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Zara, JR, Adelia, Derby, Annie, Nicole, Isla, Laura, Cobb, Oliver

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Why do people care about deforestation? Who are some activists working toward saving the world's forests?

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1. What is deforestation?

2. Why does deforestation happen?

3. Why should we care about deforestation?

4. Why does deforestation cause hard to our planet?

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Timmy, Alexander, Will, Natalie, Sloan, Aisling, Greta, Kenadie, Gabby

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Chase, Bode, Parker, Ari, Anna, Devon, Charlotte, Makena, Sophia, Jane

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When have people taken action against deforestation?

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How can WE help in the fight against deforestation?

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Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest. This can include clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.

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A Short List of Forest Facts for Kids

Meaghan Weeden | September 9, 2021 | 5 min read

T alking with kids about the importance of trees and forests, deforestation and climate change can be challenging, but it's an important conversation to have. After all, if future generations are going to make an impact on global warming and fight back against climate change, it's vital for children to learn the importance of forests, the role they play in shaping the environment, and the impact of deforestation on every aspect of our lives.

To help you get the conversation started, we put together some fun forest facts to share with all of the kids in your life! And if you're looking for even more kid-friendly and teacher-friendly resources about forests, check out our T.R.E.E.S. School Program.

11 Forest Facts for Kids

2. THERE ARE 3 MAIN TYPES OF FORESTS

While all forests are primarily composed of trees, the Amazon Rainforest and the Russian Tiaga look very different. As a rule of thumb, there are three main types of forests: rainforests, temperate forests and boreal forests - with subcategories almost as diverse as the species that call them home.

3. home to over 80% of biodiversity

Everything that lives in a forest makes up its ecosystem, and the wide range of biodiversity found in these ecosystems is truly astounding. In fact, more than 80% of the plants, animals and insects living on land can be found in the world's forests! The world's biodiversity needs our help protecting its home.

7. 121+ NATURAL REMEDIES CAN BE FOUND IN THE RAINFOREST

From roots spreading deep underground to wood mushrooms growing high up above, forests are filled with medicine that can help with many of the things that ail humankind. Those who live in close connection with the forest know what plant to grab to stop bleeding, ease a headache, draw out a bee sting, disinfect wounds and more!

9. every year, an estimated 18.7 million acres of forest are lost

Deforestation, or the act of cutting down forest to make room for other land uses, is a growing problem. So many forests are being cut down that it's making the planet sick and posing a danger to life on earth. Fewer trees also means less rainfall and more drought - and many animals and plants face extinction as their forest homes are destroyed.

11. THE 5 MAIN CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION ARE.. agriculture, logging, mining, infrastructure, and climate change

Forests are often cleared to make room for people's homes as cities expand to accommodate the world's growing population. Trees are also cut so farmers can grow more food and raise livestock like cows, pigs, and sheep. They're also logged to make the products we all enjoy like furniture, paper, and lumber to build houses.

Reforestation is a great way to protect Earth's forests and fight back against climate change. Planting trees and restoring forest ecosystems remains the best way to remove carbon and other harmful greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. And research has found that stopping deforestation and restoring forests could provide as much as 30% of the solution to solving climate change. Feeling inspired? Plant a tree where it's needed most today!

Get good news, reforestation updates, planting event information and more delivered right to your inbox.

We plant trees in 6 regions around the world. Want to choose where yours are planted?

CHOOSE YOUR REGION

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A Short List of Forest Facts for Kids | One Tree Planted

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Talking with kids about deforestation and climate change can be challenging, but it's an important conversation to have. After all, if future generations are going to make an impact on global warming and fight back against climate change, it's vital for children to learn the importance of forests, the role they play...

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One Tree Planted: Our 4th Grade Fundraiser 

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One Tree Planted: Our 4th Grade Fundraiser 

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Read: The Redwood Forests of California 

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Read: The Redwood Forests of California 

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Newsela (login with your Google info)

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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When and Who is taking action on deforestation?

Deforestation activists from all over the world. (Find out when they started fighting against deforestation)

Deforestation activists from:
Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, Europe

*Make sure to include activists that represent different races from all over the world!*

Activists you can research further:

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You've heard of Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, fighting for the earth's future across the globe.

