens 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 More
Exploring 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 More
Statement 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 More
Statement 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 More
An 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 More
