Forested ridges of the Usal Redwood Forest running down to the Pacific

Special event · by invitation only

Fully booked

The Redwood Wildfire Resilience Tour

9–11November 2026Monday to Wednesday · San Francisco to the Lost Coast and back

Three days on California’s Lost Coast inside a 50,000-acre redwood forest that is coming back after a century of logging. Walk where the wildfire work is happening, watch a robot cross the forest floor, and plant a redwood that can stand for 2,000 years.

See the three daysApply for the next tour
When9–11 November 2026
WhereUsal Redwood Forest, Mendocino County
FromSan Francisco, 10 am Monday
GroupSmall, by invitation

The highlights

What the three days hold

Five hours in the Usal Redwood Forest

With the foresters and crews, on ground thinned of the tanoak that carries fire into the canopy.

Where good fire does its work

Sites where cultural and prescribed fire clear fuel before a wildfire can.

Down into the Candelabra Grove

If your knees agree, take the stairs down to the redwoods that grew sideways before they grew up.

A redwood of your own

Every guest plants a coast redwood, donated by The Jonsteen Company, that can stand for 2,000 years.

The itinerary

Three days, San Francisco to the Lost Coast and back

  1. Day one

    Monday 9 November

    North to the coast

    • Leave Salesforce Tower in San Francisco at 10 am, or drive up and join on the way
    • Lunch at Lombardi’s Gourmet BBQ in Petaluma
    • Old-growth redwoods at Hendy Woods
    • Sunset on the coast, with rooms at SCP Mendocino Coast Lodge in Albion and Hill House at Trailborn Mendocino
    • Dinner, where PlantWave turns the plants’ own signals into music
  2. Day two

    Tuesday 10 November

    A day in the forest

    • Coffee at RFF’s headquarters in Fort Bragg
    • Five hours in the Usal Redwood Forest with the foresters and crews
    • Thinned ground, and the sites where cultural and prescribed fire clear fuel
    • Boston Dynamics’ Spot walking the forest floor
    • Lunch cooked in the forest, and a redwood planted by every guest
    • The stairs down into the Candelabra Grove
    • After dinner, a private wood-fired sauna and cold plunge with MendoSauna
  3. Day three

    Wednesday 11 November

    Back by noon

    • Breakfast on the coast
    • Back in San Francisco before noon

The community behind the tour

Thank you to the companies making November possible

SCP Mendocino Coast LodgeOceanfront rooms, Albionscphotel.com Hill House at TrailbornOcean views above Mendocinotrailborn.com The Jonsteen CompanyDonated the redwoods we plantjonsteen.com PlantWaveMusic played by plantsplantwave.com Boston DynamicsSpot, live in the forestbostondynamics.com MendoSaunaWood-fired sauna and cold plungemendosauna.com Lombardi’s Gourmet BBQLunch on the road, Petalumalombardisbbq.com Your company herePartner on the next touralex@redwoodforests.org
Fully booked

The next tour

Apply for the next tour

November’s group is full, and it won’t be the last. Each tour is small and by invitation only: founders and investors, engineers, people working on wildfire and climate, and artists. Tell us who you are and what you would bring, and if it is a fit, the team will be in touch.

Serious applicants only. Places are few, and the forest is a long way from anywhere.

With country code if outside the US.

We check every applicant. A public profile makes that quick.

Nothing is fixed yet.

What draws you to the forest, and what you hope to take back with you.

Your work, your reach, your questions. The group is small and chosen for what each person adds.

Fields marked optional can be left blank. Everything else helps us check that you are who you say you are.