The Sanctuary Forest is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

conservation

land trust Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which th ...

in the

Mattole River The Mattole River is a river on the north coast of California, that flows northerly, then westerly into the Pacific Ocean. The vast majority of its course is through southern Humboldt County, though a short section of the river flows through ...

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition Th ...

on the northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

coast. It was established in 1987 as a community effort to preserve a 2000-year-old

redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coas ...

named “Big Red." It also contains spawning grounds for

king salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...

and

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia an ...

in a tributary of the river. It currently covers over 10,000 acres of forest, rivers and wildlife corridors in

History

Sanctuary Forest began in 1987, within the

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American P ...

of the headwaters of the Mattole River, on the northern California coast. Active community members who aimed to preserve the 2,000-year-old redwood, “Big Red," that was scheduled for cutting by industrial timberland owners, launched Sanctuary Forest’s first campaign. The origin of this organization is based on the beliefs of the Redwoods Monastery, a group of

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

monastic women, who educated their communities on the severe threats logging has towards the environment.

Conservation efforts

Its

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

efforts are to preserve

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...

Douglas firs The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three v ...

forests, wildlife corridors, and additional habitats and streams near the Mattole River. It has guided efforts to save 1,200 acres of old-growth forest, 4,440 acres of land for conservation purposes, and 6,075 acres of

conservation easements In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gove ...

on private property. In 2017, Sanctuary Forest, Inc. implemented the Whitethorn Clean Up Project to address impacts to Sanctuary Forest as a result of a trespass marijuana cultivation site from 2014 to 2016. Sanctuary Forest, Inc. has worked for years to purchase land within the Whitethorn Valley in efforts to conserve the land and protect it from future development.

Programs

Sanctuary Forest’s programs include Lands Conservation Program, Stewardship Program, Education and Outreach Program and Collaboration Program:

Lands conservation program

The Lands Conservation Program protects the main areas that help keep the

healthy through

and land acquisition.

Stewardship program

The Stewardship Program establishes ecologically sound land management by restoration, water conservation, and other projects.

Education and outreach program

The Education and Outreach Program promotes public appreciation for the land by providing summer hikes and scholarships.

Collaboration program

Collaboration Program unify different perspectives with the same purpose of keeping the

Mattole The Mattole, including the Bear River Indians, are a group of Native Americans in California. Their traditional lands are along the Mattole and Bear Rivers near Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County, California. A notable difference between the M ...

watershed healthy, through making partnerships to promote conservation and responsible management of the environment. It includes the ''Upper Mattole River'' and ''Forest Cooperative (UMRFC)'', which involves public, private, federal, state and non-profit

organizations An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived fr ...

that manage 4,000 acres of

headwaters as part of a threatened salmon location. Sanctuary Forest is the

land conservation group that was active in conserving this area in collaboration with the ''UMRFC''. It is estimated that the Sanctuary Forest owns around 500 acres within the ''UMRFC''.

References

{{coord missing, California Land trusts in California Forests of California Environmental organizations based in California