Group Acquires 730 Acres Of Sonoma Old-Growth Redwoods

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Hundreds of old growth redwoods will be preserved with the Save the Redwoods League's acquisition of a 730-acre reserve north of Cazadero in Sonoma County. The Harold Richardson Redwoods Reserve is a section of the 8,000-acre Richardson Ranch established by Harold Richardson's grandfather in 1876. The 730-acre section was added to the larger ranch in the 1920s.

The reserve is located fewer than 100 miles from San Francisco and a few miles east of the Sonoma Coast. It was once part of the territory of the Kashia Band of the Pomo Indians, and it contains 47 percent more old growth redwoods than the Muir Woods National Monument.

Visitors will see the oldest known coast redwood south of Mendocino County and the largest redwood in diameter south of Humboldt County.

The large-diameter tree is estimated to be 1,640 years old, catching its first rays of sunlight twenty years before the Greek philosopher Socrates was condemned to death in 399.

The McApin Tree, with a trunk diameter of 19 feet, is in the company of more than 300 old growth redwoods more than 250 feet tall — some of them over 300 feet. The tallest redwood on the property is 313 feet.

The Save the Redwoods League envisions the Harold Richardson Redwoods Reserve as a public park in the future. Over the next three years, the League will develop a public access plan that includes hiking trails.

"It's as if we've discovered an ancient civilization; an oasis of towering redwoods hidden from public view for over a century," Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League, said.

The acquisition of the Harold Richardson Redwoods Reserve cost $9.6 million not including the cost of transferring the protected Stewarts Point property to the Richardson family.

The reserve, which was owned by the Richardson family for generations, was the largest old growth redwood forest remaining in single ownership.

Funds for the acquisition came from supporters of Save the Redwoods League, matching challenge grants from an anonymous donor, the Mattson Family Conservation Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

By Bay City News Service

Main photo: The McApinTree is 1,640 years old, the oldest known coast redwood south of Mendocino County. The diameter of the main trunk is nearly 20 feet, as wide as a two-lane road, the widest coast redwood south of Humboldt County. At 239 feet, the McApin Tree is not the tallest in this forest. (Photo credit: Mike Shoys, courtesy of Save the Redwoods League)