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TOM WHEELER:

Welcome to the Econews Report. I'm your host this week, Tom Wheeler, Executive Director of EPIC, the Environmental Protection Information Center. And we are going to be talking about Save the Redwoods League with my friend Ben Friedman. Ben, welcome to the show.

BEN FRIEDMAN:

Thanks, Tom. It's good to be here.

WHEELER:

All right, so tell me about yourself and your journey because I know you are an East Coaster, but now you are out here in California defending the Redwoods. So how'd you end up at Save the Redwoods League and in California?

FRIEDMAN:

That's right. I am an East Coaster by birth. I've lived in California for about nine years, and I am the Director of Government Affairs at Save the Redwoods League. So my context is really coming from the advocacy world, largely centered on protecting federal public lands, our national parks, our national monuments, our wilderness areas, things like that.

But to be honest, really the way I came to Save the Redwoods League was about four years ago or so, thinking about wanting a change in my career, I took a hard look at what are the things about California that make me happy. And Redwoods was at the top of the list, and that led me very quickly to happen to look at the Save the Redwoods League career page, and there was the right gig fit, and I put my hat in the ring and it was serendipitous how quickly it happened once I identified, sort of in myself, a connection to the Redwoods.

To vamp a little bit more about it, I find California's rhythm of wet and dry seasons to be somewhat challenging, just like how specific our sort of the California ecosystem is, at least here in Northern California, and I really like that you could always find a wet place in a Redwood forest, and I find it to be really comforting and peaceful and almost sacred, and so yes, Redwoods are like, they make me feel safe and cozy, so I'm really glad to be defending them in my professional capacity.

WHEELER:

Well, it sounds like you're part salamander, right? You're one of those salamanders that breathes through its skin. You need to always be moist.

So as you know, I went to school on the East Coast as well. And coming from the West, it was always so funny because I would talk about like irrigation and like this part of the year where it just didn't rain. And people in Vermont could just not understand that we could go like six months without any meaningful rain. So welcome to the best side of the United States. I'm thrilled to be here. Moved west for a reason. And I'm thrilled that you're at the League.

So save the Redwoods League, a venerable institution that is over 100 years old. The League now is very different than the League when it was founded. And the opportunities for the League are different now. So more or less, the League has accomplished what it set out to do, which was to protect remaining old growth on private lands here in California. We've largely not completely locked that up through state parks or through conservation easements or other things.

So so tell me about what the League, how the League can conceptualize itself now and what the League is thinking about for its future now that you have been successful in so much land conservation.

FRIEDMAN:

Yeah, it's a great question, Tom, and you're right. I mean, we've been around since 1918 and have been at the core of protecting what's left. Only 5% of the original multi-million acre coast redwood forest remained after the huge, large-scale logging of the forest. And over these last 100 plus years, we've conserved more than 220,000 acres. We're a founding partner of California State Parks, and we've helped create, I think it's 77 parks and preserves in the state.

But we've really worked hard to define this second century vision in a way that to meet the moment or to meet the challenge that you're exactly describing, that while there are some really important pockets of old growth left and that there always are future opportunities for protecting old-growth redwood groves, we really are pivoting as an organization to think about reviving the range. That's, I think, the overarching way to think about the work that we do.

And reviving the range has many different definitions. There's this ecological component, making sure that these forests are healthy and functional from a silvicultural or forestry perspective. But there's also the social dynamic of reviving the range, making sure that these places are accessible to all, that people can find their own sense of belonging in these forests, and that we are both honoring and partnering with the Indigenous communities that stewarded the forests long before Western contact and obviously destruction of much of the forest.

And so that's the universe in which we are now largely working, is thinking at a landscape scale, how can Save the Redwoods League be a champion for these forests that isn't necessarily just, here's a really important watershed or grove that needs to be protected from extraction or development, but rather that needs to be managed in a way that benefits both the planet and the people that want to visit these places.

WHEELER:

And so for visitors of our Redwood Parks, you may have run into Redwoods Rising, the collaborative restoration project between the League and Redwood State and National Parks.

Redwoods Rising can, if someone is not familiar with it, can appear to be weird and intense and different than maybe an idea of conservation that you have in the back of your mind, because this is starting to use silvicultural tools to more actively manage parkland to get it into a state that it will perform better ecologically. Do you wanna talk a little bit about Redwoods Rising and the kind of genesis of this? And I think that this is a good way to really understand this next 100 years vision is through Redwoods Rising.

