Save the Redwoods League - through its conservation planning program - has provided funding for redwood related plot data collection and analysis in Sonoma County. The funding will result in the establishment of 12 permanent plots in redwood stands across the county. Sampled stands will be selected to represent a range of moisture regimes where redwood occurs in the county—from stands along the relatively moist coastline to the relatively drier pockets of redwood forests of eastern Sonoma County. The permanent plots will be established and designed with the objective of periodic re-sampling in mind. Plots will be 400 square meters (20m x 20m). Sampling will result in an inventory of all plants in the plot, and woody vegetation will be measured.

Data from the permanent plots will be used to monitor trends in redwood forest composition over time—which is important for tracking the effects of climate change on our region's most iconic habitat type. The plot data will also be used to accurately characterize redwood forests in the Sonoma County vegetation and habitat map. These data will augment a growing body of vegetation plot data in Sonoma County being collected by the California Department of Fish and Game's Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program, the California Native Plant Society, Pepperwood Foundation, Prunuske Chatham, Inc., Sonoma State University (Dr. Matthew Clark), and the University of Maryland (Dr. Ralph Dubayah). These data will help to support the ongoing development of Sonoma County's vegetation and habitat map.

The permanent redwood plots will provide for a better understanding of redwood vegetation associations, their biotic components, and their patterns and distributions in Sonoma County. The sampling, classification, and mapping of redwood vegetation will raise awareness of their importance and rarity, identify threats to their existence, and allow for conservation of biodiversity at the "multi‐species" landscape level. Establishing a vegetation sampling array provides a scientific baseline for assessing and monitoring the overstory and understory components of redwood forests in the region. Future resampling will allow for the detection and mitigation of changes in redwood forests that may result from climate change. This project will also support other projects in the county aimed at demonstrating the value of the county's forests to carbon sequestration and other reductions in greenhouse gases.

For more information contact:
Julie Evens, California Native Plant Society
Lisa Micheli, Pepperwood Preserve
Mark Tukman, Tukman Geospatial LLC
Tom Robinson, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District