The Women's Forest Sanctuary

The Vision of the Women’s Forest Sanctuary is to return the land to the land as an act of healing and reconciliation with nature and to create a sanctuary to listen to the wisdom of the ancient forest.

In 1994, a group of forest activists from the San Francisco Bay Area and northern California responded to this vision and created a land trust to protect a magnificent old-growth redwood grove on the Mattole River in northern California, known as The Sacred Grove.

Old-growth redwood groves such as these are living ecosystems of myriad species; fifteen hundred-year-old trees shade and cool the waters of the Mattole river—vital habitat for the threatened Chinook and Coho salmon.

Redwood forests once formed a two hundred million acre corridor along California's coast from Big Sur to the Oregon border. This dark green ribbon of towering redwood trees has been cut to shreds. Since the 1990s, local citizens have engaged in multiple efforts on many levels to halt its decimation. We are a vital part of this ecosystem—the part that is waking up to save itself.

Only 3% of the original 200 million acres of redwood forest along the north coast of California remains.

On Earth Day 2016, 175 countries including the European Union signed the Paris Climate Accords, in which they prioritized their commitment to forest conservation. They agreed that it was "imperative to promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase reforestation globally."

In 2018 The Women’s Forest Sanctuary completed the debt retirement for this ancient redwood grove. We continue to raise funds to care for the health and vitality of the land. Please donate to our ongoing GoFundMe campaign to protect The Sacred Grove and to further our vision of reconciliation with nature. We are grateful for all donations.

Our stewardship involves building community and sharing this land. Our vision is to act for the future.

Join us in preserving our planet's magnificent biodiversity.

Mailing Address:

The Women's Forest Sanctuary

PO Box 1003

Berkeley, CA 94701