Sempervirens Fund

Sempervirens Fund protects the local redwood forests between Silicon Valley and the Pacific Ocean – while we open up more ways for people to enjoy them.

We are rallying the local community to re-establish a vast, beautiful, accessible redwood world that provides crucial refuge and recreation in our own backyard. We call it The Great Park.

The Great Park ultimately will cover over 125,000 acres of public parks and private land. That’s the size of four San Franciscos. More than 2/3 of this land is already protected...permanently. Yet, 1/3 of the forest is at risk of being cut up, fenced off and paved for housing subdivisions, shopping centers and urban sprawl.

With your support, Sempervirens Fund can move quickly right now to buy more land and conservation easements -- to protect old-growth redwoods and create the Great Park. 

Come out and experience:

• 2,000-year-old redwoods – the tallest tree on Earth
• 20 million-year-old redwood forest – growing here and nowhere else
• Clean air, fresh water and stunning waterfalls
• Abundant wildlife -- like coyotes, salmon and endangered marbled murrelets
• Extensive trails, campgrounds, picnic spots and solitary places
• Quiet, awe-inspiring places to reconnect with the wild and recharge our batteries

Sempervirens Fund is re-assembling the once-vast redwood forest here -- based on sound science and more than 100 years of experience. As California’s oldest land trust, we carry on the work of local residents who stood up and saved the last old-growth redwoods in the area.

Imagine “Silicon Valley” in the late 1800s. Local residents of the rural valley watched in horror as 300 square miles of ancient redwood forests blanketing the Santa Cruz Mountains were logged down to bald hills. What could they do?

They joined together and protected the largest remaining area of old growth forest, which became Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Since then, Sempervirens Fund played a crucial role in creating three other local redwood parks: Castle Rock, Butano and Portola Redwoods. Recently, we stepped in to keep Castle Rock State Park open and began building top-notch facilities that will put the park on solid financial footing.

Now is the crucial last chance re-create an incredible, life-giving redwood forest for people, wildlife and future generations: The Great Park.

Join Sempervirens Fund to connect the existing parklands, provide more wildlife habitat, open up new trails and care for the redwood forest. Together we’ll keep local trails and campgrounds open so we all can hike, bike, camp, explore and enjoy a wild respite from our busy Bay Area lifestyle.

Join us ~ and please, go out and enjoy the redwoods soon!