Posted on 08/12/2021 6:24:10 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Nearly a year after the CZU Lightning fire burned through California's oldest state park-the clean-up continues.
The fire swept through 97% of Big Basin State Redwood Park's 18,000 acres. With historic structures now gone, the public is being asked to help with the rebuilding process.
It's really going to be a labor of love, as this week the state parks unveiled a new website: ReimagingBigBasin.org, where the public can get information and get involved in the planning for its rebuilding.
"The canopy is gone. So what you have are big hulking, tall hulking things that is now sprouting out greenery all the way up it," Sempervirens Fund Executive Director Sara Barth said.
Giant old-growth Redwood trees that tower over the park and date back thousands of years have survived and they have the burn scars on their trunks to prove it.
"There's enough material living that these trees will survive," said Joanne Kerbavaz, California State Parks senior environmental scientist.
Construction crews continue chipping away Douglas fir that was in danger of falling or being destroyed in the fire.
A stone fireplace from the old lodge and the stairway leading up to the main entrance are all that remain here.
Along with the visitor center, the museum, and the outdoor amphitheater there are trails like this one, hundreds of them that were damaged and it will take time to reopen them.
"It's hard to imagine, you think of a trail as a path and you think how is that going to be influenced by fire but in a lot of areas there are so many trees down just to get to those trails is quite a task," Kerbavaz said.
The state parks department unveiled a new website this week ReimaginingBigBasin.org It's a site where the public can get updates, videos and learn how to get involved with the rebuilding of Big Basin State Park.
"It's the public land and we want a transparent process here, so we can have public input to guide how we look and map Big Basin into the future," said Gabe McKenna, public safety superintendent for State Parks.
The reimagine plan has the backing of the non-profit, Sempervirens Fund, which among its mission is to permanently preserve Coast Redwood Forests.
"We want state parks to take the time to do it in a way that we'll have a park facility that will last for another century," Barth said.
State Parks has not set a meeting date with the community but you'll find that information posted on their new website in the near future.
Any thoughts?
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These scenes brought to you by execrable California forest management.
Plant poplar trees dam the rivers and build a paper mill.
The only reason Big Basin had any old growth Redwoods is that it is in a big basin and it was too much effort to get in there and haul the things out. Everywhere else in the area (like up along Skyline drive) was farmed to the ground. The redwoods regrowth from that is now 100+ years old and getting pretty big again.
I love that park, childhood to adulthood. So many memories, so many great memories in ashes.
You are correct that a lot of remaining old growth Redwoods were in places that made it difficult to harvest, but some were deliberately saved, including the ones near Big Basin Redwoods State Park headquarters. Also the ones at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park were pretty harvestable.
+1
"The fire swept through 97% of Big Basin State Redwood Park's 18,000 acres"
"The canopy is gone. So what you have are big hulking, tall hulking things that is now sprouting out greenery all the way up it"
If the canopies are gone, where are the marbled murrelets going to nest?
“Any thoughts?”
None except that 18,000 acres is equivalent to a square 5.3 miles on each side.
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