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CZU Anniversary

On August 16, 2020 a climate-fueled-weather event sparked the most catastrophic fire ever recorded in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Over the next month, fire raged through the region impacting lives, communities, parks, and some of the most ancient and beloved remaining coast redwood forests in the world. A year later, we look back at the CZU Fire.

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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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Wildflowers After Wildfire

The Santa Cruz Mountains are a rich and dynamic place with diverse habitats and landscapes rising from the shores to the ridges. In this guide you can explore three key plant communities – Santa Cruz Sandhills, Chaparral, and Redwood Forest – and the special flowers, plants, and trees to look for as fire-scarred landscapes reset and rebound. Photo by James Maughn.

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The Natural Healing Power of Fire

Fire heals nature, but when we experience catastrophic wildfires in our communities, we are inclined to fear fire’s destruction. This is understandable. We are accustomed to thinking of fire only in terms of loss, and when our lives, property, and possessions are at risk, fire can be a threat to take very seriously.

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Big Basin Redwoods State Park before the wildfires from the CZU Lightening Incident

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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Fire Creates Forest Resilience

On February 27, 2020, Sempervirens and its partners Peninsula Open Space Trust and Save the Redwoods League teamed up with Cal Fire to perform a prescribed burn on the San Vicente Redwoods property, protected by you since 2011. Cal Fire crews managed to burn nearly 22 acres, connecting to a 7-acre area burned in fall…

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The Bear Fire

The Bear Fire, which began as a structure fire on private property roughly six miles east of Boulder Creek, is expected to be 100 percent contained by the end of this week, according to Cal Fire officials. In total, the fire burned almost 400 acres, destroyed four structures and injured nine firefighters. The fire burned within…

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