Adopting baby redwoods

Anyone want a baby tree?

Group trying to plant 70,000 of them

by Glenda Anderson
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
November 23, 2009

Pedro Yanez pulls weeds from the bases of thousands of cloned redwood tree saplings at Sequoia Redwoods / Orchids near Fortuna. Photo credit: Kent Porter / Press Democrat

[excerpt]

Thousands of foot-tall orphaned baby redwood trees sit in rows in a Humboldt County greenhouse, products of the ongoing economic slump and changes in forestry practices.

They were grown for replanting commercial timberland then abandoned when they were no longer needed.

"One of the problems is the markets are so bad, we can't afford to log," said Art Harwood, executive director of the nonprofit Redwood Forest Foundation, which owns 50,000 acres of timberland in Mendocino County. When existing trees aren't harvested, the need and financial resources to plant new trees declines, he said. The foundation is relocating about 70,000 orphaned trees through a fundraising adopt-a-tree program.

. . .

The Redwood Forest Foundation is hoping for a boost from the orphaned trees it purchased from Sequoia Redwoods in Fortuna at a discounted price, Barrett said.

The effort is going well.

"We have found places to plant them," she said. But they still need donors to pay to have the last 30,000 of them delivered and planted by February.

. . .

To read the complete article, visit the Santa Rosa Press Democrat website.

To adopt a tree, visit Plant a Redwood Now.