Written by Dinah Sandoval and GIS maps and illustrations by Alex Novoa.

Imagine opening an interactive map and watching it populate with individual trees, to a grove and as the years go by, into a mighty forest.  

You can also explore the places where restoration is happening, learn about the people and organizations making this effort possible, and see how individual actions become part of a larger movement to restore redwood ecosystems.

Over time, this map becomes more than a collection of locations and data points. It becomes a living story of restoration: the partnerships formed, the communities engaged, the landscapes protected, and the trees growing stronger year after year.

This is the vision behind the Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping efforts of the 10,000 Redwoods (10kRW) Program, a program of Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN). Through interactive maps, images, and data, we aim to transform information into an engaging learning experience that helps people build a deeper connection to place and understand the impact of restoration over time.

Our mapping approach serves three purposes:

• Creating an interactive learning experience that allows people to explore restoration efforts and develop a deeper connection to the landscapes we are working to protect.
• Establishing a baseline through Geographic Information System (GIS) maps that document current conditions and help illustrate changes over time.
• Tracking program progress by visualizing tree plantings, partnerships, restoration sites, and other key data points.

While storytelling for the 10,000 Redwoods Program extends beyond GIS, we are using four core maps to help tell this evolving story:

• Historical Redwood Planting Sites
• Partnership Development Map
• Seed Collection Sites
• Land Protection Map (TIRN properties)

Identifying Restoration Opportunities

The map below highlights a portion of the 30 acres of land stewarded and protected by TIRN. It includes two parcels: Parcel A, a residential area with two existing redwoods and additional space for future planting, and Parcel B, an area currently covered by trees and brush.

Parcel A’s proximity to San Geronimo Creek, a tributary within the Lagunitas Creek watershed, creates an opportunity to advance both redwood restoration and watershed health. The site’s consistent moisture availability, protection from strong winds due to the surrounding hills, and frequent summer fog create favorable conditions for coast redwood establishment and long-term growth.

Planting redwoods near San Geronimo Creek also advances another major focus of Turtle Island Restoration Network’s work: protecting and restoring habitat for Coho salmon. Healthy riparian forests play an essential role in watershed function by stabilizing streambanks, reducing erosion, improving water quality, and creating conditions that support resilient aquatic ecosystems.

Through their extensive root systems, redwoods help slow and absorb rainfall, allowing water to gradually move through forest soils and into surrounding ecosystems. Over time, these functions contribute to healthier watersheds and improved habitat conditions for native species, including Coho salmon.

The GIS map helps us identify restoration opportunities by showing not only where redwoods currently exist, but where additional trees can be planted. Parcel A demonstrates the potential for expanding redwood habitat, as shown in the images below.

The image above pinpoints where five additional trees can be planted separated by 20 feet.

Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change Through Redwood Restoration

Coast redwoods are extraordinary carbon sinks, capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and storing it within their trunks, branches, roots, and surrounding soils. Their immense size, longevity, and ability to accumulate biomass allow them to store carbon for generations, making them one of nature’s most powerful tools for addressing climate change.

Potter, Christopher. (2012). Net primary production and carbon cycling in coast redwood forests of central California. Open Journal of Ecology. 02. 147-153. 10.4236/oje.2012.23018.

However, the value of redwoods extends far beyond carbon storage. When we plant and protect redwoods,  we participate in a relationship of reciprocity—restoring forests that provide cleaner air, healthier watersheds, habitat for wildlife, and resilience for future generations.

In return for the many benefits ecosystems provide us, restoration offers an opportunity to give back by helping these forests thrive for centuries to come.

Measuring Our Impact Over Time

Through GIS mapping and additional data collection, our goal is to measure the impact of the 10,000 Redwoods Program over time. This includes estimating the carbon currently captured by redwoods protected on TIRN properties, as well as tracking the additional carbon storage and ecological benefits created as new trees are planted.

As the program grows, these maps will allow us to visualize restoration in action—from the first seed collected to the planting of thousands of redwoods across the landscape.

If you want to hear more about the 10,000 Redwoods Program, please reach out to Dinah Sandoval at dssandoval@tirn.net.
To support this work, you can donate directly through: https://seaturtles.org/campaigns/plant-10000-redwoods/

This year marks an exciting new chapter for Turtle Island Restoration Network’s (TIRN) 10,000 Redwoods Program. With renewed capacity and a long-term vision, we have an opportunity to build on the program’s foundation while expanding its impact across Marin County and beyond.