FRIEDMAN:

Yeah, happy to. And you know, as government affairs director, I work sort of in partnership with a lot of my colleagues at Save the Redwoods League, some of whom are thinking about Redwoods Rising every single day. So definitely encourage folks who want to learn more to check out our website and check out the partnership. But I am really thrilled to talk about it. And I think it is important.

As you said, Tom, Redwoods Rising is this formal partnership between Save the Redwoods League, the National Park Service and California State Parks with the aim of restoring 70,000 acres of formerly logged forests in Redwood National and State Park, basically in two different watersheds, like the Northern Watershed being Mill Creek and the Southern Watershed being Prairie Creek.

And as you said, it's both unique and also can be, at least initially for folks, head-scratching. And just to put it bluntly, folks who are visiting these parks can see heavy machinery, like in a national park or a state park. And that is a unusual sight for folks where this partnership is at times thinning the forest. And that's a good thing.

What this project is doing is restoring a formerly logged landscape that is unnaturally dense, that has road scars all over it from this former industrial logging activity, the places where streams have been choked and covered and buried. And what the work is doing is to bring this suppressed forest back to life. And it's exactly in this model of reviving the range, the second century of Save the Redwoods League, in this new model of how do we make sure that our redwood forests are as ecologically healthy as possible.

And so the work that we're doing includes stream restoration, removing old logging roads, thinning these unnaturally dense stands that have just been broadcast, had been broadcast seeded in some places, sometimes by airplane, and putting these forests back on a natural trajectory of becoming the old growth stands of the future.

And so that's sort of the definition of the work, but there's all these other benefits to it too. The socioeconomic side of it, I think is worth invoking too, because save, I mean, the Redwoods Rising Partnership at this point supports something like 200 jobs annually and like is driving this like significant place-based restoration economy. And I think that that's really thrilling and sometimes a sort of understated component of the work that we all do, that there's the ecological goal of making sure our forests are healthy, but the work in and of itself like pumps money into the economy of these communities that live in and adjacent to these incredible forests.

WHEELER:

Like Orick, communities like Klamath, largely under-invested, disadvantaged, largely native communities here adjacent to Redwood National Park. So a lot of those jobs are going to folks who have experience doing heavy machinery work, maybe because they once worked for a timber company that was doing timber extraction. And now that same skill set's being used for road decommissioning and other restoration work. So it's very cool.

And I think as environmentalists, we often talk about the need to create this restoration economy. And I think that the league is really showing how it can be done through Redwoods Rising. And so I hope that folks become familiar with it outside of the Redwoods, because I think that this can be a model for other forest ecosystems and forest communities. Thinking about dry forests in eastern Oregon, for example, that suffer from many of the same issues, overcrowding and poor conditions from a history of mismanagement. We're going to need to get folks back on the ground there to reset conditions so that we will have the forests of the future that are capable of adapting to climate change.

So Redwoods Rising, a very, very cool program. And probably outside of the conception of the founders of the league in 1918.

And so something else kind of outside the conception of the founders of the league is this integration between the league and tribal communities and tribal partners in restoration work and in land conservation, in particular land back. So do you want to just talk about how the league conceptualizes how tribal nations, tribal nonprofits can help forward the mission of the league or how there is overlap between land conservation and tribal land sovereignty?

FRIEDMAN:

For sure. I mean, every tribe is different, as you know, Tom, and every tribal relationship is different. So, in some ways, what I'd like to do is answer the question with maybe using this project, O'Rew, as a case study, where earlier this year, Save the Redwoods League formally transferred, at no cost, this really important site, O'Rew, back to Yurok Stewardship and Management. And it's something that I personally find to be one of the coolest, most gratifying projects I've ever worked on.

This place is the site of a former timber mill. And when Save the Redwoods League acquired it about 10 years ago, it was essentially a parking lot. It was just an enormous amount of concrete right at the southern entrance to Redwood National and State Park. And over the last 10 years, with the support of both state and federal funding, as well as other philanthropy, Save the Redwoods League, alongside the Yurok and CalTrout, have been returning this place into a paradise, into a place that feels alive and functional.

And some of the work, some of that restoration work, where literally you're peeling back years of concrete from the ground, some of the work included re-meandering Prairie Creek that flows through the site, where literally the stream or creek was un-dammed in order to return the natural contours of the stream back to the way that needed to be ecologically before this mill captured the stream for its own use.

And so I just find that kind of metaphor to be so stunning, that the work is about taking a place that was once stewarded by the Yurok, then buried by extractive industry, and then reborn via this restoration work done by the Yurok Tribal Construction Corporation.

WHEELER:

You are listening to the EcoNews Report. And we're talking about Save the Redwoods League with my friend Ben Friedman.