But she's not the only one.

Here in our very own backyard of Southeast Asia, plenty of climate activists are also fighting for their voices to be heard by their people.

This is a list of some of Southeast Asia's very own young climate activists.

1. Kyaw Ye Htet, Myanmar

Kyaw Ye Htet speaks to a rally on May 31. IMAGE: Myanmar Mix

Although many people in Myanmar may think that climate change is natural and cannot be controlled or change, Kyaw Ye Htet, 21, is striving to show them otherwise through climate activism, he said in an email interview with The Diplomat.

He has co-founded Strike for Climate Myanmar and helped began Fridays for Future Myanmar, to bring awareness to the ongoing crisis of climate change. Both groups are youth movements campaigning for local governments to make legislation for climate action.

Myanmar was ranked as one of the top three countries most affected by climate change in the last two decades, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2019.

Floods and droughts have become common occurrences in Myanmar. More than 70 people have died and nearly 200,000 people are displaced as a result of the current monsoon season.

"Globally we are the edge,"Kyaw Ye Htet said. "If we cannot end the climate crisis, it will end us."

2. Marinel Ubaldo, Philippines

IMAGE: Teen Vogue

As a survivor of 2013's Super Typhoon Haiyan, Marinel Ubaldo, 22, has experienced first hand how deadly climate change disasters can be.

Roughly 7,000 people died as a result of the typhoon, including Ubaldo's relatives and friends. It's why climate action has no longer become just political, but personal for her and her generation, she said to The Diplomat.

"Climate change isn't a fantasy - it's a reality and it's affecting all of us, now," she wrote in an article in Teen Vogue.

Philippines is also ranked in the top 5 countries most affected by climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2019.

3. Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, Malaysia

Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar speaks during a press conference on September 21. IMAGE: Malay Mail

The climate activism movement is gaining traction globally, and it's no different in Malaysia.

In September, local grassroots environmental activism group Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY) joined Greenpeace Malaysia, Amnesty International Malaysia, and indigenous groups to build momentum locally for the Global Climate Strike.

And it was all thanks to Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, co-founder of KAMY.

"Climate literacy in Malaysia is really, really low," Dzulfakar said. That's why KAMY functions mainly in the local Malay language.

Despite naysayers, KAMY has successfully pulled off several "die-in" protests and marches.

A "die-in" protest in Malaysia. IMAGE: Juice

"Climate change is not a thing of the future, nor is it a problem 30 years in the future," Dzulfakar said. "It is happening now."

4. Ralyn Satidtanasarn (Lilly), Thailand

Ralyn satidtanasarn, also known as Lilly, collects plastic waste during a clean up initiative. IMAGE: Channel News Asia

Despite being just 12 years old, Ralyn Satidtanasarn, who goes by her nickname Lilly, is already making a name for herself in Thailand's environmental activism scene.

She often skips school to carry out her activism such as sit-ins in front of Thai government buildings, but this is her fight in encouraging larger corporations to adopt greener methods.

"Greta Thunberg gave me confidence," she said. "When adults do not do anything, it's up to us children to act."

Although the future may seem hopeless, these young activists are working to make a difference. But it shouldn't be just up to them to save the future. It's up to all of us to make a change.
Cover image sourced from the Myanmar Mix/Teen Vogue/Malay Mail.

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These young Southeast Asian climate activists are fighting for their futures

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You've heard of Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, fighting for the earth's future across the globe. But she's not the only one. Here in our very own backyard of Southeast Asia, plenty of climate activists are also fighting for their voices to be heard by their people.

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How are organizations helping to stop deforestation?

How can WE help stop deforestation?

Deforestation activist programs in California.

How can we teach others about the importance of stopping deforestation?

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In 2012, Topher White visited a wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia. He was hiking through the rain forest when he came across a man cutting down a huge tree.

White was watching illegal logging in action. Illegal logging is a big problem in rain forests around the world. It contributes to climate change and destroys habitats × habitat WOLFGANG KAEHLER/LIGHTROCKET-GETTY IMAGES the place where a plant or an animal normally lives (habitat) The emperor penguin's natural habitat is in Antarctica. for forest creatures.

