Posts Tagged ‘Big Basin’
Big Basin: Honor its Past, Build it to Last
If you love Big Basin, please consider this: reimagining Big Basin can pioneer a new model for California’s state parks, just as Big Basin was more than a century ago. We believe that in this moment of transformation, Big Basin can lead the way for the State Parks to enter into a new era of public parks–one that is desperately needed.
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Funding for Big Basin’s Future and Santa Cruz Redwood Forests
Work at Big Basin and throughout the region to recover from the devastation of the wildfires is underway. We need your help. Learn about the Santa Cruz Redwoods Restoration Fund and Big Basin’s Future Fund to support regional recovery and the planning, designing, and rebuilding efforts that will shape the Big Basin’s future.
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Redwood Camping and Backpacking
Sleeping among the towering California redwood trees is an unforgettable treat. Local parks offer a variety of options for family and group camping. Whether you want the comfort of coming back to campground at night after an inspiring day hike or the solitude of backcountry camping, the local redwood parks have just what you need. Here are resources to help you plan a trip to camp in these beautiful forests.
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Big Basin Recovery Fund Supports Access and Safety Improvements
NEWS: Sempervirens Fund and Save the Redwoods League have raised $543,000 to date for California State Parks and the massive recovery effort at Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The first disbursement of $200,000 will primarily support staffing and equipment costs for removing damaged and fallen trees that pose a hazard to other trees, personnel and future visitors.
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Big Basin Memories
In August 2020, a widespread lightning storm ignited fires in the Santa Cruz mountains. The fires, centered in the historic Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and while we wait to return to Big Basin, people around the world are sharing their memories of their visits to this magnificent park.
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What Recovery Means for Big Basin and Santa Cruz Redwoods
Although the fires are no longer consuming the landscape throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains, we still grieve for the people in our community whose lives were in danger during the CZU Lightning Complex wildfires in August and September 2020. We continue to receive questions about what comes next. We don’t have all the answers, but we talked with Laura McLendon, our Director of Conservation, for a sense of what happened, and what’s to come, for redwood forests at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and beyond.
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Wildfires in Big Basin Redwoods State Park
We are devastated to report that Big Basin, as we have known it, loved it, and cherished it for generations, is gone. Early reports are that the wildfire has consumed much of the park’s historic facilities. We do not yet know the fate of the park’s grandest old trees.
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Sempervirens Club’s Christmas Wish List in 1908
Sempervirens Club’s Christmas Wish List in 1908 As the year 1908 drew to a close, Sempervirens Club found itself fighting to protect their great victory – the 1901 establishment of 3,800-acre California Redwood Park, which they had achieved after years of skillfully lobbying the California Legislature. As Christmas approached in 1908, members of the club were…
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Tilford George Berry: The Ghost of the Gambling Hermit in Big Basin’s Berry Creek Falls
By Ryan Masters, Sempervirens Fund It is said if you stare long enough into the 70-foot curtain of water tumbling down Berry Creek Falls in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, you will see the forlorn ghost of the gambling hermit Tilford George Berry. Originally from Indiana, Berry was a sawmill worker who had fled west, allegedly to…
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Ornithology Mystery Solved at Big Basin
Marbled murrelets sport mottled brown feathers during breeding season, which falls between mid-April and late September.(Photo credit: Oregon State University) For decades, the marbled murrelet vexed biologists and birders. Scientists hypothesized that the seabird nested on cliffsides (like other members of the auk family), on islands, or in burrows. Some theorized that marbled murrelets lived…
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