FRIEDMAN:

And in that partnership between Save the Redwoods League and the Yurok, like we learned enough to be humble enough to say that the Yurok have been the stewards of this place. They know what it is to take care of a place like this. They have obviously been doing it for millennia before Save the Redwoods League showed up on the scene in 1918.

And we have the ability through the forging of the partnership of that place, of restoring that place, we've built the trust with the tribe to return it. And I just find that to be so cool that there's like now this model of through partnership and through sort of restoration and public access work, what happens on the other side is our traditional environmental organization, white led organization, learning more about what it means to be in partnership with tribes, with holders of traditional ecological knowledge and work with our partners to figure out what is the most durable and appropriate future for the site. And in this case, it's like, it's the Yurok's to own and manage.

And so now as people are driving North on the 101 from like from Orick moving North, their first contact with this notion of Redwood National and State Park is O'Rew. Like it is like a true Southern gateway to Redwood National Park or Redwood National and State Parks where folks who are visiting this place will understand the context of the landscape through Yurok interpretation. And I find that to be like a slam dunk of a project.

WHEELER:

Oh, totally. And earlier when you were talking about the League's next 100 years, I think you used the word renew. And the obligation that the League has to renew the Redwoods and help them adapt to the future. And I think that that's a lovely word and it also is resonant and reflects to this tribal cultural or spiritual idea of world renewal that the Yurok tribe practices. And so it's fun that you are both pursuing renewal, that this is aligned between the League and the Yurok tribe. And what a lovely thing.

And as you say, this new location is open to the public. So it is right by Bald Hills Road. Check it out. There are new trails that lead from the parking lot and interpretive signs and all the fun stuff that make our parks worth visiting.

FRIEDMAN:

Big thanks to funding partners that like everything from NOAA in the federal government to the Wildlife Conservation Board and State Coastal Conservancy at the state level that put in resources and funds over the course of many many years to facilitate this this this reality that we now that we now have where everyone can visit.

WHEELER:

So I can't think of a good transition to make here, but I'll just go into it a little hard.

All right. So, Ben, the first time I met you was in Crescent City at a last chance grade stakeholder meeting. And the League has for many years participated in this stakeholder committee convened by Congressman Huffman that has been trying to figure out a way how we can improve Highway 101, which is currently actively falling into the ocean at last chance grade, how we can find a permanent solution there that both allows for reliable and safe transportation between Humboldt and Del Norte counties, as well as something that respects the natural environment that is the highway runs through.

So the League has a longtime interest in particular in this area, because as I understand it, this was once League land that had been donated back to parks. Do you want to tell me a little bit more about the last chance grade project and this historic interest that the League has in this land?

FRIEDMAN:

Absolutely. Though I will tell your listeners that there is no better expert about the history of Last Chance Grade than your host, Tom Wheeler. So definitely, as you interact with Tom through this show or on the streets of Humboldt, you've been a great mentor to me, too, about the project.

Here's what I'll say. Thank you for the setup. This is the highway on the North Coast, and it is falling into the ocean, and it is an incredibly important lifeline for folks living both in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. We can't do nothing. The highway runs directly through the UNESCO World Heritage Site that is the Coast Redwood Forest. And so Save the Redwoods League is profoundly interested in the outcome of how we address this failing highway because of the landscape through which it runs. So it is like a brutally challenging question that we have been wrestling with now for a decade of what's the best outcome here, not only for the communities that rely on this road, but for the forest through which it runs, which is truly world class, and capital W, capital C, world class.

And we are now in this new phase of the Last Chance Grade project. Caltrans is full speed ahead working towards building a tunnel to reroute the highway away from this landslide risk. And that tunnel they intend to start constructing in 2031. And sort of the key thing that Save the Redwoods League is paying attention to, as you can imagine, is the potentially unavoidable loss of old growth redwoods that must be cut down in order to build this tunnel, and what Caltrans is going to do about that, about that potentially unavoidable fact.

So that's the world in which we're operating. There's a tunnel that's going to be built, and Caltrans is saying they're going to cut down trees that would take a family of four or five or six to get their hands around. They're that wide. Their circumference is that large. So it is a big deal that's happening on the North Coast.

WHEELER:

So, how are you feeling about Last Chance Grade then at this time?

FRIEDMAN:

I'm feeling mixed. I will say that I want to give Caltrans credit for trying to come up with an alternative, essentially a route or a solution that aims to minimize impacts to Redwoods. But as we have seen from their proposal, there are gonna be Redwoods, old growth Redwoods that are cut down in order to accommodate this tunnel.

