CORRESPONDENCE 
183 
is rapidly assuming quite a different complexion. I write in the first person 
in making this appeal but the question of course really affects all workers equally. 
Yours, etc. 
Oldfield Thomas^ 
British Museum (Natural History), 
Cromwell Road, London, S. W. 7. 
22nd February, 1921. 
SAVE THE REDWOODS OP CALIFORNIA 
Editor Journal of Mammalogy: 
The Redwoods of California, Sequoia sempervirens , are among the oldest trees 
in the world. Their great size and height, the beauty of their feathery foliage, 
the grandeur and dignity of their towering trunks, the wonderful attractiveness 
of the half-lighted forest aisles give an impression which cannot be adequately 
described. That the inspiration of these things will be largely denied the gener- 
ations of the future seems altogether likely unless prompt and adequate action 
is taken to preserve the Redwoods; for there are several important groves which, 
if they are to be saved at all, must be saved in 1921. 
The pressing need for the preservation unspoiled of some fragments of wild 
nature is becoming increasingly apparent; and to few persons is this need more 
obvious than to the mammalogist or ornithologist who regularly takes the field. 
In California, Oregon and Washington, the far-reaching consequences of deforest- 
ation, which fall on the bird and mammal communities as well as on the trees, are 
all too evident. After the customary lumbering operations the landscape is a 
dreary and dismal place. 
A determined effort inaugurated and led by Dr. John C. Merriam, of the Council 
of the American Society of Mammalogists, is being made to save some portions 
of the Redwoods. A non-profit corporation, the “Save the Redwoods League,” 
has been organized, and it is proposed: (1) To rescue from destruction, for the 
enjoyment of this generation and those to come, adequate tracts of the Sequoia 
sempervirens, or Redwoods. (2) To establish through Federal aid a National 
Redwood Park, and through State aid a State Redwood Park. (3) To purchase 
Redwood groves by private subscription, and to establish memorial groves for 
individuals and organizations. (4) To obtain the protection of timber along 
the' State highways now in course of construction in California. (5) To urge 
the State to purchase cut-over Redwood areas for reforestation. 
Tangible accomplishments in which the League has had some part during the 
past year include the expenditure of over $100,000 in saving redwood groves along 
the State Highway in California, establishing a memorial grove to Colonel Raynal 
C. Bolling, the first American officer of high rank to fall in the World War, secur- 
ing delay in cutting of areas designed for preservation, obtaining options on 
Redwoods lands along the South Fork of the Eel River (California), financing 
a survey for a National Redwood Park, gathering data for future use regarding 
the Redwood resources of the State, and engineering an effective publicity cam- 
paign. A strong organization has been built up and more than four thousand 
individuals have joined the League already. 
