Our Mission

Restoration forestry is a more conservative forestry practice than "Sustainable forestry." Forests under restoration forestry management sequester two and a half to three times more carbon in perpetuity than forests managed under the strictest "sustainable forestry" standards in practice as of 2026. Forever Redwood's mission is to demonstrate how restoration forestry allows both the forest and the human community around it to flourish symbiotically. It is a long-term example of how a forest can contribute to the human society surrounding it while flourishing in all respects simultaneously. A forest managed this way for just a few decades is a striking contrast to an industrial or even a "sustainably" managed forest. Thank you for helping spread Restoration forestry knowledge and its use. Our forest restoration manual includes additional reading references and the legal framework (conservation easements) to restore any forest and keep the restoration in place through subsequent ownerships.

Also —and most importantly— all tree species show a significant increase in the quality of their wood during the slower, post CMAI phase of growth. This period —when the forest becomes mature— is also the most important for the creation of high inventory and forest sustainability. For the perpetuation of California's redwood forests, this third phase is especially important since it is needed to allow for natural regeneration and thus continued genetic adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Therefore, if native forests are to be used for perpetual timber production, it is imperative, for reasons that include maximum long-term revenue flow for both the owner and the local community, not to eliminate this lucrative component of all native forests.

Current North American forestry practices, with few exceptions, do indeed eliminate this third, most important phase of tree growth. And worse, not only are these older trees being systematically eradicated, but even much younger trees —trees in their most active, pre-CMAI period of growth— are routinely harvested under the current practices of industrial forestry. This level of over-cutting has finally made the ongoing destruction of our native forests clearly apparent to everyone who is concerned with not only other species' survival, but also our own.