At its heart, the 10,000 Redwoods Program uses redwood restoration as a catalyst for strengthening watersheds, addressing the climate crisis, and reconnecting people with the natural world. By restoring redwood ecosystems, we are not only planting trees—we are restoring relationships: between forests and watersheds, people and place, science and storytelling, and present communities and future generations.

Our work is guided by four interconnected pillars.

Supporting Healthy Watersheds

Redwoods are a cornerstone species within healthy riparian ecosystems. Through strategic planting in areas where historical evidence and ecological data indicate redwoods were once part of the landscape, we aim to support watershed restoration and resilience.

By planting redwoods in appropriate locations, including along creeks and within the Lagunitas Creek watershed, we can help stabilize streambanks, reduce erosion, improve water quality, and contribute to habitat conditions that support native species such as Coho salmon.

Building Climate Resilience

Coast redwoods are among the world’s most effective natural carbon sinks, capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it within their trunks, branches, roots, and surrounding soils. Their immense size, longevity, and ability to accumulate biomass allow them to store carbon for generations, making them one of nature’s most powerful tools for addressing climate change.

Through local seed collection, propagation, and strategic planting, we aim to restore redwoods to landscapes where they historically thrived while also supporting community members and landowners who want to plant redwoods on their own properties. Whether planted in a restoration area or a backyard, every tree represents a tangible act of hope and an opportunity for individuals to contribute to climate resilience.

Cultivating Stewardship Through Reciprocity

Long-term conservation depends on more than healthy forests—it depends on meaningful relationships between people and the natural world. The 10,000 Redwoods Program invites people to participate in restoration as an act of reciprocity: caring for the ecosystems that sustain us.

Through volunteer opportunities, educational partnerships, and community engagement, we hope to help people deepen their connection to the environment and recognize their role as stewards of the places they call home.

Sharing the Story Through Data and Learning

Restoration is a journey that unfolds over decades. Through Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, photography, storytelling, and data collection, we are documenting that journey so our community can witness restoration in action.

By establishing baselines and tracking progress over time, we hope to transform data into an interactive learning experience—helping people understand where restoration is happening, how ecosystems are changing, and the collective impact of their participation.

Our mapping efforts will help us identify restoration opportunities, document historical and current planting sites, track partnerships, and communicate the ecological benefits of the work over time.

Looking Ahead

This first year is focused on building the foundation needed for long-term success. Our priorities include collecting locally sourced redwood seeds, expanding propagation efforts, identifying restoration opportunities, developing partnerships, and creating the systems needed to measure and communicate our impact.

Already, we are excited by the momentum building around the program. We have welcomed thought partners and critical friends, including Mia Monroe, Ben Anderson, and Matthew Ricards, who are helping strengthen the program through their expertise and perspectives.

We are also developing promising partnerships with organizations such as Forest Unlimited, Rancho Compasión, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and local schools. These collaborations reflect the diverse community needed to make restoration possible, from land stewards and educators to conservation practitioners and community members.

Our interns are also helping advance the program through GIS mapping, storytelling, and data collection, creating tools that will allow us to document this restoration journey and share it with the wider community.

As the 10,000 Redwoods Program continues to grow, so too does the community behind it. Whether through collecting seeds, planting trees, sharing knowledge, or supporting our work, every contribution helps restore not only redwood forests but also our relationship with the natural world. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Header image of the industrial cooling towers at a Google data center located in The Dalles, Oregon, credit: El País. Image 1 of OpenAI’s Stargate project in Abilene, Texas via Distilled Earth. Image 2 of Amazon’s New Carlisle, Indiana data center via Distilled Earth.

Data Center development is at the forefront of national conversations as society’s insatiable thirst for Artificial Intelligence soars. It’s likely you’ve heard of Virginia as the epicenter for this industrial boom following the birth of Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Google – but now the tech giants are looking to states like Texas as their new frontier of destruction. As it stands today, there are more than 4,500 data centers around our country, with upwards of 1,500 additional centers in various stages of planning.

What’s at stake with this hyper-scale expansion? For one, data centers require enormous amounts of electricity and water – placing additional strain on already stressed natural resources – extending the lifespan of fossil fuel infrastructure and increasing demand for new gas and nuclear energy projects. New research indicates that the costs of powering data centers could be shifted onto everyday utility customers through higher bills. Communities are facing increased pollution, land use conflicts and infrastructure burdens while receiving few to no long-term local benefits.

Why Texas? Texas is often viewed as a bellwether because of its size, rapidly growing economy and leadership in energy production – despite the already stretched demands of operating its own electric grid. Thus, the decisions made in Texas will have implications for communities and policymakers across the country.

