THE NEWSLETTER OF SEMPERVIRENS FUND FALL Shaping the Future of the Santa Cruz Mountain Redwoods

Transcription

1 Moutai Echo THE NEWSLETTER OF SEMPERVIRENS FUND FALL 2012 Shapig the Future of the Sata Cruz Moutai Redwoods The forests ad other atural lads of the Sata Cruz Moutais have bee ihabited ad shaped by people throughout prehistory ad history. Native Americas established travel routes ad residetial settlemets (permaet ad seasoal) ad extracted resources from the Sata Cruz Moutais for thousads of years. Begiig i 1769 with the arrival of the Portolá exhibitio ad icreasigly over the last 150 years, the area has bee impacted by residetial ad commercial developmet, the costructio of trasportatio facilities (i.e., stagecoach routes, paved roads, railroads, air strips), rachig ad agriculture, loggig, miig, ad recreatioal activities. For better or worse, oe thig is clear: people have altered the atural characteristics ad health of the Sata Cruz Moutais. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

2 LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Sciece-Based Lad Coservatio Preservig redwood forests sice 1900 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Reed Holderma CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Barbara M. Woodbury DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Ae Dimock BOARD OF DIRECTORS Diae Talbert, Presidet Fred Keeley, Vice Presidet Richard L. Coiff, Treasurer Betsy Herbert, Ph.D., Secretary Philippe S. Cohe, Ph.D. Kevi Fly William N. Harris Robert L. Katz Carl Kig Da Marti Ket Putam Emily F. Thurber Stephe N. Wyckoff, J.D. SCIENCE ADVISORY PANEL Betsy Herbert, Ph.D., Chair Philippe S. Cohe, Ph.D. Robert Curry, Ph.D. Will Russell, Ph.D. Steve Siger, M.S. Jerry Smith, Ph.D. FOUNDING DIRECTORS Adrew P. Hill George C. Collis Howard J. Kig Claude A. Toy Look Dorothy Varia Plaig is essetial to movig forward. It helps us uderstad our optios, trade-offs, ad what it will take to realize our hopes ad dreams for a better tomorrow. Coservatio plaig is o differet. I a area as large ad diverse as the Great Park, where everythig seems importat, it s easy to miss the forest for the trees. To better uderstad this redwood forest ecosystem, we hired a outside team of evirometal professioals to objectively look at all of the atural ad cultural resources withi our 224,000-acre Great Park plaig area ad idetify for us, based o the best sciece available, where the most importat atural areas are located. With this iformatio, we ca strategically implemet our visio of a itegrated ad coected ladscape. Workig with a 22-member steerig committee, which we assembled to guide this plaig process, our team of scietists has amassed a tremedous amout of data to help iform our resource protectio efforts. This extesive data comprisig over 900 millio pixels of iformatio has bee evaluated, raked, ad summarized o 15 differet electroic maps. Whe we overlap these maps, which detail everythig from the locatio of old-growth forests to places that are aticipated to be more resiliet to climate chage, we ca easily idetify high priority areas for lad protectio. The Coceptual Area Protectio Pla (CAPP) for the Great Park plaig area will be a essetial tool to help us focus our limited time ad fudig o the areas that will have the greatest impact o the overall health of the Sata Cruz Moutai redwoods. I the moths ahead, we look forward to sharig with you more details about this pla ad how it is helpig iform ad guide our lad protectio efforts. Thak you, Reed Holderma Executive Director

