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Celebrating Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month with Haopinaka Hula

May 19, 2025

Meet Dr. Traci Bliss, author of Big Basin Redwood Forest: California's Oldest State Park on June 7 at 2pm

California was once home to over 2 million acres of ancient redwoods—today, just 5% of that original forest remains. In 1900, a groundswell of concerned citizens from Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties launched a bold and unprecedented effort to halt the spread of deforestation. Their statewide campaign led to the creation of California’s very first state park: Big Basin.

In this compelling talk, Dr. Traci Bliss retraces the riveting story of these early environmental visionaries—how they imagined a sustainable forest and why they believed it was urgently needed. What inspired their foresight, and would their ideals withstand the rising tide of commercialism? Bliss concludes by engaging us in a pressing conversation for our time: In the face of climate change, can public forests—especially Big Basin—truly have a sustainable future? For all ages. In the Community Room.

Other upcoming sustainability events:

THU MAY 22 @ 6:30pm: Companion Planting in Your Garden

FRI MAY 23 @ 10:30am: Repair Advice with Fixit Clinic

SAT MAY 24 @ 11am: World Bee Day

SAT MAY 24 @ 2pm: STEAM at the Library: The Greenhouse Effect

SAT JUN 21 @ 10am: Summer Seed/Seedling Swap @ Redwood Shores

SAT JUN 28 @ 10am: Summer Seed/Seedling Swap @ Redwood Shores

These events are part of the Roots of Change: Creating A Sustainable Future Together program series, supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. With additional support from Friends of the Redwood City Public Library

We’re buzzing with excitement for World Bee Day! Celebrate at the Downtown Library on Saturday, May 24 at 11am. Take a peek inside of a real working beehive (safely contained behind plexiglass) while learning about hard-working honey bees. You’ll see and touch all the parts of the hive and learn about the importance of pollinators! Learn more

Did you know that Friends of the Redwood City Public Library Bookstore at the Downtown Library sells the honey made by our rooftop bees? The bees make hundreds of pounds of honey each year, which are then harvested and jarred for sale! And to further sweeten the deal, all sales of honey and books from the Friends of the Library Bookstore benefit Library programs such as our Summer Learning Challenge. Buy Library honey here

Learn more about the Redwood City Public Library Bees here

The current threat of cuts to government funding presents serious challenges to our libraries. In March, an executive order aiming to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) agency was introduced, causing a great deal of uncertainty about library funding streams. IMLS is the agency of the US government that has been a critical source of funding for libraries across the country. In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the California State Library received $15.9 million in IMLS funding. These funds are made available to libraries throughout California through grant opportunities.

Last year RCPL received $57,000 in IMLS funding through grants. The Library has received notice that recent grant requests for FY 25/26 are all suspended due to a lack of funding from IMLS. Redwood City Public Library (RCPL) also receives additional funding from the California State Library for services such as Project READ and Zipbooks (roughly $340,000). Uncertainty about grant funding jeopardizes important library services. Last year, funding for Brainfuse—an online tutoring service—was eliminated from the California State Library budget. As more services are reduced from the California State Library budget, RCPL must find other sources to cover the costs or decide to stop providing access. That is why it is more important than ever to support organizations that fund library initiatives, such as the Redwood City Library Foundation.

In addition to donating, please refer to the American Library Association website to learn of other easy ways that you can show up to support our libraries, such as sending emails to congress.

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