In southern Nevada, the Trump administration recently approved a massive AI data center on federal land without public notice or environmental review. The proposed facility would consume 167 megawatts of electricity, draw water from the already drought-stricken Colorado River Basin, and destroy habitat for imperiled species.

In response, Representative Rashida Tlaib introduced the No AI Data Centers on Federal Lands Act, legislation that would permanently prohibit large AI data centers on federally owned and managed lands. As the AI boom accelerates without guardrails, the bill underscores a growing call to ensure America’s public lands remain protected for wildlife, recreation and future generations.

This is about more than technology – it’s about who bears the environmental and economic costs of our digital future. Across the country, concerned residents are successfully organizing to slow or stop harmful projects through moratoriums, local ordinances, and stronger oversight.

Every campaign builds momentum for the next – and this particular movement is growing quickly as more communities experience the negative impacts firsthand. Texas Data Center Action Week, and staying in tune with your state’s news, is an opportunity to turn public concern into lasting grassroots organizing and policy change.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to more than twenty species of threatened and endangered species. From green sea turtles to nassau grouper, and from rough cactus coral to the Gulf’s unique Rice’s whales, these species are part of the rich tapestry of marine life that the Gulf is known for.

But we could lose that marine life that keeps our oceans and coastal communities alive- unless we come together to defend them.

Right now, none of the endangered species in the Gulf have protections from offshore drilling and the next oil spill is just waiting to happen. On March 31st, a panel of federal government officials made a rare and unprecedented decision: they exempted all oil and gas industry activities across the Gulf of Mexico from having to follow any conservation measures under the Endangered Species Act. This panel, officially named the Endangered Species Committee and often called the “God Squad” in the news, is better understood as an “Extinction Committee” because by waiving Endangered Species Act protections, they are choosing to doom species to extinction.

If the Extinction Committee’s reckless decision stands, it won’t stop in the Gulf. It will open the door to overturning protections for nature anywhere, even when the consequence is extinction. We can’t let that happen. Join us to stand up for the ocean’s marine life and demand this exemption for the Gulf oil industry be overturned.

Join Turtle Island Restoration Network on Saturday, May 16th from 1-2pm close to Murdoch’s. Click here to learn more details about the event.

The Fight to Protect the Environment and Our Democracy Is One and the Same

Photo credit: Vincent Alban of the The New York Times. Demonstrators march to protest the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Friday. A temperature of around minus 10 degrees on Friday did little to slow protests around the Twin Cities, with businesses closing, workers and students staying home, and demonstrators demanding that federal immigration agents depart.

By Todd Steiner, Founder of Turtle Island Restoration Network

Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) stands in solidarity with those legally opposing the unlawful actions of the Trump administration and with the peaceful protesters in Minnesota and across the nation who are demanding accountability and an end to the militarization of our communities.

The recent killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents mark a dangerous escalation in the assault on democracy in this country. And they are not isolated tragedies. Immediately after the events, the Trump Administration moved to demonize the victims and blatantly misrepresent the plain facts of these tragic events. This behavior represents a grave threat to democracy.

Without the rule of law, environmental protection is impossible. When due process collapses, so too does the ability of citizens to defend the people, wildlife, and ecosystems we love. As Benjamin Franklin warned during the founding of this nation: “If we don’t hang together, surely we will hang separately.”

Militarization and Environmental Destruction Are Not Separate Crises

The Trump administration’s use of military tactics in civilian settings must be viewed alongside its systematic dismantling of environmental protections. These are not independent developments. Together, they form a deliberate strategy to weaken public oversight, silence scientific expertise, disregard the rule of law, and bypass democratic and legislative processes.

This is how authoritarianism advances: by eroding accountability while stripping away the safeguards that protect both people and the planet.

An All-Out Attack on Science

TIRN unequivocally denounces the administration’s assault on science and its removal from decision-making that directly affects climate stability and biodiversity. Science is not ideology. It is the foundation of sound environmental policy – and silencing it places lives, ecosystems, and future generations at risk.

Equally alarming is the systematic censorship of science: defunding research, muzzling government scientists, and erasing scientific findings and historical context from our national parks, museums, and government websites. When knowledge is suppressed, democracy itself is weakened.

Wildlife Under Siege

At the same time, wildlife protections are being dismantled at breathtaking speed. The Trump administration has moved to gut the Endangered Species Act, open marine sanctuaries to industrial extraction, accelerate offshore oil extraction, and green-light deep-sea mining. Decades of progress – hard-won efforts that brought species like sea turtles and whales back from the brink of extinction—are now being placed on the chopping block.