3 CAPP: The Coceptual Area Protectio Pla Goig forward, we are tryig to shape a healthier more robust future for the Sata Cruz Moutais oe i which the area s redwood forests ad other atural resources, exceptioal biodiversity, cultural ladscapes, ad recreatio opportuities are respected, supported, ad ehaced. I 2011 we bega the process of creatig the Sata Cruz Moutais Coceptual Area Protectio Pla (CAPP), a collaboratively-developed resource coservatio pla that will help Sempervires Fud, public agecies, ad other lad trusts to advace effective lad coservatio ad soud strategies for resource maagemet. With a grat made through the Bay Area Coservatio Iitiative of the Resources Legacy Fud, we hired Jodi McGraw Cosultig, a evirometal cosultig firm that specializes i biological resource maagemet plaig, to lead a team of scietists i the creatio of the CAPP. Because we wat the CAPP to be based o the covergece of sciece ad o-the-groud experiece, we also formed a Steerig Committee comprisig represetatives from a diverse rage of public agecies, lad trusts, ad other stakeholders. (See page 5 for a list of members). Together, Sempervires Fud, scietists, ad the Steerig Committee have bee workig together to complete the CAPP. Jodi McGraw says that it is a great experiece brigig together scietists ad lad coservatio practitioers. We are all learig a lot from each other ad creatig a pla that highlights the critical resource areas that eed to be coserved i order to protect the itegrity of the redwood forests across the Sata Cruz Moutais. The first step i this process was to compile existig data ad, where eeded, to acquire ew data about the atural ad cultural resources of the area, focusig o the followig types of iformatio: structure ad compositio of the redwood forest; locatio of rare ad edagered species; documeted timber harvestig; rakig of watersheds i terms of ecological itegrity; evaluatio of parcels for ladscape coectivity; locatio of sigificat cultural ad historic sites; ad, idetificatio of areas best suited to resist the effects of climate chage. The iformatio collected was the aalyzed usig a very sophisticated geographic iformatio system (GIS) that eabled the scietists ad Steerig Committee to overlay data i differet layers to determie where high resource areas itersect. Based o this aalysis, we ca ow compare areas to see, for istace, that oe icludes healthy secodgrowth redwood forest while aother harbors a key archaeological site, itact forest lads, ad provides key ladscape coectivity. The ext step i the process will be to evaluate these priority areas from the perspective of possible lad use chages, threats from subdivisio ad developmet, ad opportuities for lad coservatio, ad to prioritize for protectio specific properties that provide multiple coservatio beefits. From this iformatio we will develop ad refie the fial CAPP. MOUNTAIN ECHO 3

4 The pla that Sempervires Fud ad its team are developig will serve maagemet ow ad ito the future, as well as provide a tremedous tool for facilitatig a more iformed dialogue with our stakeholders ad the public. Dave Hollad, Assistat Couty Maager, Sa Mateo Couty The process of creatig the CAPP is log, complicated, ad expesive. We expect to have a pla completed by February 2013, ad will the seek approval ad adoptio of it from the Califoria Departmet of Fish ad Game, which will make the priority acquisitios withi the CAPP eligible for state grat fuds. Throughout the plaig process we have bee remided agai ad agai what icredible resources lay at our back doorsteps. The approximately 224,000-acre plaig area spaig Sata Cruz ad Sa Mateo couties represets the largest area of ufragmeted habitat withi the Sata Cruz Moutais Bioregio ad is uiquely positioed to become the largest cotiguous protected refuge for ature i the Sa Fracisco Bay Area. Withi this area, 62,000 acres have ever bee fragmeted by roads or developmet ad are virtually pristie wilderess. There are almost 9,000 acres of oldgrowth redwood ad Douglas fir forests that provide essetial habitat for the federally edagered marbled murrelet, ad the area is home to 184 rare, threateed or edagered species, some of which are foud o where else o earth. The CAPP area also cotais 179 kow Native America archaeological sites, early 67,000 acres of parklad available for public recreatio, 28 campgrouds, ad a extesive etwork of trails icludig the Bay Area Ridge Trail, Califoria Coastal Trail, ad the Skylie to the Sea Trail. Despite the fact that humas have impacted this area for thousads of years, the Sata Cruz Moutais are still magificet ad we pla to keep them that way. Sata Cruz Moutais Redwood CAPP 4 MOUNTAIN ECHO