The logger fled the scene. But the experience bothered White. He knew the wildlife sanctuary employed rangers to watch out for illegal loggers. But the guards hadn't known about the man White saw. How did they miss him?

White, a trained engineer, thought technology could help fight deforestation × deforestation JASON ONDREICKA-GETTY IMAGES the process of clearing an area of forest (noun) The animal's numbers had shrunk due to habitat caused by deforestation. . "The rain forest is a noisy place. But it's also a noisy thing to cut a tree down," he told TIME for Kids. "It struck me that there had to be a way to hear this."

All Ears

White created a device he calls a Guardian. It's a recycled smartphone powered by solar panels. Guardians can pick up the sound of a chain saw from nearly a mile away. They are mounted on trees.

When a Guardian detects a chain saw, it sends an alert to rangers. The rangers then set off to stop the illegal activity.

"If you respond the moment you get the alert, there's a chance that you can show up before much of the tree has even been cut," White says.

Working Together

White installed the first Guardians in Indonesia, at the wildlife sanctuary where he had the idea for the project. Two days later, the devices helped rangers interrupt a logger. "That convinced me others could use this too," White says.

White started a nonprofit group called Rainforest Connection. It builds and installs Guardians all over the world. The group now covers 90,000 square miles of rain forest in 10 countries.

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In 2012, Topher White visited a wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia. He was hiking through the rain forest when he came across a man cutting down a huge tree. White was watching illegal logging in action. Illegal logging is a big...

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One reason to help deforestation is by planting trees

We could also use less paper

1. Plant a Tree where you can.

2. Go paperless at home and in the office.

3. Buy recycled products and then recycle them again.

4. Buy certified wood products. ...

5. Support the products of companies that are committed to reducing deforestation.

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Top 10 companies who contribute to deforestation

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Top 10 companies who contribute to deforestation

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1. Cargill
2. BlackRock
3. Wilmer international Ltd.
4. Walmart
5. JBS
6. IKEA
7. Korindo Group PT
8. Yakult Honsha Co. LTD
9. Starbucks
10. McDonald’s
According to https://earth.org/10-major-companies-responsible-for-deforestation/

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Smt. Indira Gandhi: ...
S P Godrej: S P Godrej was one of India's greatest supports of wildlife conservation and nature awareness programs. ...
S. Swaminathan: ...
Shri M.C. Mehta: ...
Rajendra Singh:

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1. What is deforestation?
The permanent removal of trees

2. Why does deforestation happen?
To put things like a mall and to use the wood

3. Why Should we care about deforestation?
Because it is causing permanent damage to our planet

4. Why does deforestation station cause harm to our planet?
Because trees converts greenhouse gases into clean air. And if we permanently remove trees then we will get permanently removed.

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One Tree Planted | Tree Planting Non-Profit: One Dollar, One Tree

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One Tree Planted is a non-profit 501(c)3 environmental non-profit tree planting charity that plant trees in countries around the world. One dollar plants one tree.

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When you have eaten  all of the yogurt in  a glass yogurt container, wash it out then maybe put paint brushes in it or something else.

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He co founded strike for climate Myanmar, and Friday’s for Future.

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Marina Silva grew up in the Amazon rainforest. She is now protecting the Amazon rainforest fro being all cut down. She is also trying to protect the rainforest from all of the fires.

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How we can stop deforestation is by not cutting down a bazzilion trees, because they are home to many wild animals, and they produce clean oxygen

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We think that we should not only show good pictures of trees but bad ones so here are some bad pictures of trees.

This is what our world could look like

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How u can reuse stuff reuse glass containers or other stuff so u don’t have to throw it away because that’s more trash and every little bit helps the whole entire world

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How u can reuse stuff reuse glass containers or other stuff so u don’t have to throw it away because that’s more trash and every little bit helps the whole entire world

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-SOPHIA

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Maybe we can get a seed. I'll look

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Lesein, a 15-year-old Kenyan, is one of the thousands of youngsters around the globe who have joined Greta Thunberg in her fight against climate change. He has been planting trees for every goal he scores since 2018, as his way of contributing to the fight.

