Sempervirens Fund Launches Campaign to Open 4.5 miles of Big Basin Redwood Trails Closed By the 2020 CZU Fire

Restoring the Timms Creek Loop, including the next phase of the iconic Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail, will reopen a redwood loop closed by the fire, install 22 fire-resilient bridge crossings, and improve forest health. A $450,000 matching campaign, with every gift matched, runs July 8 through Sept. 18

BOULDER CREEK, Calif., July 9, 2026 — Sempervirens Fund, California’s first land trust, today announced a campaign to open a redwood loop that has been closed to the public since the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire devastated much of Big Basin’s trail system nearly six years ago. By restoring the 4.5-mile Timms Creek Loop, the campaign rebuilds the next phase of the iconic Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail and reconnects people to one of California’s most cherished redwood landscapes. The $450,000 matching campaign runs July 8 through Sept. 18, with every gift matched dollar-for-dollar.

Big Basin and Sempervirens Fund have been connected for more than 125 years. In 1900, as ancient redwoods were being clear-cut across the Santa Cruz Mountains, a group of concerned citizens launched Sempervirens Club, which would become California’s first land trust, and through that effort, Big Basin became a state park in 1902. The Timms Creek Loop campaign continues that legacy, helping the park recover mile-by-mile while preparing it to withstand a changing climate.

The 2020 CZU Fire burned 97% of the more than 18,000-acre Big Basin, destroying infrastructure throughout the park, including 46 trail bridges along Timms Creek, and left more than 100 miles of the park’s roads and trails impassable. The fire did more than scar the forest; it severed the trail system itself, the network that carried people into the old-growth and along the creeks. Recovery has progressed steadily but slowly. The Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail, which connects the mountains, from Castle Rock State Park, to the coast, at Waddell Beach, is the defining regional thru-hiking experience in the Santa Cruz Mountains—one Sempervirens helped create in 1976— but remains only partially open. Restoring the Timms Creek Loop reopens a major corridor of that experience.

“The return of the Timms Creek Loop is about more than rebuilding a trail. It’s about reconnecting people to Big Basin at a pivotal moment in its recovery” said Sara Barth, Executive Director of Sempervirens Fund. “This project invites the community to be part of restoring access to one of California’s most iconic redwood landscapes, while preparing it to withstand the realities of a changing climate.”

The restored loop reconnects three trails into a continuous 4.5-mile redwood experience:

• Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail — 1.5 miles
• Timms Creek Trail — 0.85 miles
• Sunset Trail — 2.1 miles

Beyond restoring access to a major trail corridor, future campaigns will also fund active forest management including the removal of forest fuels, which will improve overall forest health, and meadow restoration, as well as the building of new visitor facilities.

The Timms Creek Loop project will fund installation of 22 new fiberglass bridge crossings engineered to withstand low-intensity fire. Because the fiberglass does not rot, the bridges will greatly reduce long-term maintenance and replacement costs. Full restoration and reopening of the loop is targeted for winter 2027.

California Conservation Corps and California State Parks crewmembers stage a fiberglass segment of a new bridge to be installed along the Timms Creek Loop Trail in Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

“As Big Basin recovers from the 2020 wildfire, we have an opportunity to build back smarter, restoring access while strengthening the park’s resilience for generations to come,” Barth said. “The Timms Creek Loop is a powerful example of what that future can look like.”

The $450,000 matching campaign runs from July 8 through Sept. 18 with every gift matched dollar-for-dollar. It offers supporters several ways to be part of Big Basin’s comeback, including bridge sponsorship opportunities and the organization’s first-ever peer-to-peer fundraising effort. The effort aligns with Sempervirens Fund’s Redwoods Forward strategic plan, which prioritizes fostering connections between people and redwoods and improving equitable access to parks. Timms Creek Loop also serves as a launchpad for additional Big Basin restoration campaigns over the next four years.

Sempervirens Fund is leading the campaign in partnership with California State Parks and the California Conservation Corps. For safety, the trail will remain closed during construction while crews remove hazard trees and rebuild infrastructure.