5 CAPP Steerig Committee Steve Abbors, Midpeisula Regioal Ope Space District Chet Bardo, Califoria Departmet of Parks ad Recreatio Trish Chapma, Califoria Coastal Coservacy Casey Cleve, Midpeisula Regioal Ope Space District Rick Cooper, Bureau of Lad Maagemet Terry Corwi, Lad Trust of Sata Cruz Couty Mike Higgis, Cetral Coast Regioal Water Quality Cotrol Board Dave Hollad, Couty of Sa Mateo Corad Joes, Califoria Departmet of Fish ad Game Robert Katz, Sempervires Fud Kare Kidwell, Bay Area Ope Space Coucil Marc Ladgraf, Peisula Ope Space Trust Kick Leigto, Midpeisula Regioal Ope Space District Emily Limm, Save the Redwoods League Val Lopez, Amah Mutsu Tribal Bad of Ohloe/Costaoa Idias Paul Michel, Moterey Bay Natioal Marie Sactuary Jessica Neff, Save the Redwoods League Aa Ruiz, Midpeisula Regioal Ope Space District Bria Shelto, Califoria Departmet of Fish ad Game Chuck Striple, Amah Mutsu Tribal Bad of Ohloe/Costaoa Idias; Sa Fracisco Estuary Istitute Nick Wyckoff, Sempervires Fud MOUNTAIN ECHO 5

6 New Collaboratio with Midpeisula Regioal Ope Space District Saves Old-Growth Redwoods ad Expads Park The Midpeisula Regioal Ope Space District (the District) comprises more tha 60,000 acres of ope space lads, icludig magificet ridgetops with spectacular views, cool redwood forests, rollig foothills, ad baylads. This past summer, the District s preserve system grew by 89 acres. For the past few years, Sempervires Fud has bee workig with the District to protect two forest properties Lagomarsio ad Gallaway ad create public access to them. I 2010 Sempervires purchased the Lagomarsio property to protect its redwood forests from a approved timber harvest pla, ad i Jue 2012 we trasferred this 31-acre property to the District. The Lagomarsio property icludes a breathtakig old-growth grove that icludes some of the tallest redwoods i the Sata Cruz Moutais ad 60 trees with diameters over 72 iches. I August 2012, the District purchased the 58-acre Gallaway property, located betwee the El Corte de Madera Creek Ope Space Preserve ad the Lagomarsio property. Acquisitio of the Gallaway property liks Lagomarsio to El Corte de Madera ad advaces the District s log-term goal of evetually creatig a lik betwee El Corte de Madera ad the earby Tuitas Creek Ope Space Preserve. The District s purchase of the Gallaway property also allows for the evetual extesio of trails withi El Corte de Madera, across Gallaway, ad ito the Lagomarsio property, thus providig public access to Lagomarsio s old-growth grove. The District s purchase of the Gallaway Property was supported by a $375,000 grat provided by the Gordo ad Betty Moore Foudatio through the Livig Ladscape Iitiative Challege Grat Program of Resources Legacy Fud (RLF). RLF also provided $50,000 to support the District s iitial stewardship activities o both properties. Gary Koblock, Program Officer for Lad Coservatio withi the Sa Fracisco Bay Area Portfolio at the Moore Foudatio says, These acquisitios are precisely what the Livig Ladscape Iitiative is all about protectig atural resources ad coectig ladscapes i the heart of coastal Califoria. We could t agree more. Purisima Creek Redwoods OSP! Half Moo Bay 1 Area of Detail Tuitas Creek Lagomarsio Gallaway El Corte de Madera OSP Nat ive S o s Rd. Tuitas Creek OSP Star Hill R d. 6 MOUNTAIN ECHO