Lesein uses football and social media to raise awareness of deforestation and climate change.

"I learnt about deforestation and climate change with sadness and started planting trees for every goal I score as I am a football player," the teenager said in a statement after running second in the Green Kids Award in Kenya.

The young player has tied his passion for sports to his determination to fight deforestation. "Everyone should do their little thing and mine is planting and playing football," he said in a post on his Instagram account.

Lesein wishes to see his project replicated in other areas of Kenya and beyond and encourages his school mates, as well as the members of his team, to follow him and plant trees too.

He is using his social media channels to raise awareness on climate change too. Lesein promotes the use of reusable materials and phasing out single-use plastics and advocates for a change in politics to better protect the environment.
UN Youth Climate Summit
Last week, the UN hosted a global summit on climate change in New York and one of the star speakers was Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish activist who has been mobilising people to strike for the climate for months.

On Saturday (21 September), the UN brought together young activist driving climate action around the world to showcase their solutions, exchange experiences and have the chance to engage with decision-makers.

They demanded leaders of the world to "stop wasting time" and start taking actions to stop climate change. In a complaint, they urged member states to take action "to protect all children from the devastating impacts of climate change."

Lesein was one of the participants of the UN Youth Climate Summit.

"The effect of climate change requires world leaders to take urgent action, which is why it's so important that the Secretary-General is bringing together youth activists like me to hold them accountable and urge them to act now," Lesein said in a post.

"Young people are the ones forcing climate action," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said following his meeting with young activist, "this is a battle we can and must win," he stressed.

Today at 11:30 I and 15 other children from around the world filed a legal complaint against 5 nations over the climate crisis through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
These 5 nations are the largest emitters that have ratified the convention. https://t.co/ZSyDMTYFSF

- Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) September 23, 2019

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Trees for goals: the teenager playing to end deforestation

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Lesein, a 15-year-old Kenyan, is one of the thousands of youngsters around the globe who have joined Greta Thunberg in her fight against climate change. He has been planting trees for every goal he scores since 2018, as his way of contributing to the fight.

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At just 9 years old, Aymara Cuevas is part of a group of children and young people in Colombia fighting to protect the Amazon rainforest. "I joined the action because the Amazon is a very beautiful place with water, species, animals, tribes, and if we cut [down] the trees we are leaving them without a home," she told DW.

She is one of 25 plaintiffs - 11 of whom are under the age of 18 - taking action in the country's courts. In April 2018, the group successfully sued the Colombian government for failing to protect the Amazon rainforest. But they've learned this victory was just the beginning: more than a year later, they're again holding the government accountable, this time for failing to act on the Supreme Court's decision.

Read more: Climate emergency: New hope, or just empty words?
Historic progress
In last year's historic lawsuit, Colombia's Supreme Court ruled the state had failed to protect citizens' rights to a healthy environment, and failed to meet its international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, among them the 2015 Paris climate accord. Deforestation in the Amazon, an important carbon sink, is known to be the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Colombia. Successfully stopping logging there is key to Colombia's climate protection efforts.

Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University in New York, has commended the detailed orders the Supreme Court gave the government, calling the court's decision "one of the most solid environmental judgments that any court in the world has dictated." The court's orders included giving indigenous groups and the young plaintiffs a say in plans to reduce deforestation and the creation of an "intergenerational pact" to protect the Amazon.
Read more: In Colombia, locals fight to save a unique, disappearing habitat Translating law into action
A recent study from the London School of Economics found that climate change cases have been brought in at least 28 countries around the world. The Colombia case was the first of its kind in Latin America, and was welcomed as a major breakthrough.

Immediately after the Supreme Court ruling there were positive signs from the government. Meetings were held between ministries and stakeholders the court had ruled should be involved in plans to protect the forest. But in August 2018, Ivan Duque of the conservative Democratic Center Party took office as president, and the meetings suddenly ceased.

