Save the Redwoods League works to protect redwood forests throughout California. Their work centers on acquisition, education, and fundraising. In order to protect redwoods, the League needs to know as much as possible about where the trees survive and what goes on around them. GreenInfo Network and the League have worked together for many years, developing maps and analyses that help the league focus their efforts.

 In 1999, Save-the-Redwoods League (SRL) hired the Conservation Biology Institute to conduct an analysis of the redwood region in California. This assessment identified priority areas based on factors including roadlessness, critical species' habitat, and old growth forest structure. SRL then turned to GreenInfo Network to translate the results of this model into compelling maps that show the distribution of key resources within the redwood ecosystem. GreenInfo developed a series of poster-sized maps showing ownership and ecological factors for subregions of California.

The next step was the development of a sophisticated framework for tracking all of the League’s program activity and its resource information. Using key regions, the League and GreenInfo developed a data and map framework that tracks projects, accomplishments, future activity, membership, congressional and other political constituencies, outreach, and other organizational tasks. The maps also identify the gaps in redwoods protection, through a series of highly detailed display posters (see below).

Within these regional units, high priority sites for acquisition are being identified through GIS analysis of special watershed areas (bottom right). This analysis uses 13 separate criteria, including important biological resources, existing old-growth redwood groves, proximity to protected land, and others. Products resulting from it include a descriptive map series, PowerPoint presentations on the process, and an Access database of ownership parcels with scores for each criteria, acreage, and priority standing.

The most detailed series of maps used by Save-the-Redwoods League is their Grove Map series (images at right). Over 20 groves each have their own map, showing grove outlines, park boundaries, roads, streams – and most importantly, the donor for each grove. The maps are a terrific way to provide donors with a tangible acknowledgement of their gift, and a great way to persuade potential funders to get their name ”on the map.”