Eight Ways Science Helps Protect Redwoods
photo by Ian Bornarth.
1. Conservation Science
- What is it: combines interdisciplinary sciences, including conservation biology, to inform the strategic conservation of land and water
- What it supports: land conservation and protection of coast redwoods
- Why it matters: protected ecosystems and habitat continuity
As a field of study, conservation science has largely emerged alongside the land trust movement to inform the interdisciplinary fields of inquiry that inform conservation choices and priorities. At Sempervirens Fund, we prioritize land conservation of coast redwood forests based on detailed data, mapping, and conservation values within the Santa Cruz Mountains bioregion. Among our top priorities: protecting intact redwood forests and connecting habitats through conservation lands, to improve habitat vitality and wildlife connectivity.
2. Conservation Biology
- What is it: the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems
- What it supports: acoustic monitoring
- Why it matters: monitoring rare or elusive species
At the heart of our work is conservation biology, and ensuring the last 5% of old-growth coast redwoods are protected. This science also helps us and researchers with understanding how plants and wildlife are thriving or are impacted, mostly by us humans. Throughout the region, we work with researchers to monitor for rare and special birds, including the elusive and fascinating marbled murrelet. Working with specialists, acoustic monitoring equipment helps track murrelets nesting in the complex canopies of old-growth redwoods.
3. Geomorphology
- What is it: the study of the physical features of the surface of the earth and their relation to its geological structures
- What it supports: road decommissioning and maintenance, and culvert installation
- Why it matters: reduces sediment and erosion
On conservation lands, roads can be good or useless, and restoration ecology helps us decide that. But geomorphology helps us figure out how to get rid of roads we don’t need, maintain roads we want to keep, and build other infrastructure, like culverts, to support natural systems, or give us access to important natural features. How we go about this work can be disruptive to natural systems, and geomorphologists help guide us so we move earth smartly.
4. Restoration Ecology
- What is it: the scientific study of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats
- What it supports: native plant restoration
- Why it matters: helps restore native plants and support local species that depend on them
We love redwoods and the Santa Cruz Mountains too. The bioregion is also remarkably diverse, and years of destructive land and resource activities have transformed and disrupted the native ecology of chapparal, coastal prairies, and sandhill habitats that dominate the area. Restoration ecology helps guide both tactical restoration and landscape-scale projects to restore native plant populations, which help ecosystems renew and support local wildlife.
5. Hydrogeology
- What is it: the study of groundwater
- What it supports: watershed restoration
- Why it matters: helps us see how our above-ground activities positively influence below-ground resources like groundwater, ensuring watershed systems are well-cared for
Water finds a way. We can help! When we think about redwood forests, we also think a lot about water: watersheds, streams, aquifers, creeks, and fog and rain. Coast redwoods thrive here because of year-round sources of moisture and sustenance. The work we do above ground to improve creek conditions, remove a dam, or replenish wetlands can improve habitats for Coho salmon and red-legged frogs, and also contribute to the climatic cycle of water in regional habitats that support a diverse array of life, including redwoods.
6. Hazmatology
- What is it: the scientific study of hazardous materials
- What it supports: debris removal
- Why it matters: helps us reset natural states for habitats and ensure safer and healthier conditions for forests to thrive
An often unknown and unfortunate feature of managing lands, is people don’t make great choices sometimes, and things—cars, appliances, computers, and trash—can all end up where it doesn’t belong: on the land and in the forests. Removing debris is important and so is ensuring nothing nasty gets left behind. Working with hazmatology specialists, we both haul away junk and ensure that conditions remain safe and clean for nature to get back to the business of growing and thriving.
7. Fire Ecology
- What is it: a branch of ecology that focuses on the origins of wildland fire and its relationship to the environment that surrounds it
- What it supports: shaded fuel breaks
- Why it matters: reduce fire fuels and improve understory habitat
Wildfire has emerged as a constant threat to ecosystems, and managing land for wildfire can be daunting at best. Fire ecologists are helping big land agencies and little land trusts like Sempervirens Fund to strategically add features to the land that can keep fire from spreading or growing too intensely. Shaded fuel breaks clear out understory fuels, often through the use of prescribed burning. This reduces fuel loads—meaning there’s less dry plant matter for fire to grow and spread—helping wildfire diminish in intensity, keeping fire out of canopies, and protecting nearby communities.
8. Invasive Plant Science
- What is it: the applied research on invasive plant biology, ecology, and management and restoration of invaded areas
- What it supports: removal of invasive plant species
- Why it matters: increased space for native plants to flourish, reduced fire fuels, increased plant diversity
How did this get here?! Clematis and French broom are great (or not-so-great) examples of invasive plants that really love redwood forests. They grow rapidly, overcome other species, and aren’t fire-adaptive. So, fire kills them, but wildfire can use them for fuel. Not good. Removing invasive plants is key to resetting natural systems so native understory plants can thrive.
Looking for more? Explore more ways redwoods are marvels, champions, and beloved.