photo by Canopy Dynamics.
Explore What Forests Protect
Clean Air
Healthy redwood forests store carbon, produce oxygen, and help keep our air clean and our climate stable.
Clean air begins in healthy forests. Coast redwoods are some of the most effective trees in the world at capturing and storing carbon. And redwoods can hold carbon for centuries.
At San Vicente Redwoods, Sempervirens Fund and its partners are caring for a forest once heavily logged, helping younger trees grow and restoring the conditions that can support the old growth of the future.
When you support this work, you help redwoods keep growing and protecting the air we all share.
Clean Water
Forests capture, store, and filter water, protecting watersheds, streams, and drinking water for communities and wildlife.
Rain and coastal fog move through a redwood forest, soaking into the soil and feeding its creeks. Roots hold soil in place, while broad canopies shade streams and help keep the water cool.
When forests are protected and cared for, these natural water systems stay strong and resilient. Through land protection and forest stewardship, Sempervirens Fund helps protect watersheds throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains so these forests can continue providing clean, reliable water.
At Gateway to Big Basin, protecting the land also protects its waterways and the larger forest they flow through. Supporters first came together to save this 153 acre property in 2022. In 2026, it became part of Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
That is what protecting a whole landscape can do: keep land, water, and habitat connected for years to come.
Resilient Landscapes
Resilient redwood forests can better withstand wildfire, recover more quickly after fire, and help protect nearby communities.
Resilient landscapes begin with forests that are cared for and managed carefully. After the CZU Fire, caring for Big Basin became a long effort shared by many people and partners. Sempervirens Fund is helping guide work to protect its surviving old growth and support the forest’s recovery. At San Vicente Redwoods, restoration is helping younger forests grow healthier and more resilient.
This care takes time. Your steady support helps make it possible, season after season.
Wildlife Habitat
Protected and connected forests provide homes and safe movement corridors for wildlife across the landscape.
Redwood forests are home to an incredible variety of wildlife. From birds and amphibians to mountain lions and endangered species, the Santa Cruz Mountains are home to unique and rare wildlife. Large, connected landscapes allow wildlife to move, find food, water, shelter, and better adapt to changing conditions. When forests are fragmented or developed, wildlife lose habitat and the ecosystems that support them become less resilient. By protecting land and connecting forest landscapes, Sempervirens Fund helps create and maintain habitat where wildlife can live, move safely, and thrive.
Protecting forests means protecting homes for wildlife.
Places for People
Permanent land protection ensures redwood forests will remain wild, thriving, and provide recreation opportunities for generations to come.
One of the most important things we can do today is protect forests for future generations. At Big Basin, Bridge and Trail Champions have brought friends, families, hiking groups, businesses, and neighbors together to help restore Timms Creek Loop. Their support is helping bring back nearly 5 miles of trail and 22 bridge crossings damaged by the 2020 CZU fire.
One day, people will walk those trails again. The community bringing them back will be part of every return to the redwoods.
What Whole Forest Protection Looks Like
In 2026, Gateway to Big Basin became part of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, adding 153 acres to the park. It was a milestone years in the making, from the supporters who helped protect the property to the partners who made its addition to the park possible.
The result protects more than the trees growing there. It keeps this place connected to a larger landscape of habitat and waterways, and helps secure its future as part of Big Basin.
This is what people can accomplish together when they protect the whole forest.
Your Voice Helps Protect Forests
A forest’s future is shaped by decisions beyond its boundaries. Public funding helps care for parks. Land use decisions can keep habitat connected or divide it. Policies can support healthier watersheds and reduce wildfire risk.
That is why Sempervirens Fund brings people and partners together to speak up for redwoods. This work has helped advance changes that make it easier to add protected land to California’s state parks, including changes tied to Big Basin’s recovery.
Your voice is part of this work, too. When community members speak up, leaders hear that redwood forests matter to the people who know, love, and depend on them.
Forests Protect Many Things
Forests protect clean air and water.
They give wildlife places to live and move.
They offer people room to explore, reflect, and connect.
And within them, young redwoods have the chance to become the ancient forests of the future.
From protecting land at Gateway to Big Basin, to caring for San Vicente Redwoods, to bringing people back to Timms Creek Loop, this work moves forward because people come together for forests. You are part of that community.