In the summer of 1991, business owners in the heart of the redwoods region came together to discuss how to best support the environmental groups that were working to protect the precious natural resources of their home. Remote and rural, California’s North Coast region is remarkable for its steep terrain, thick forests filled with wildlife, and richly inhabited cold water fisheries. It is also home to a large number of environmental efforts.

A Decade of Service
There were unique challenges to address. Most people had never had to travel an hour to reach a telephone or an electrical outlet, but in the Mattole River valley, this wasn’t uncommon. For those whose work is the restoration of the salmonid fisheries of the Mattole, it was difficult to attend a public meeting held a three-hour (one-way) trip from home. Better to stay home and work at the local non-profit hatchery. Better to stay home and write comments on the Timber Harvest Plan that in a week may undo the years of restoration work in your watershed.

Local environmentalists often refer to “The Redwood Curtain” behind which the industrial devastation of our forests, fisheries and other public resources continues nearly unchecked. The remoteness of the region from the state’s urban populations creates a consequent lack of media exposure and public knowledge of crucial local issues. California’s North Coast is a classic example of rural-Western America: money is made and public policy is controlled by those who destroy our public trust values for private gain; those who oppose that destruction do so on a shoestring budget, are supported by other low-income interests, and must seek support to protect a place through sources that are unfamiliar with the locale.

Given the situation, the question for the business community in Garberville in 1991 was how can we, with our limited resources, best support the work that must go on in every watershed as well as the reforms in the seats of governmental power? How do we find the resources to conduct citizen outreach and empowerment, link widespread activists, and provide the tools and skills necessary to protect and restore our forests and watersheds and their inhabitants? The answer was to establish the Trees Foundation, with the mission “Working for the conservation and restoration of the ecological integrity of forest ecosystems by assisting, supporting, and promoting Partner organizations in North Coastal California.” Trees Foundation accomplishes this by providing skilled professional support to conservationists at no charge. We raise the funds, provide access to expensive equipment, and employ a skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of North Coast conservationists.

Trees Foundation first fulfilled its’ mission by providing support to coalitions of groups working together for common goals. Trees’ first big project was to support the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Park campaign, through which the timberlands of the Sinkyone were acquired from their industrial owner and returned to the indigenous people of this region. Now managed as a native traditional-use area, the InterTribal Park adjoins the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park in the heart of the Lost Coast. When Trees Foundation entered the debate over the future of this area, that future was precariously balanced between continuation of the massive-scale logging that had reduced the virgin forest by more than 95%, or a return of lands to the ownership and sovereignty of the native people. To assist this effort, Trees Foundation organized the Friends of the Sinkyone and sought donations from local residents for the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council (ITSWC), which represents eleven tribal groups determined to regain their cultural heritage in the Sinkyone. Trees Foundation helped to develop the Friends of the Sinkyone into a grassroots activist network, encouraging support for the Intertribal Park at public meetings, hearings, and intertribal gatherings. We produced media outreach tools such as press kits and information packets, conducted press and media outreach, and celebrated with our neighbors when the world’s first Native-owned and managed park was established.

By 1994, input from the North Coast environmental community determined that Trees Foundation’s help was most needed in the citizen campaign to protect the 60,000-acre Headwaters Forest Complex. Trees staff facilitated meetings and provided administration for the Headwaters Forest Coordinating Committee, as well as developed the cooperative fundraising campaign for participant groups, drafted the cooperative agreements, campaign budgets and fundraising materials; wrote and submitted grant proposals, and provided fiscal sponsorship and reporting on campaign accomplishments. Our Media Project undertook graphic design, publication, and distribution of campaign materials, drawing national and international attention to the citizen struggle to stop the plunder of our last great unprotected ancient redwood forest. Trees Foundation also sponsored and administered the Headwaters rallies — the largest rural forest protection rallies ever held in the United States.

Trees Foundation produced the Headwaters Forest Stewardship Plan, bringing together experts in forest sciences, hydrology, and economics to build a management alternative that protects and restores natural values while providing for long-term economic sustainability to local communities. The Stewardship Plan, eagerly acquired and reviewed by agencies, citizen groups and scientists, provides a model for ecological and economic health in forest regions and remains available on our web site.

Today, with a small portion of Headwaters Forest acquired for an extortionate amount of taxpayer dollars, and a politically-driven Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP, also known as Huge Corporate Profit) in place, Trees Foundation continues to support the activists who oppose the corporate pillage of our public trust values — clean air and water, wildlife, and the rights of citizens adversely impacted by floods, landslides, and other disasters following massive-scale logging and road-building on the steep and fragile slopes of the North Coast.

By the close of 1998, we could see that while our participation in large campaigns provided critically important skills and energy, the small, watershed-based groups and local conservation efforts of the North Coast needed our support even more. With the acquisition of a portion of Headwaters Forest and our completion of the Headwaters Forest Stewardship Plan, Trees Foundation switched gears to prioritize assistance to small groups and individual efforts. Consultations with activists in the North Coast environmental community led to the establishment of our current programs.

In 1999, Trees Foundation realized a long-held dream when we established our Donor Advised grants program. Our heartfelt thanks go again and again to the Cereus Fund, whose donor worked with us to establish the program and whose annual support has meant a great deal, in some cases providing the only grant support to small beneficiary groups.

Word about Trees Foundation has spread throughout the North Coast conservation community. As we move beyond our tenth year of service, the number of Trees Foundation Partner groups has grown to 32, in locations ranging from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Oregon border. We currently provide fiscal sponsorship and administrative oversight to 14 projects.

We at Trees Foundation look forward to the another decade of service to the North Coast environmental commuity. We believe that every citizen activist — whether that be David “Gypsy” Chain, killed while attempting to halt illegal logging, or Julia “Butterfly” Hill, whose two-year residence atop ancient redwood Luna was made possible through the dedication of numerous individuals and was supported by Trees Foundation — deserves our support and assistance, and we are dedicated to ensuring that they get the help they need. We believe that the non-violent protesters who became victims of pepper spray torture must be supported in their quest for social justice. We know that we cannot step back from our service to the citizens of the North Coast who seek to protect and restore the public trust values that belong to us all. Every voice is important in the debate over the future of our forests, and Trees Foundation will continue working to ensure that they are heard.