Our History
The Timber Wars of the 1980’s-90’s brought many challenges and conflicts to communities within the redwood region of northern California and Oregon. In 1998, a group of redwood region community members, including environmentalists and logging professionals, decided to create a new path forward, and joined together to found Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI). Their mission –promote and facilitate community acquisition and control of cut over forestland, reverse the damage done by historic, unsustainable practices of commercial owners, and return economic, environmental, and cultural benefit to the people of the region. This inspired group of unlikely collaborators embarked on a years-long effort culminating in the acquisition and conservation of the 50,000-acre Usal Redwood Forest – once a thriving ancient redwood and Douglas fir forest almost twice the size of the city of San Francisco. Today, RFFI continues to apply its innovative model for community-driven, restorative and revitalizing forest management.
In recent years, working with neighboring forestland owners interested in ongoing conservation and sustainable management of their family property, and with the help of the California Natural Resources Agency, CalFire, and California Department of Transportation’s Environmental Enhancement Mitigation Program, RFFI acquired the 95-acre Reist Ranch. The diverse landscape of Reist Ranch includes additional redwood forestland and foundational infrastructure for developing residential research facilities and community programming access within the boundary of Usal Redwood Forest. This acquisition was an important step in the ongoing application and development of RFFI’s innovative model for community forestry and expanded RFFI’s forests under management.
RFFI now celebrates over 15 years of management of Usal Redwood Forest as one of the largest working community forests in America. The Plant a Redwood Now! program supports restoration of the redwood population throughout the forests and watersheds of this important landscape, and in neighboring forests of the northern California coastal redwood region.
Learn more at www.rffi.org or view our video below
Your Trees Planted (FAQ)
The trees planted with dedications from Plant a Redwood Now! donors are year-old redwoods grown from a seedbank that encompasses the Usal Redwood Forest region. This approach yields redwoods well suited to Usal and other neighboring forests. The redwoods are grown year-round, and in late December RFFI receives an average of 15,000 trees timed to arrive when forest conditions are ideal for planting. The redwoods are carried on foot into the forest and planted by hand across many acres of rugged terrain each year. At this time, RFFI does not have the resources to monitor each individual tree across the entire landscape, however we do capture the area(s) of the forest in which we plant redwoods each year, as seen on the map provided here. The redwood trees you dedicate with your donation are presently growing at the nursery and will be planted in the January following your donation. The map on this website is updated each year. In addition to the redwoods planted on Usal Redwood Forest, RFFI typically coordinates transfer of 20% of our total redwood delivery for planting with neighboring forestland owners who, together with RFFI, are working to restore the redwood population in the region.
Voices From Our Community
Land Acknowledgment
We, at Redwood Forest Foundation, acknowledge that the land we refer to as Usal Redwood Forest is located on ancestral and unceded lands of the Wailaki, Cahto, Sinkiyone and Coast Yuki peoples, who stewarded this land for generations. We believe that the voices of community must be integral in the management, governance and utilization of Usal Redwood Forest. We are committed to creating meaningful relationships with Native peoples and supporting the preservation, protection and renewal of their cultural heritage and practices. We are taking action to fulfil that intent and encourage you to be part of that endeavor.