The young activists have criticised the lack of progress implementing the ruling as well as the deforestation targets of the government that they believe are not taking into account Colombia's commitment in international agreements of bringing down net deforestation to zero by 2020.

Aymara Cuevas (left) and Laura Jimenez have joined the global strike for climate change in Medellin

Although according to a recent government press statement deforestation decreased last year by 10% compared to 2017, the young activists still consider the 197,000 hectares felled in 2018 to be too high. Ideam, Colombia's Institute for Environmental Studies, had calculated that if the rates of recent years continued the country could be seeing up to 315,000 hectares being felled in 2020. The National Development Plan 2018 of the Duque administration stated aims to reduce this forecast by 30%, which the young plaintiffs believe to be incongruent with the court's 2018 ruling. The Environment Ministry did not respond to our request for comment.

The activists are determined to hold their government accountable, and have filed a non-compliance report to the Tribunal of Bogota, where their lawsuit was originally presented.
Read more: Witnessing climate change 'We can make a difference': Voices of school climate strikers from around the world
Yurshell Rodriguez, a 23-year-old environmental engineer who is one of the plaintiffs, said the ruling must now progress from "the desk" - a commitment on paper - to real-world policy. "In Colombia we are good at the desk," she said. "We already have among the best environmental regulations in the world, so now we have to go out of the office and into the street."

Rodriguez was moved to join the legal action after seeing the effects of climate change firsthand on the island of Providencia, where she grew up. "Our grandparents are witnesses to how the beach has been moving and remember how there used to be houses where there is now sea," she told DW.

When Rodriguez was in her early teens in 2005, Providencia was hit by Hurricane Beta. "The hurricane took everything, ruined our homes and we had to go and live in a shelter," she said. Now she fears climate change could make such disasters a far more common occurrence.

Although many are disappointed by a lack of action following the historic legal case, experts say the ruling has had a positive impact on Colombia's public discourse around climate change and the Amazon.
Raising awareness
"This legal action has opened a path for following up with the institutions involved, and has brought attention from the public and society like never before that won't be so easy to ignore," said Carolina Gil, program director at the Amazon Conservation Team Colombia, which partners with local communities to protect tropical forests.

Read more: Can we change the climate from the grassroots up?

The young activists say media attention has opened a space to communicate the importance of Colombia's rainforest, both for the planet and Colombians themselves.

"The Amazon is a very distant place in the imagination of Colombians because it's far from the cities and is populated mostly by indigenous people," said Gabriela Eslava, a lawyer from Bogota who, at 27, is one of the oldest of the plaintiffs. "This lawsuit has helped explain to the people of Bogota - in the Andes [mountain] region - that the access to water in the capital city is only possible thanks to the Amazon rainforest."

Climate change still isn't as popular a concern in Colombia as it has become in some parts of the world. The Fridays for Future movement that has had kids out protesting across the globe over the past year has attracted far smaller crowds in Colombia than across Europe and America. But the plaintiffs were among those who did join the strike. With the help of NGOs, they also used the occasion of the first global climate strike on March 15 to gather more than 90,000 signatures to protest the government's deforestation targets.
Gaining momentum

Eleven of the 25 plaintiffs are under the age of 18

The young activists are not only fighting for change in the courts, but also on the streets of their towns and cities. Cuevas has become a spokesperson for the school strikes in her home town of Medellin. "I like that we are telling adults not to damage our planet, because in the future it will be ours and no longer theirs," she told DW.

She and Acxan Duque, also just 9 years old, are raising awareness in other ways, too, like teaching their peers about environmental problems through workshops and community projects.

And while the young activists await a response from the Tribunal of Bogota, they're working on proposals for the intergenerational pact, including a mandatory chair on climate change in schools and an app showing Amazon deforestation in real time.
Every day, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Eslava said the plaintiffs know they have a long fight ahead of them, but thinks they have a growing part of their country on their side. "I believe the ruling has sown a seed that will turn the fight against climate change into probably one of the most important social movements of our generation in Colombia," she said.