7 UPDATE: CEMEX Redwoods I December 2011, we celebrated with Peisula Ope Space Trust (POST) the purchase ad protectio of the 8,532 CEMEX Redwoods property. Sice the we have bee very busy with our parters POST, Lad Trust of Sata Cruz Couty ad Save the Redwoods League stewardig the property, learig more about the atural resources o it, ad plaig for its future. Sempervires Fud ad POST are actively stewardig the lad. This icludes regular patrols to reduce illegal etry ad use, road maiteace, fuels maagemet, creek crossig repairs, ad the removal of ivasive species. Together with our parters, we held two commuity meetigs i Booy Doo ad Daveport to hear the public s cocers ad hopes for the future of the CEMEX Redwoods. The greatest issues raised at the meetig were how (ad whe) the public would be ivited to access ad use the property. May attedees of the meetig also suggested that we chage the property s ame. (Agreed!) I order better uderstad ad protect the properties tremedous resources, ad to determie best approaches for gratig public access, we have also bee workig with our parters to prepare a CEMEX William Matthias coservatio pla for the property. To create this pla, we aalyzed the property s coservatio values, icludig old-growth redwoods, wildlife habitat, water resources, ad resiliecy to climate chage ad idetified the most sesitive habitat areas o the property. The ext major step for the CEMEX Redwoods is for the parters to prepare a coservatio easemet that will remove the threat of developmet ad esure the permaet protectio of old-growth redwoods ad other sesitive, uique, ad edagered species o the property. We are workig o this ow. I the meatime, several scietific studies are uderway, icludig the Bay Area Puma Project (to study the puma populatio), creek ad stream moitorig (to assess the health ad habitat of Coho salmo, Souther steelhead, Califoria red-legged frogs, ad other aquatic species), ad a aalysis of tree rig patters by the Sa Fracisco Estuary Istitute to help uderstad how Native Americas used fires as part of their ladscape maagemet practices. For more iformatio about what else is happeig, please cotact Aaro Hébert, Lad Stewardship Maager, at ahebert@sempervires.org or (650) MOUNTAIN ECHO 7

8 A Visit to Castle Rock Part of Sempervires Fud s missio is to ecourage people to appreciate ad ejoy the magificet redwood forests ad other atural resources of the Sata Cruz Moutais. Oe of the ways we do this is by orgaizig semi-aual outdoor educatio field trips for studets from Adrew P. Hill High School i Sa Jose. For our most recet field trip, we took a group of APH High School studets ad their teachers to Castle Rock State Park. Miles Stadish, who served as Head Rager at Castle Rock for 30 years, led the group o a vigorous ad iformative hike poitig out the variety of wildflowers ad trees, explaiig the woders of the tafoi rock formatios, ad detailig the park s icredible vistas. This was the first visit to Castle Rock for all of the studets ad oe that we believe left a lastig impressio. As we work to keep Castle Rock State Park ope, we are hopeful that they will have the opportuity to visit ad ejoy Castle Rock agai ad agai. We are very grateful to the Robert C. ad Jaie Pace Rempel Family whose geerous doatio made this trip possible. Toy Look Memorial Scholarship Awarded Kevi Hoag is the 2012 wier of the Toy Look Memorial Scholarship a aual $1,000 scholarship awarded to a graduatig seior from Adrew P. Hill High School i Sa Jose who has distiguished him or herself scholastically ad who has a kee iterest i the atural world. Kevi has spet his life i urba Sa Jose ad, partly because of this, he has a deep appreciatio for ope spaces ad trees. I summer 2011 he traveled to Nicaragua where he, alog with a group of other teeagers, developed ad implemeted a project to reforest a poor barre eighborhood i the city of Estelí. There was othig there to protect the people from the su ad the rai. It was really desolate. The trees will add so much. We are very pleased to be able to support Kevi with this scholarship as he heads to the Uiversity of Califoria at Davis to begi studies this fall. Thak you to the Robert C. ad Jaie Pace Rempel Family for their geerous doatio i support of this scholarship. 8 MOUNTAIN ECHO