And while I am grateful for Caltrans' work to minimize impacts, I am disappointed by the way in which Caltrans is approaching how they're going to mitigate for these unavoidable impacts. As it stands now, and there's environmental documents where they lay out a framework for a mitigation package, literally the work of mitigating for this loss. We at Save the Redwoods League feel like they have missed the mark in terms of the scale.

Like it is a profound tragedy when any thousand-year-old tree is cut, and it is a bizarre exercise to try to value trees of that nature from a monetary perspective. But that is the exercise that we have to go through because we live in this real world where Caltrans has to proceed, and they've missed the mark. The scale at which they're talking about committing resources to the mitigation of this tunnel is not enough, and Save the Redwoods League, alongside other stakeholders, including most gratefully, EPIC, we have work to do to push Caltrans to increase the size and ambition of the mitigation work that they need to do.

WHEELER:

And of course, I think that Caltrans has its own interest in not having a very robust mitigation package, both for this project, because it will increase project cost, and because there is a precedent here with this project, that if we accurately value the ecosystem services that old-growth redwood trees provide, if we accurately reflect the societal value that we give to these trees, I think that we could make it very difficult for Caltrans to ever have projects that impact old-growth redwoods, and Caltrans has a lot of projects that run through old-growth redwoods.

I will second your kudos to Caltrans here. I think that they've done a good job doing a project design that's going to minimize impacts. Now we need to ensure that Caltrans adequately mitigates those impacts.

And I will also say thank you to Ben and to the League, because I think it's often easy for government folks to ignore EPIC because we have a reputation as not really being happy about much of anything, right? And it's been nice to have other folks with the gravitas, with the institutional reputation that the League has, who have said to Caltrans, this ain't good enough. I think that's been meaningful to the conversation, and I hope that together we are able to positively influence this project and get it back on track and get it to a place where all stakeholders will be proud at the conclusion of the project.

FRIEDMAN:

Yeah, well said, well said. Like we are not going away. We're gonna stay at this table. We're gonna work through this. And Caltrans is gonna have to answer to the, not only the stakeholder organizations that are represented in this incredible group that Congressman Huffman has convened, but to the millions of people that drive this road every year to visit Redwoods.

I mean, there is an enormous swath of the country and the planet that are arguably stakeholders for this project. And we have to make sure that Caltrans understands their perspective too, which is that Redwoods are spectacular and we have to take this seriously, I guess.

WHEELER:

So we are running out of time, but I wanted to give you a plug for or an opportunity to let people in on some things that you are watching as the government affairs guru at the league. If someone cares about Redwoods, what's happening at the state and federal level that they should be clocked into to understand the opportunities to help conserve Redwoods or the threats to Redwoods from some of these regulatory rollbacks.

FRIEDMAN:

Yeah, it's a great question. And it's, I guess, like, it's challenging to answer it. Briefly, I think that it's no, it's no secret that it is a it is a tough and unpredictable time for conservation and environmental bedrock law. These days, I know that you that like the Endangered Species Act is profoundly near and dear to your heart, Tom. Federal rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act in this this year in 2026 are really bad and really scary. This is a time where I'm incredibly glad to be living in California, where we have our own state, our Endangered Species Act that serves as somewhat of a backstop to some federal attacks.

But for sure, something that Save the Redwoods League is tracking in the legislature and in the state is how does how can the state respond to this decoupling of the notion that species depend on the habitat in which they live? What the feds are trying to do is is is make the case that you can destroy someone's home and it's not the same as destroying someone. And that's like that's just that doesn't make any sense.

So I think there are a lot of opportunities to work with our partners in the state government and the legislature to ensure that California serves as it has so many times in the past, I mean, whatever, 50 years to be that policy incubator, to ensure that our state laws and regulations do the work of showing the way of sound environmental leadership and robust environmental leadership.

So that's definitely a sort of an area in which we are paying attention. And we're really grateful to EPIC for leading the way on the litigation front to literally doing the work to show how misguided some of these federal actions are.

WHEELER:

Thank you, Ben. Well, there are midterm elections coming up soon. Be sure to get your ballot in before the close of election day on Tuesday, November 3rd.

Ben, I'm sure you are watching these elections coming up with a sense of fear and optimism. So perhaps after the elections, when the dust settles, we'll get you back on the show and we can talk about the next legislative year and the state of California and how the elections went and what that's gonna mean for our state and our country. For sure.

FRIEDMAN:

Any time, any time, Tom.

WHEELER:

All right, thanks, buddy. All right, this has been another episode of the Econews Report. I've been your host, Tom Wheeler. Join us again next week on this time and channel for more environmental news from the North Coast of California.