Germany's growing climate movement demanding action

No confidence in politics

An increasing number of young people in Germany are demanding that the government find a way to meet the 1.5-degree target. The emerging Fridays for Future movement has been getting support from longtime environmentalists, teachers, academics and parents. They have called for all German coal-fired power plants to be shut down by 2030, and for renewable energy initiatives to be vastly expanded.

Author: Gero Rueter

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Colombia's youth fighting for the Amazon - in the courts and on the streets | DW | 18.07.2019

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At just 9 years old, Aymara Cuevas is part of a group of children and young people in Colombia fighting to protect the Amazon rainforest. "I joined the action because the Amazon is a very beautiful place with water, species, animals, tribes, and if we cut [down] the trees we are leaving them without a home," she told DW.

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Welcome to I'll Go If You Go, a Save the Redwoods League podcast.

Through conversations with emergent outdoor leaders and our partners each month, we're building community and illuminating how Californians from all walks of life think about and experience nature and conservation-in the redwoods and beyond.

I'll go if you go. Because when we explore together, in community, the experience is all the more powerful.
Hosted by Leslie Parra. Theme song by Nhu Nguyen.

Episode 4

A hike a week keeps your well-being at peak

While going through a divorce, Karla Amador discovered a new passion: hiking for mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. She was inspired to start a movement called the 52-Hike Challenge to encourage others to reclaim their sense of self through connecting with nature. Join Karla and her community on a journey for love and healing, from the giant sequoia groves of the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada to the coast redwoods of Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Southern California-and maybe one day, a road trip with Oprah to the Bay Area. Follow Karla on Instagram @lovekarlaamador and @52hikechallenge.

Episode 3

If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals

Toni Maggi-Brown (he/him) is a wildlife biology student at Humboldt State University and a photographer who combines creativity with conservation. Step into Toni's world in the ancient redwood forests of the north coast, where he worked last summer as a wildlife apprentice for Redwoods Rising. He discusses what it's like to experience full immersion in nature, connecting and communicating with wildlife, and how Tik Tok can be an expansive tool for outdoor education. He also imitates a barn owl and shouts out Childish Gambino. Follow Toni on Instagram and TikTok @sounds_wild.

Episode 2

Farrahn Hawkins (she/her) is a self-described "community and economic development enthusiast" who loves helping people achieve their life goals through education and the lens of nature. A former park ranger at Yosemite National Park and now based in Baltimore, Maryland, she volunteers to help youth and young adults root themselves in community and place. Leslie Parra caught up with Farrahn to discuss what it means to develop a sense of place, and what it feels like to come face to face with giant sequoia for the first time. Follow Farrahn on Instagram @never_typical_37.

Episode 1

For our first episode, Save the Redwoods League Outreach Program Manager Leslie Parra (she/her) rings in the new year with Miguel Marquez (he/him)-Oakland born, and raised by the local redwoods. He talks about the role that his Mexican-American heritage and family time in redwood parks played in developing his love for nature and ultimately his career path as a ranger who has worked for the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He shares why representation matters, and what aspiring nature protectors of color can do to represent. Follow Miguel on Instagram @mggy1. Enjoy!

About the host

Leslie Parra (she/her) connects diverse communities to redwood and sequoia forests. She has garnered significant recognition for her leadership in community civic action, STEM and environmental education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion work over the past 15 years. Her professional calling is to cultivate enrichment programs with multicultural and international perspectives, driven by and in collaboration with communities. During her free time, she loves to go hiking with her partner Eric and their dog Mishqui (which means "sweet" in Quichua, the native language of Ecuador-a place she calls home).

What is a podcast?

A podcast is an internet audio show that you can listen to at any time and any place, either on your computer, tablet, or phone.

How do I listen to a podcast?

You can listen to it directly from this web page or through any podcast apps available, like Spotify, Anchor, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, and more. Open your favorite app, search " I'll Go If You Go " and press play on each episode you'd like to listen to.

Be sure to follow our podcast in your preferred app to be notified when new episodes are posted.

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Podcast: I'll Go If You Go | Save the Redwoods League

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Through conversations with emergent outdoor leaders and our partners each month, we're building community and illuminating how Californians from all walks of life think about and experience nature and conservation-in the redwoods and beyond. I'll go if you go. Because when we explore together, in community, the experience is all the more powerful.

