THE PUBLIC LANDS FOUNDATION presents Save the Redwoods League with its 2010 Landscape Stewardship Award and this Citation.  The Foundation grants this recognition to honor private citizens and organizations that work to advance and sustain community-based stewardship on landscapes that include, in whole or in part, public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

In 1999, SRL demonstrated a concept of connecting fragmented islands of wilderness into a web of interconnected preserves.  Linking together two large pieces of wilderness with a corridor of sufficient width to allow the movement of animals and the dispersal of plants multiplied exponentially the conservation value of each area.

Over the past 12 years, following this concept, Save The Redwoods League (SRL) has worked with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to acquire and donate key inholdings of private land in three distinct and significant areas in northern California.  The first project included Gilham Butte and the “Corridor from the Redwoods to the Sea.”  In this acquisition, SRL purchased and donated to BLM 11,000 acres of forested land protecting five tributaries to the Mattole River and three creeks that feed the South Fork of the Eel River. In the Lacks Creek watershed, SRL provided the leadership to work with two private timber landowners to acquire 4,400 acres of prairies and forested land, directly donating one-half of the lands to BLM to enhance two Areas of Critical Environmental Concern within the Redwood National Protection Zone.  In the King Range National Conservation Area and King Range Wilderness, SRL purchased and donated a key inholding to BLM which immediately became wilderness and also eliminated a cherry-stemmed road.

This commitment of a decade-long work effort only hints at the significant influence Save The Redwoods League has directly achieved to permanently protect and enhance the management of public lands on the north coast of California, to provide leadership and a vision for protecting old-growth forests, to bring together state and federal agencies as well as numerous non-profit organizations as partners, and to entrust the BLM with permanent management and protection of these wondrous lands for future generations.

The Public Lands Foundation is pleased to present Save the Redwoods League with its 2010 Landscape Stewardship Award and this Citation for invaluable contributions to the stewardship of America’s public landscapes.

September 15, 2010