Science Service, Up Close: Save the Redwoods

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Bolling Memorial Redwood Grove, Humboldt County, California, 1921. In August 1921, the Save the Redwoods League, led by dozens of eminent scientists and conservationists, dedicated a magnificent stand of Sequoia sempervirens and named the grove in honor of World War I hero Col. Raynal C. Bolling (1877-1918). The grove is now part of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Record Unit 7091: Science Service, Records, circa 1910-1963, Smithsonian Institution Archives, neg. no. SIA2015-003192.

Bolling Memorial Redwood Grove, Humboldt County, California, 1921. In August 1921, the Save the Redwoods League, led by dozens of eminent scientists and conservationists, dedicated a magnificent stand of Sequoia sempervirens and named the grove in honor of World War I hero Col. Raynal C. Bolling (1877-1918). The grove is now part of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Record Unit 7091: Science Service, Records, circa 1910-1963, Smithsonian Institution Archives, neg. no. SIA2015-003193.

Bolling Memorial Redwood Grove, Humboldt County, California, 1921. In August 1921, the Save the Redwoods League, led by dozens of eminent scientists and conservationists, dedicated a magnificent stand of Sequoia sempervirens and named the grove in honor of World War I hero Col. Raynal C. Bolling (1877-1918). The grove is now part of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Record Unit 7091: Science Service, Records, circa 1910-1963, Smithsonian Institution Archives, neg. no. SIA2015-003194.

Plate on boulder in Bolling Memorial Redwood Grove, Humboldt County, California, 1921. In August 1921, the Save the Redwoods League, led by dozens of eminent scientists and conservationists, dedicated a magnificent stand of Sequoia sempervirens and named the grove in honor of World War I hero Col. Raynal C. Bolling (1877-1918). The plaque commemorates Bolling’s service. The grove is now part of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Record Unit 7091: Science Service, Records, circa 1910-1963, Smithsonian Institution Archives, neg. no. SIA2015-003195.

In reaction to observing the logging of groves of redwood trees in California, paleontologist John Campbell Merriam (1869-1945), lawyer and conservationist Madison Grant (1865-1937), and geologist and paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935) established a "Save the Redwoods League." In 1917, the new organization joined forces with local residents, the Humboldt County Federation of Women's Clubs, and the Humboldt County Women's Save the Redwoods League and successfully lobbied California state officials to establish the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

At the center of the preservation efforts was a magnificent stand of Sequoia sempervirens. In August 1921, this section of the new park was dedicated in honor of the World War I hero, Colonel Raynal C. Bolling (1877-1918).

The park now encompasses over 53,000 acres, including 17,000 acres of old-growth coast redwoods, the Bolling Memorial Grove, and the Rockefeller Forest, the largest remaining old-growth forest in the world.

Related Collections

• Science Service collections at the Smithsonian Institution Archives