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Research Redwoods from afar

Explore our Learning Materials
With widespread school closures, many parents have kids at home and are looking for educational opportunities.
The League has a wide array of fun worksheets, lessons, videos, and other stuff that is perfect for this time.

Digital Classrooms
More awesome content from our partners:
Join California State Parks on a daily digital exploration of the redwood region! Virtually gather to explore what lies behind the redwood curtain. Your friendly guide will offer an online experience from the northern corners of California, through nature walks, historic and natural resources exploration, Q&A, and more! Tune in to experience tall trees and rugged seas - all from the comfort of your home. Programs offered every day of the week at 3pm PST. Additionally, all programs are recorded and captioned for viewing at a later time.

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Distance Learning | Save the Redwoods League

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Explore our Learning Materials With widespread school closures, many parents have kids at home and are looking for educational opportunities. The League has a wide array of fun worksheets, lessons, videos, and other stuff that is perfect for this time.

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Filter content by clicking on one of the categories below:

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Educational Videos | Save the Redwoods League

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Watch these educational videos to learn more about the plants and animals in the redwood forest.

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Coast Redwoods Facts

Tallest Tree: 380 feet

Redwood National and State Parks

As tall as a 37-story building

Widest Tree: 29.2 feet

Redwood National and State Parks

The length of 2 Volkswagen Beetles

Remaining old-growth forest: 110,000 acres (5% of original)

From southern Oregon to Central California

About size of San Jose

Total protected redwood forest: 382,000 acres (23% of their range)

From southern Oregon to Central California

The size of Houston

Privately owned redwood forest: 1.2 million acres (77% of their range)

From southern Oregon to Central California

The size of 4 Rio De Janeiros

To learn more, visit our Redwood Forest Facts page.

About Coast Redwoods

The Tallest Trees In The World

Standing at the base of Earth's tallest tree, the coast redwood, is one of life's most humbling and amazing experiences. These California trees can reach higher than a 30-floor skyscraper (more than 320 feet), so high that the tops are out of sight.

Their trunks can grow more than 27 feet wide, about eight paces by an average adult person! Even more incredible: These trees can live for more than 2,000 years. Some coast redwoods living today were alive during the time of the Roman Empire.

History

Redwoods once grew throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The first redwood fossils date back more than 200 million years to the Jurassic period. Before commercial logging and clearing began in the 1850s, coast redwoods naturally occurred in an estimated 2 million acres (the size of three Rhode Islands) along California's coast from south of Big Sur to just over the Oregon border. When gold was discovered in 1849, hundreds of thousands of people came to California, and redwoods were logged extensively to satisfy the explosive demand for lumber and resources. Today, only 5 percent of the original old-growth coast redwood forest remains, along a 450-mile coastal strip. Most of the coast redwood forest is now young. The largest surviving stands of ancient coast redwoods are found in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Redwood National and State Parks and Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

The native people of California did not typically cut down coast redwoods, but used fallen trees to make planks for houses and hollowed out logs for canoes. The natives also regularly used common redwood forest plants. Read more about uses of redwood forest plants through our Redwood Forest Plant Guide.

Biology

The coast redwood is one of the world's fastest-growing conifers, or cone-bearing trees. In contrast to the tree's size, redwood cones are very small - only about an inch long. Each cone contains a few dozen tiny seeds: it would take well over 100,000 seeds to weigh a pound! In good conditions, redwood seedlings grow rapidly, sometimes more than a foot annually. Young trees also sprout from the base of their parent's trunk, taking advantage of the energy and nutrient reserves contained within the established root system.

Frequent, naturally occurring fires play an important role in maintaining coast redwood forests because they rid the forest floor of combustible materials. Forest fires create space for redwood seedlings (and other plants) to grow. In contrast, decades of fire suppression practices usually result in the accumulation of dead plant material that may fuel intense, destructive fires.

Redwoods can usually survive natural forest fires because of their thick (up to 12 inches), protective bark. Redwoods get their name from the beautiful reddish hue of their bark. Redwood bark is soft, fibrous and rich in tannins (which help prevent insect damage). You can learn more about the impact of fire on our redwood and sequoia forests through our blog.

