San Francisco YMCA finds way to preserve Camp Jones Gulch without logging
LA HONDA -- To log or not to log? That was the question facing the San Francisco YMCA about Camp Jones Gulch, a popular summer camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
YMCA officials ended up listening to the community and now a deal is on the table that has everyone smiling.
In the late 1800s, the property was an old logging operation. The camp's current dining hall housed a sawmill that helped rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. But in 1930, the land was sold to the SF YMCA to be used as a summer camp, with the shocking stipulation that girls were allowed here too.
Now, almost 100 years later, generations of kids have played under the canopy of the camp's majestic redwoods.
"If you're from San Mateo County, you know Camp Jones Gulch. You were here," said Executive Director Carrie Herrera. "And the reason people remember that is because of the experience nature was able to provide them."
But at one point, things took a weird turn. The camp needed money to fix up some of the old vintage cabins and facilities. In 2006, the YMCA applied for a timber harvest permit to log the redwood trees on the 928-acre property.
It called for the removal of 40% of the property's redwoods every 10 years. As you can imagine, the camp community was outraged by the idea of logging a nature camp.
"If nature's not there, how are we going to do our work and how are we going to do our mission?" said Herrera.
The idea was dumped, but the need for money remains to this day. So now, a new deal has been struck that makes a lot more sense.
An environmental land trust called the Sempervirens Fund has offered to buy the camp's timber rights for $9.6 million in order to preserve the trees from harvest or development in perpetuity. Many of the trees are more than 100 years old, but there is also a grove of ancient redwoods that are much older than that.
"I think the YMCA didn't fully understand what an incredible treasure they had in this forest landscape. I don't think they understood how extraordinary it was and the community helped them see that," said Sempervirens Executive Director Sara Barth.
Barth calls the new deal the ultimate "win-win" situation: a conservation group with a mission to protect trees helping a nature camp that teaches kids to appreciate them.
"It really feels like a gift to the people of San Mateo County and beyond," she said. "All the people that are able to experience the camp and this amazing forest."
The Sempervirens Fund was founded in 1900 and has already preserved more than 35,000 acres of redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They have until September to finish raising the nearly $10 million. They say a generous benefactor has agreed to match any donations to the cause. For more information about making a donation, visit the Sempervirens Fund website.