Park considers rebuild strategy after devastating fire
Closure will be for at least a year; how buildings will look in future a question
Some trees are still smoldering at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
But already the discussion has begun about how to rebuild after a massive fire roared through the iconic landscape of ancient redwoods in Santa Cruz County last month, destroying the historic headquarters and visitor center, nature museum, lodge, amphitheater and other facilities at California’s first state park.
A fund set up by two long-time conservation organizations, Save the Redwoods League and Sempervirens Fund, to help pay for immediate needs like removing toxic materials and clearing other hazards in the park had raised $240,000 in donations by Sept. 11.
Another fund established by Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks had raised $58,000 so far. The nonprofit group is giving grants of up to $1,000 to help the 24 rangers and other parks workers who lost their homes, cars and other possessions in the fire.
“We’ve been gratified and humbled by the outpouring of support,” said Bonny Hawley, executive director of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. “We have received donations from as far away as Vermont and British Columbia.”
An estimated 75 structures at Big Basin were destroyed in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire last month, including campgrounds and even the entrance kiosk. The headquarters building was a classic structure of heavy timbers with a stone fireplace that was built in 1936 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
State parks officials say the park will not reopen for at least a year. They have not yet completed a damage assessment. That’s in part because the fire is still burning in some places. It was 85% contained Friday, at 86,509 acres.
But replacing the structures — enjoyed by 1 million visitors a year — will cost “tens of millions of dollars,” estimated Sam Hodder, president of Save the Redwoods League.
Walking through the damage on Thursday afternoon as part of a tour with parks officials and journalists, Hodder and other parks advocates said that while the classic architectural style is likely to be a part of any rebuilding effort, it’s unlikely all the buildings and other facilities will be put back exactly as they were in the same places they have been for nearly a century.
“The grand park architecture that characterized the work of the Depression-era park construction is something that we want to respect and carry forward,” Hodder said. “But there are also a lot of things to think about how California today differs from the 1930s. For example should there be this much pavement in an old growth grove?”
Hodder mentioned restoration work done at Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park.
Two years ago, another nonprofit, the Yosemite Conservancy, completed a $40 million renovation of the area around the massive old-growth sequoias there, which were first set aside for protection by Abraham Lincoln. In that project, a 110-car parking lot was removed around the base of the trees. Pit toilets built 50 years ago were replaced with a gleaming new restroom with flush toilets and tile work.
Crews built four miles of new hiking trails, constructing wooden boardwalks and bridges over sensitive wetland areas. And they planted thousands of native plants, including lupin, wild strawberries, and near the streams, willows, sedges and dogwood. Visitors park in a new 300-vehicle parking area at the park’s South Entrance and ride a free shuttle for two miles that runs every 10 minutes. Another 33 spaces remain closer to the grove for disabled visitors and for visitors during off-peak times of the year when shuttles run less frequently.
“Should the buildings be right in the place where if something were to happen they scorch the old-growth trees?” Hodder said of Big Basin rebuilding. “Is there anything we can do to make it more accessible for underrepresented audiences?”
Recently, Gov. Gavin Newsom toured the park with state parks Director Armando Quintero, Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, FEMA officials and others. Asked Sept. 8 by this news organization how he would like to see the structures at Big Basin rebuilt, Newsom said the historic style will be respected.
“I’m not an architect or a historian,” Newsom said. “But I have great admiration for architects and historians and I’ll defer to them. We’ve already received an outpouring of philanthropic inquiry and commitments of support to help rebuild those sites. I’m humbled by that and I think all of us will be blessed by that largess. I have all the confidence in the world in our capacity to bring back some of those historic components and do our best to try and build memories for generations to come based upon the extraordinary contribution of those who designed and developed those sites in the first place.”
Sara Barth, executive director of the Sempervirens Fund, a Los Altos group that has raised millions to expand Big Basin since 1902 when its founders lobbied state lawmakers to establish the park in the first place, said she hopes there isn’t a rush to rebuild.
“Our vision of a new Big Basin is one in which the facilities are light on the land, environmentally sustainable,” she said.
There is some money available. President Trump declared Santa Cruz and other counties hit by recent fires as federal disaster areas, which makes them eligible for federal help to rebuild.
Two years ago, California voters passed Proposition 68, a parks bond with $200 million earmarked for state parks.
Jordan Burgess, deputy director of the Santa Cruz District of state parks, said that rangers and other officials haven’t yet been able to inspect the entire park to compile a damage estimate, including popular back country camps or places like Berry Creek Falls, because trees are still burning, and falling.
She said she expects it will be done by the end of this year, and that eventually the park could reopen in stages, after more trees fall in winter storms and areas are deemed safe. Rebuilding the structures in such a beloved park will take time, she added.
“This will be a community collaborative effort,” Burgess said. “It will involve the public, and stakeholders. It will be a very iterative and deliberate process.”