9 New Exploratio Ceter Opes I Sata Cruz NOAA The Moterey Bay Natioal Marie Sactuary Exploratio Ceter i Sata Cruz, which opeed i July 2012, is located across the street from the Sata Cruz Wharf ad expected to receive 200,000 visitors each year. It will feature iteractive, iterpretive exhibits ad programs desiged to teach visitors about the Moterey Bay Marie Sactuary offshore, the issues affectig it, ad what we all ca do to esure the cotiued health of this atioal treasure. Sempervires Fud collaborated with the Exploratio Ceter to develop two watershed exhibits that highlight the relatioships betwee the forest ad the sea, ad the rivers that coect them. Admissio is free! To lear more visit Baaa Slugs Kevi Osbor New Faces o the Staff We are pleased to itroduce Ae Dimock our ew Director of Developmet who joied Sempervires Fud i July Ae previously worked for Habitat for Humaity i Kaua i. Welcome Diae Talbert as Board Presidet! Diae Talbert has bee a member of Sempervires Fud s Board sice 2007 ad served as vice presidet for the past two years. She brigs to the Board years of commercial real estate ad fudraisig experiece ad a deep passio for the redwoods of the Sata Cruz Moutais. I am so thakful for those who had the foresight to protect these beautiful forests. I grew up o the Peisula ad though much of this area has chaged dramatically sice I was a child, the redwood forests have stayed pretty much the same. I am proud to be leadig Sempervires Fud as we cotiue to complete strategic coservatio projects that will protect the forests for all of us today ad for future geeratios. Diae is a residet of the tow of Woodside, where she was amed Woodside s Citize of the Year i MOUNTAIN ECHO 9

10 PLANNED GIVING: A Gift to the Redwoods, Close to Home Jo Blue has bee supportig Sempervires Fud for a log time. She was with us i the 1970s whe we coserved the core of Castle Rock State Park ad she is still supportig us today as we cotiue our efforts to protect ad steward redwood forests across the Sata Cruz Moutais. Whe I first moved to this area years ago I leared about Sempervires Fud ad thought it had a woderful philosophy. I really like the idea of protectig ature close to home. Ad sice I live i Melo Park I made the choice to support Sempervires Fud, i my small way. For over thirty years Jo has bee a loyal door to the orgaizatio ad, lookig ahead, she has also icluded a gift to Sempervires Fud i her estate plas. It s ot huge. But it s what I ca do to help esure that others who live i this area are able to ejoy these forests log ito the future. We are very grateful to Jo for her geerosity past, preset, ad future. If you would like to discuss a plaed gift to Sempervires Fud, please cotact Ae Dimock, Director of Developmet, at (650) or adimock@sempervires.org. To read about various plaed givig optios, please visit our website at gifts or call Ae to receive a copy of our plaed givig brochure. I really like the idea of protectig ature close to home. Help us make the Dea Witter Foudatio Challege Grat! The Dea Witter Foudatio has preseted Sempervires Fud ad its doors with a excitig ad geerous challege. If 25 doors icrease their aual support to $1,000, the Foudatio will give us a $25,000 grat. They uderstad the urgecy of our lad coservatio efforts ad the ecessity of large gifts to make our efforts possible. If you are iterested i steppig up to this challege, please use the eclosed remit evelope. Or call us at (650) to give a gift or fid out more. 10 MOUNTAIN ECHO

