 
Protect ResourcesShady Dell: Enchanted Redwood Forest, Lost CoastWe Reach Matching Gift Goal! Your Help Still NeededExplore Shady Dell | 'Candelabra' Trees | Crucial Habitat | Recreation | Donate Now February 14, 2012: Our members helped us raise the funds to get a $300,000 matching gift that will help protect and restore Shady Dell, home of the magical redwood Enchanted Forest (pictured) and a mile of the remote Lost Coast. Thank you for your generous gifts! We also thank two generous donors, the Hind Foundation and an anonymous member, for their matching gifts. Save the Redwoods League still needs your help to raise funds for this acquisition, restoration and stewardship project. Follow our progress by viewing the graphic on the right. Please give today through our secure webpage. 100% of your donation will support this project. Save an acre of forest for $2,000 and you will receive a Certificate of Preservation to recognize your important gift. Please donate today.
Because Shady Dell is so important to protect, we recently purchased it using our reserve funds. We are assessing and prioritizing stewardship and restoration needs of the property's streams and forest, some of which have been damaged from logging. The League will own, steward and manage Shady Dell for the foreseeable future until we can transfer it to a permanent steward. "California's budget uncertainty could last a decade or more, but this is a drop in the bucket in the life of a 1,000-year-old redwood tree or 50 million-year-old forest," said Pete Mattson, League Councillor (volunteer advisor). "I appreciate that the League takes the long view and acts today on behalf of the future." Mattson is a member of the Board of Directors of Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc., and the Sonoma Land Trust. This acquisition also was made possible by The Conservation Fund, Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. and the State of California Wildlife Conservation Board. These organizations united to protect the Usal Redwood Forest's 50,000 acres, the largest contiguous block of permanently protected coast redwood forest in Mendocino County and the largest conservation project in California this year. Shady Dell is part of this larger redwood forest. See the Shady Dell article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Shady Dell harbors a redwood grove that takes your breath and defies belief. Just a few feet off the ground, the trees seem to have been split into a dozen trunks, each reaching to the sky like haphazard candelabra. The medieval "Trees of Mystery," also known as "The Enchanted Forest" by locals, are important for forest science. "We know that these gnarly branches and these strangely shaped trees create needed habitat for wildlife," said Emily Limm, PhD, the League's Director of Science. "We have a lot to learn from these trees. Their development offers clues into how the environment shapes redwood forests." Wind and salty air are believed to have shaped the trees, which are close to the coast.
Because of its steep topography, the Lost Coast contains several ecological zones at multiple elevations from the sea to the ridgeline. The steep slopes of Shady Dell link the sea and the land with a diverse ecosystem. Shady Dell’s diverse ecosystem includes a rich array of wildlife such as salmon, black bears, Roosevelt elk and mountain lions. "What's unique about Shady Dell is that it is right on the ocean," Limm said. "There is this important landscape connection between water and nutrients and the plants and animals." "Redwood forests depend on fog water coming in off the ocean, and then they create habitat for salmon to spawn," Limm said, explaining that the trees shade streams and filter sediment to provide the cool, clear waters that the fish need to reproduce. "In turn, the redwoods get nutrients from fish that come up from the ocean," Limm said. After salmon spawn in redwood forest streams, they die, and the trees absorb the nutrients from their bodies.
One of the most compelling aspects of Shady Dell is its potential to rejuvenate California's flagging coho or silver salmon. Coho have been steadily declining in California. Most estimates put them at less than 10 percent of historic levels. For example, in 1945 one surveyor pulled out more than 60,000 juvenile fish from Usal Creek, which runs next to Shady Dell. Today the number of Usal coho may be just in the hundreds, but with careful restoration, this stream has the potential to support thousands of coho again.
The Lost Coast is one of the most rugged, remote and wild places in California. Perhaps that’s why so many hikers and surfers consider it the best-kept secret in the state. From Shady Dell, you don’t have to look far to see the League’s work. With the support from our generous members, the League helped protect valuable redwood lands in Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. This park has been created mile-by-mile since 1975 and now boasts 22 miles of hiking trails with some of the best camping spots in California — including some right on the beach. Your support also will help us improve public access to Shady Dell and facilitate the rerouting of the coastal trail away from the county road.
Please give today through our secure webpage. 100% of your donation will support this project. Learn how to save an acre.  
If you have questions, or would like to learn more about the Shady Dell project, please contact Membership at (415) 820-5800 or membership@SaveTheRedwoods.org. Tax-deductible gifts also may be made by phone and through the mail. Please make checks payable to Save the Redwoods League and note your gift is for the Shady Dell project. Thank you for your generous support. Save the Redwoods League
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