Where coast redwoods live, temperatures are moderate year-round. Heavy rains provide the trees with much-needed water during the winter months and dense summer fog contributing moisture to the forest during the dry summer months. Redwoods even create their own "rain" by capturing fog on their leaves. The coastal fog condenses on redwood needles creating water droplets. Some of the water is absorbed by the needles and some drips to the ground, providing water to the redwood forest understory. You can learn more about the relationship of redwood forest plants and fog through our research grants.

In recent years, scientists have discovered that life abounds in the canopy (the tops of old trees) and on the forest floor. Canopy research supported by Save the Redwoods League has revealed that many species can live in the redwood canopy, including worms, salamanders and plants such as Sitka spruce, ferns and huckleberry.

Learn more about these majestic trees and download the California's Redwood State Parks brochure.

Conservation

Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has been working to protect, restore and conserve our remaining redwood forests. We have helped protect redwood forests and surrounding land totaling more than 200,000 acres (about the size of New York City). Our conservation work depends on close partnerships with scientists, land managers, industries and other land conservation organizations. We're the only organization with the type of comprehensive approach needed to ensure that forests that take one thousand years to grow will be here for another thousand years.

You can learn more about our conservation work by visiting our protect and restore pages.

Research

To help protect redwood forests, we must continue to study them. There is still much we do not know about these towering giants and their surrounding forests. Through our Research Grants Program we have learned that:

Redwood forests are affected by the tree disease commonly known as "sudden oak death." Sudden oak death kills tanoak trees, a redwood forest inhabitant. When tanoaks die, extra brush is created, increasing fire intensity by three to four times than those in forests not affected by the disease.

Amphibian species are also affected by the destruction of old-growth forests. Researchers found fewer than half as many animals at a property containing young, very small, mostly second-growth trees than at adjacent parkland containing undisturbed forests.

To increase the population of martens, which depend on old-growth forests for their home, researchers found that suitable marten habitat can be created by planting understory shrubs like rhododendron and evergreen huckleberry, strategically removing roads and installing "rest boxes" for the animals.

You can read more about League-funded research projects on our research grants page.

Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative

To meet the pressing need for research on how redwoods can survive sweeping environmental changes, the League and redwoods scientists launched the multiyear Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative. Our goal is to create a comprehensive climate adaptation strategy for the redwoods. These findings will help focus League efforts on where to protect and restore redwood forestland according to climate change forecasts.

Working on scales from leaves to landscapes, no other team of investigators in the world has the unique and complementary skills to conduct this integrated 10-year investigation of redwoods. The investigation includes a network of forest plots that can be monitored for more than 100 years. This program will yield data-based solutions to protect redwoods in a changing world. Read about our initial results on our Understanding Climate Change pages.

Visit the Redwoods

Check out our free resources that will help you plan your trips and learn more about the forests. You'll find an interactive trip planning tool, redwood forest guides, events and a live webcam.

You Can Help

Today, it takes a community including private landowners, parks, local communities, scientists and our supporters to safeguard redwood forests. Together, we protect redwood forests from threats such as unsustainable development; restore the forests we have lost; and connect people to these towering wonders of nature. With your help, we can leave the forests - and the world - in a better place than we found them.
Donate today

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Coast Redwoods | Save the Redwoods League

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Tallest Tree: 380 feet Redwood National and State Parks As tall as a 37-story building Widest Tree: 29.2 feet Redwood National and State Parks The length of 2 Volkswagen Beetles Remaining old-growth forest: 110,000 acres (5% of original) From southern Oregon to Central California About size of San Jose Total

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Description
The coast redwoods  insect-, fungus-, and fire-resistant bark is reddish brown, fibrous, and deeply furrowed and may be as thick as 30 cm (12 inches. Coast redwoods are exceptionally fire-adapted they are also about 300 feet tall regularly.
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Costal redwoods grow from south Oregon to central California. They need fog that’s way they are so close to the coast. The fog protects from summer droughts.