Turtle Island Restoration Network has launched the 10000 redwoods as a way to reforest the historic redwood range in the Bay Area, while fighting climate change.

Unfortunately, no one truly knows exactly where redwood trees used to grow. Old maps drawn of redwood ranges are imprecise, and were more motivated by logging purposes than ecological concern. We started to create a map that shows where conditions are most suitable for redwoods to grow.

Redwoods need certain conditions to thrive including fog, a very specific soil type with a very specific moisture level, and not a lot of sun exposure. For each factor, we overlaid data sets for Marin County in a GIS (geographic informational systems) map.

GIS modeling is a newer computer program that can be used for habitat modeling. The required growing conditions are combined in a heat map, which shows how good or bad each specific spot is for a redwood to grow on.

This type of modeling system helps us analyze restoration sites and predict ideal locations for maximum redwood survival.

Does your house or company fall in our redwood range map? Reach out to us at www.10000redwood.org and join our initiative!

 

Resources
“Redwood- About the Trees”. Redwood National and State Parks, National Park Service.
Bibb, Krista. “Habitat Evaluation Handbook.” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Ecological Services , www.fws.gov/policy/ESMindex.html.