On a recent visit to a 1,624-acre parcel of land along the Sonoma County coast, Jeff Stump pointed out a rare old-growth redwood in the area. He estimated its age to be anywhere between 500 to 800 years old.
Many old-growth redwood trees on this property were harvested during a logging boom over a century ago. Stump said the remaining old-growth trees usually survived simply because they were a little “funky.”
“There's something about that old-growth tree that made it not very palatable to the folks who were cutting timber,” said Stump, director of land protection for Save the Redwoods League, a nonprofit focused on land conservation. “They were looking for the biggest, straightest, tallest trees.”
These days, old-growth redwoods are harder to find in California. A long history of logging in the state diminished their numbers enough that only 5% of what once existed remains.
Stump said conservation advocates like himself are working to preserve those survivors, as well as the second-growth redwoods that could live to be old growth in the future. It’s part of what makes this coastal area special.
And it’s also why the League is in the process of purchasing it. The parcel of land contains both redwood forests and grasslands.
Adrianna Andreucci, a land protection manager for Save the Redwoods League, said conserving this land keeps it safe from developers and also helps California’s climate.
“[Redwoods] store more carbon than any other forest in the world, so they are really critical to keep around,” Andreucci said.
Conservationists say redwood trees are particularly good at storing carbon. This makes their preservation a particularly important piece to meeting California’s goals to conserve land and sequester more carbon.Manola Secaira/CapRadio
Protecting forests like this one feeds into California’s climate efforts, including its goal to conserve 30% of its lands and waters by 2030. But conservation is expensive work. The League often relies on a mixture of donor and state funding to make land acquisitions happen.
It’s why the League, along with a coalition of other environmental groups, has come out in support of Proposition 4, a measure that would issue $10 billion in bonds for climate-related projects. Advocates say funding these projects will keep California’s climate efforts on track.
“Proposition 4 really … helps California shift from disaster response to more disaster prevention by providing up front actions to help reduce the cost of dealing with climate change,” said Liz Forsberg Pardi with the Nature Conservancy, one of the organizations in support of the measure. “We know we can't afford to wait.”
The measure, which is on the November ballot, would fund a wide range of climate-related projects, including improving access to safe drinking water, wildfire prevention and the protection of lands and communities in California.
Critics of the measure include the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which said it would only add to California’s nearly $79 billion of existing bond debt. A state analysis estimates it will take $400 million annually over 40 years to repay it.
“To take programs that are basically just spending and try to pay for them with bonds is a tremendous burden on the future,” said Susan Shelley, a spokesperson for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Shelley added that the more debt California takes on, the more it burdens future state budgets.
But advocates for the bond measure say it could actually save Californians money in the future. Sam Hodder, president of Save the Redwoods League, points to research that says funding projects aimed at climate resiliency saves money later. A 2017 report focused on federal agencies found that every dollar invested in disaster mitigation saves about $6 in future costs.
“We are saving the state money by reducing the burden and cost of climate catastrophes down the road,” Hodder said. “You put off this kind of investment in your infrastructure at your peril.”
He said investments through bond measures have been vital to moving the League’s mission forward. The nonprofit has relied on state bond measures since its early days of existence.
“We helped to pass the very first bond for conservation in California in the late 1920s,” said Hodder. “It was the funding source that helped to establish the California state park system as we know it today.”
This 1,624-acre parcel of land along the Sonoma County coast is primarily made up of redwood forests and grasslands.Manola Secaira/CapRadio
State-run organizations, like the Wildlife Conservation Board, are usually responsible for doling out funds from environment-focused bond measures like Prop 4.
“There's absolutely a huge amount of work that needs to be done to meet … our climate resiliency goals,” said Rebecca Fris, deputy executive director at the Wildlife Conservation Board. “We need as much funding as we can get from as many sources as we can get, whether that's from bonds or [the state] general fund or leveraging federal funding.”
Land acquisitions are among the most expensive kinds of projects the Board has funded. They can cost tens of millions of dollars. But Fris said with that price comes a big reward: Protecting these lands forever.
A couple years back, California’s budget surplus provided another source of funding for the Wildlife Conservation Board’s grants. Fris said that surplus allowed them to take on bigger projects.
However, the state no longer has a surplus and Fris said the Board was among many of the entities focused on environmental work that were impacted by recent budget cuts. She said the cut has meant pulling back on projects the Board had planned to fund.
Without bond funding, Fris said the Board’s work becomes more difficult.
“We're right now working under a little bit more limited resources,” said Fris. “If the bond doesn't pass, then we'd have to stay kind of at that low level, and not be able to do a lot of bigger projects.”
For the Save the Redwoods League, buying that parcel of Sonoma County coastal land is one of those bigger projects. They’re hoping to raise $16 million for its purchase and restoration by the end of the year.
Andreucci said the land has been impacted by historical logging and wildfires. Buying it would allow the League to start restoring it, and also eventually make it publicly accessible.
“I really see our work around protecting Redwood forests as an extremely long-term view and an extremely permanent investment in the protection of California's landscape,” she said.
Voters will decide on whether or not to pass Proposition 4 on Nov. 5.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
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