This is not deregulation. It is a rollback of our moral and ethical responsibilities.

We Will Not Be Intimidated

TIRN is an advocacy organization. We challenge federal agencies when environmental laws are violated, and we exercise our democratic rights to influence public policy—sometimes through litigation, sometimes through protests and rallies. That is not extremism. That is democracy in action.

We will not be intimidated by efforts to criminalize dissent or silence advocacy. We will continue to fight—alongside others who share our values—for the right to a healthy environment, a functioning democracy, and the rule of law.

What we are witnessing has been is a calculated attempt to turn back the clock on conservation by hollowing out democratic norms of oversight and accountability. The consequences, if left unchecked, will be long-lasting, affecting not only ecological stability but the very fabric of our society.

The struggle to protect our oceans is inseparable from the struggle to defend democracy. We know which side we are on– truth, science, ecological integrity and all who are committed to fighting for a just and healthy society.

Header photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images: People gather at the beach after sunset with offshore oil and gas platform Esther in the distance on Jan. 5, 2025, in Seal Beach, California. President Joe Biden banned new offshore oil and gas drilling on Monday Jan. 6, 2025 across 625 million acres of federal waters in an effort to cement his environmental legacy before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20th. Platform Esther is located approximately 1.5 miles away from Seal Beach and operates within California state waters.

Thank you to the Marin Independent Journal for publishing an Op-Ed on late November’s proposal, 11th National Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program, aimed at opening up to 34 potential lease sales across more than 1.27 billion acres of ocean…

“The Trump administration is threatening California’s future by proposing to open the state’s coastline to offshore oil drilling for the first time in more than four decades.

A newly released draft plan would allow up to six lease sales off the California coast, alongside expanded drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. This reckless proposal ignores science, overwhelming public opposition and the urgent need to move away from fossil fuels amid an accelerating climate crisis.

Offshore drilling would threaten the hard-won recovery of humpback and gray whales, as well as elephant and harbor seals — species only now rebounding after decades of exploitation. Increased industrial activity would disrupt migration routes, feeding grounds and breeding behavior, harming not only marine life but also coastal economies and cultural traditions. Whale watching, recreational fishing and sustainable seafood industries depend on healthy oceans, not coastlines dominated by oil platforms, pipelines and tanker traffic.

California understands the dangers of offshore drilling all too well. The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill released hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude into the ocean, coating beaches and killing wildlife for miles. That catastrophe helped spark the modern environmental movement and led to foundational marine protections still in place today. Yet history has repeatedly shown that offshore drilling is never risk-free. Pipelines corrode, platforms fail and accidents — both major and minor — cause lasting harm to marine ecosystems. Even so-called “routine” spills accumulate damage over time.

Today, California’s ocean is already under severe strain. Decades of warming waters, overfishing, pollution and habitat loss have left marine ecosystems far less resilient than they once were. Kelp forests have collapsed, key species have declined and food webs have been disrupted. Places like the Farallon Islands, Tomales Bay and Bolinas Lagoon showcase the richness of California’s marine habitats — but also their fragility. Introducing offshore drilling into these stressed systems could push them beyond recovery.”

On November 20th, the Department of the Interior released President Trump’s latest offshore drilling plan, which would open up to 34 potential lease sales across more than 1.27 billion acres of ocean. Despite strong local opposition, the proposal puts large stretches of coastline at risk, including areas off Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, California’s entire Pacific coast and waters increasingly close to Florida.

The offshore drilling plan is full of empty promises. The plan will not lower energy costs for Americans and instead further ties U.S. energy prices to volatile global markets, while taxpayers remain responsible for abandoned infrastructure, spill cleanup, and other long-term costs. Offshore drilling threatens public health and local economies, not to mention the clear harm inflicted on marine life and ocean ecosystems.

Join us in taking action today and submit comments in opposition the 11th National OCS Oil & Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program, to protect vulnerable coastal communities, marine wildlife and our blue-green planet.

*Update as of Friday, December 19th: Hopeful news just in from yesterday’s action alert to save our national parks and public lands, and a huge thanks to everyone who mobilized! After strong pressure from the conservation community, Sen. Lee refiled his amendment without the provision that would have weakened national park and public land protections. That’s real progress – and proof that collective advocacy works! But still, we’re not fully out of the woods yet. The Senate left for recess without voting on the appropriations package and there’s always the risk that new language could be added when lawmakers return in January. This is what happens when park and public land advocates raise our voices – online and in the halls of Congress. Together, we pushed back this threat and together we’ll stay vigilant and ready for whatever comes next.