11 Tributes Dedicated Redwood Trees ad Legacy Grove gifts were established i hoor or memory of the followig people betwee April 3, 2012 ad July 15, 2012: Dedicated Redwoods Ray N. Atkiso Give by William N. Harris Dr. Joe Fischer Give by Robert ad Jea Baer Barbara G. Fuller Give by Frieds ad Family Kayla Harder Give by Thomas ad Caroly Harder The Harder Family Give by Thomas ad Caroly Harder Elizabeth Hies Holzer Give by Joa A. Holzer ad Mierva Muñoz Justie Give by Cheye Howell Sally S. Kittross Give by Joh Kittross Leoard Lockert Give by Adrew Lockert Roald I. Lyos Give by Edward Zwieback ad Moa Paitz Dale McLella Give by William N. Harris David Ambia Molia Give by Michael Chi Margaret Peg Riopel Give by Frieds ad Family Patricia ad David Samuelso Give by Olivia Orr Sheldo Dexter (Zeke) Sicotte Give by Robert ad Jea Baer Sophia Isabella Smith Give by Murphy ad Carol Sabatio Odie Wies Give by Susa Baker Legacy Grove Emily Beatar Give by Callie Ellisto Charles Girsky Give by Amir ad Tami Raubvogel A Fitzpatrick Klei Give by Mary Spiesma Blaie Kraz Give by Fraces Malamud-Roam Edward Leahy Give by Lee Besse Ella Lepold Give by Micki Miller Jaet A. Macdoald Reiter Give by Alexis Raleigh FRANK DELFINO: A Special Place Frak Delfio ad his family have a special place i the redwoods. It all bega whe my wife Jaice passed away. She had a real coectio to the redwoods a historical coectio actually. Her acestor, a member of the Portola Exhibitio i 1769, was amog the first Europeas to see the redwoods of the Sata Cruz Moutais. Ad so I decided that it would be ice to dedicate a redwood tree to her. The we added my ame to the tree ext to Jaice s, ad evetually I dedicated a tree to each of my kids ad oe to my sister right i that same area. Ad our family cat, who was very beloved by my wife, also has a tree a small oe. Now we are together i the redwoods. Frak Delfio ad his sos visit their family trees a couple of times each year: It is really ice to be able to go to our special place to remember ad hoor our family. Through Sempervires Fud s Tribute Program you ca hoor someoe you Frak settig a stake at oe of his trees i Big Basi. love or mark a importat occasio by dedicatig a sigle redwood or a grove of redwoods while supportig our efforts to protect ad care for the redwood forests of the Sata Cruz Moutais. We have a special arragemet with Califoria State Parks that allows our doors to make a gift to Sempervires Fud ad create a persoalized tribute i the forests of Big Basi Redwoods, Butao, Castle Rock, or Portola Redwoods State Parks. If you would like to discuss dedicatig a tree or redwood grove, please cotact us at (650) or redwoods@sempervires.org. To read more about our tribute gift optios, please visit our website at or call us to receive a copy of our tribute brochure. MOUNTAIN ECHO 11

12 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 90 SANTA CLARA, CA 419 South Sa Atoio Road, Ste. 211 Los Altos, CA Forwardig Service Requested Girl Scouts Dedicatio Joi us as we celebrate with the Girl Scouts of Norther Califoria the protectio of 412 acres of coast redwood forest ad two popular Girl Scout Camps i the Sata Cruz Moutais! Girl Scouts of Norther Califoria October 27, 2012 at Camp Butao Creek. Visit for details. Moutai Echo is published by: Sempervires Fud 419 South Sa Atoio Road, Ste. 211 Los Altos, CA Tel: (650) Fax: (650) redwoods@sempervires.org Margie Rya, Copywritig Da DiVittorio, Desig Cotact Sempervires Fud to republish or referece cotet Sempervires Fud. Staff Reed Holderma, Executive Director Barbara M. Woodbury, Chief Fiacial Officer Ae Dimock, Director of Developmet Lida Yule, Forest Programs Maager Scott Nichols, Aual Givig ad Commuicatios Maager Laura McLedo, Project Maager Aaro Hébert, Stewardship Program Maager Amada Krauss, Developmet Associate A Blachard, Receptioist/Office Assistat Arlee Markakis, Admiistrative Assistat Please remember to otify Sempervires Fud whe you chage your address. (A ote to our frieds: occasioally we make our mailig list available to carefully screeed orgaizatios with goals similar to those of Sempervires Fud. If you prefer that your ame ot be shared, please cotact us we will be happy to hoor your request.) Sempervires Fud is a oprofit 501 (c)(3) orgaizatio. Doatios are taxdeductible to the extet allowed by law. Prited o recycled paper. Frot cover: Little Basi Sempervires Fud