The GCA Stands for the Redwoods

January 09, 2018

Continuing a collaboration that extends nearly 90 years, The Garden Club of America will be a lead partner in the centennial celebration of Save the Redwoods League (SRL), which has been protecting, restoring, and connecting people to the iconic redwoods of California since 1918.  

In 1931, the GCA first forged a working partnership with SRL to purchase and permanently protect the 2,552-acre Garden Club of America Grove. Now covering more than 5,100 acres, the GCA Grove is the third-largest dedicated grove in the entire state park system.  

The GCA has continued to work closely with SRL, supporting the 1945 National Tribute Grove and most recently, restoration of the GCA Grove following the 2003 Canoe Fire. During 2018, the GCA will engage in activities and communications that will help promote awareness of and support for redwoods preservation.

For one hundred years, SRL has protected more than 200,000 acres of redwood forests in California and helped to create sixty-six redwood parks and preserves. The GCA formally has been involved with saving the California redwoods since 1931, when $92,000 was donated by the membership during the Great Depression, the largest sum raised by the GCA at the time. The funds were used by the State of California to assist in purchasing a grove on the South Fork of the Eel River in Humboldt County. This parcel was dedicated as The Garden Club of America Grove in 1934. Eventually seventeen groves and more than five thousand preserved acres resulted from the GCA’s effort and investment over the years.  

Save the Redwoods League President and CEO Sam Hodder will address the GCA at its annual business meeting, April 26-28, in San Francisco. SRL also will be featured in an exhibit at the annual meeting flower show, Wonders of the West, open to the public and six hundred delegates from around the country.  

Other lead partners in the Stand for the Redwoods centennial celebration include the California Academy of Sciences, California State Parks, California Library Association, Earth Day San Francisco, Humboldt State University, US National Park Service, Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, Oakland Trails, and San Francisco Giants.

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