Save the Redwoods League secures purchase of 2,000-year-old Clar Tree, nearly 400 acres of Russian River Redwoods

What started as a community group’s fight to prevent logging on 224 acres of redwood forest along the lower Russian River has resulted in the permanent protection of almost twice that much land, thanks to the Save the Redwoods League.

The venerable conservation group closed escrow Friday on 394 acres near Guerneville, including about a mile of river frontage and the massive Clar Tree — one of Sonoma County’s tallest, estimated at 2,000 years old.

The $6.5 million purchase ensures the property, known as the Russian River Redwoods, will never be developed or commercially logged. It also paves the way for still undetermined recreational uses on some part of the landscape that dog-legs between Neeley Road, Mays Canyon Road and the private Bohemian Grove on the south edge of the river, across from Northwood Golf Club in Monte Rio.

Plans call for transferring the property title to Sonoma County, likely next spring, which hasn’t determined which department or agency will take ownership yet.

“We’re really overjoyed that it happened,” said Guernewood Park resident John Dunlap, who spearheaded efforts to preserve the land and prevent logging, cofounding the nonprofit Guerneville Forest Coalition after a timber harvest plan called Silver Estates was filed with Cal Fire in 2020. “We wanted to save the 224 acres that constituted the timber harvest plan, but clearly it’s great that we’re saving 394 acres instead.”

West county Supervisor Lynda Hopkins played a critical role, persuading landowner and mill operator Roger Burch to consider a conservation purchase and getting different players onto the property to view it.

But Save the Redwoods League’s ability to work quickly was necessary to meet Burch’s short, 2-month turnaround for the deal. Public purchases typically take far longer because of the in-depth assessments, analyses and transparent decision-making steps required to spend tax dollars.

“The great part about how this is happening,” said Misti Arias, general manager of the tax-funded Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, “is often the pressure to get a deal closed makes it difficult for us to participate.”

With Save the Redwoods League stepping in, “we’re able to be really thoughtful now … without the real estate duress” to begin planning for forest restoration, public access, choosing recreation partners and other issues, she said.

Among the first challenges is deciding which part of county government would hold title, though both the Russian River Sanitation District, which uses some of the land for treated wastewater disposal, and the Sonoma County Water Agency, with which it is affiliated, have been mentioned as possibilities.

The Ag + Open Space District would hold a conservation easement over the land, and some other entity would facilitate recreational opportunities, Arias said.

The purchase was facilitated as well by a $500,000 matching gift from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria about a month into fundraising, stimulating donations from $5 to $50,000 from more than 2,000 donors representing every state in the nation, according to Jeff Stump, senior manager of land protection for the league.

“It really demonstrates how important this is both regionally and across California and the country, Stump said.

It helped that ”we have a broad reach” and there was significant media coverage, he said.

“People love redwoods and love the fact that there is this old-growth redwood (the Clar Tree) that somehow survived all this time,“ Stump said.

The David and Lucille Packard Foundation also extended a $2 million, low-interest bridge loan allowing the Save the Redwoods League to meet its Sept. 30 funding deadline.

Stump said the loan would be repaid when the land is transferred to the county.

He said the league’s first mission is to tighten up access to the property to reduce trespassing and secure the resource values.

He said the organization also would be looking at invasive plant management, forest restoration and wildfire resilience as it works with the county to establish next steps and plans for the future.

“We’re looking forward to our evolving partnership with the county and working with them to get this into public hands,” Stump said. “It’s going to be super exciting.”

For his part, Dunlap said the Forest Coalition also can play a part in involving local citizenry in future management of the site, after investing so much time working through provisions of the timber harvest plan and engaging with the state and experts on best solutions.

He also wants to make sure the majestic Clar Tree is respected with the space and reverence it deserves, having endured a century after the other old-growth trees on the landscape were logged.

“I guess I’m inviting myself to the party, to the table,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.