An environmental group hopes to protect redwood trees in Mendocino County. | Pixabay
An environmental group hopes to protect redwood trees in Mendocino County. | Pixabay
The environmental nonprofit advocacy group Save the Redwood League announced on Feb. 9 it had secured conservation easements that will protect and prevent development on Mailliard Ranch, a privately-owned 14,838-acre property in South Mendocino County and one of the largest areas of redwood forest in the state.
“Protecting the extraordinary natural landscape of Mailliard Ranch, including its two old-growth coast redwood groves, has been a decades-long priority,” Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League said on the organization’s website. “The conservation easements secured by the League bolster the long-term health of an entire landscape and watershed. Our agreement also ensures that the property will be managed to enhance the natural fire resilience of mature redwood forest by protecting it from residential development and allowing the forest stature to mature over time.”
At a cost of $24.7 million, the project took possession of three easements that will prevent development and tree removal regardless of who owns the property.
To be preserved for future generations will be old-growth forest at the site, mature-mixed conifer forest and salmon-populated streams, the report said.
The Mailliard family has owned the property since 1925.
“The old growth built San Francisco twice, so there isn’t a lot of redwood—true old growth—left in the area,” said Larry Mailliard, general partner of Mailliard Ranch. “Cathedral Grove was my grandmother’s favorite. Grandmother’s philosophy was, ‘Why go sit in a 100-year-old church when I could go talk to a 2,500-year-old tree?’ The conservation easements that we put on the ranch with Save the Redwoods League are giving the land permanent protection.”
In addition to protecting trees and watershed the acquisition will also provide continued habitat for wildlife such as golden eagles, northern spotted owls, big eared bats, western pond turtles and 150 varieties of native plants.
The project's backers claim it provides fire resistance for a wide swath of forested lands stretching from Anderson Valley to the Mendocino coastline.
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