An old tribune of the world’s tallest trees has fallen victim to California’s wildfire. The fires at the CZU and SCU complex near Santa Cruz have destroyed Big Basin State Park. Big Basin is California’s oldest state park and home to the largest continuous tribune of old coastal redwoods south of San Francisco.
Some of the giant redwoods are more than 50 feet round and as tall as the Statue of Liberty. At 1,000 to 1,800 years old, some may predate the Roman Empire.
More recently, the old trees of Big Basin provided the setting for a forest walk that James Stewart and Kim Novak take in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Ethan Barron, a business / technical reporter at Mercury News in San Jose, CA, today posted photos on his Twitter account showing the deviation caused by the fire under the majestic trees.
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Fire climbing on redwoodbark at Big Basin park https://t.co/61YQi2xnkW—
EthanBaron (@ethanbaron) 21 August 2020
Some redwoods in Big Basin Redwoods State Park we burn in their hearts and doomed to fall https://t.co/pLsIOtaKdT—
EthanBaron (@ethanbaron) 21 August 2020
Another Burning Heart in Big Basin Redwoods State Park https://t.co/Fj0BFXxBz2—
EthanBaron (@ethanbaron) 21 August 2020
The CZU and SCU fires have so far turned 229,000 acres black, making it the 7th largest fire in the state’s history. Despite more than 1000 firefighters working the past 3 days, the extinguishers remain zero percent contained.
Redwood trees are fire-adapted, so the fact that they have burned does not mean the end of it. Big Basin in particular has benefited from the longest, continuous program of prescribed burns across the state since the deliberate burning done by indigenous people. In 1904, Big Basin was burned down and at the time, the New York Times said the forest “seems doomed to destruction.” But Big Basin came back.
In fact, everything that has revolved around this state for centuries has survived its share of fires. But the twin threats of human encroachment and climate change are deeply added stressors. Only four percent of the state’s original redwood stands remain.
Find out more about the history of the trees in the video below.
Earlier today, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked President Donald Trump to declare a major disaster in his state.
“We have a federal request in … a bilingual application to get a major disaster relief here in the state of California.”
Newsom that statement would obviously provide more funds to the state, but also allow it to be more “flexible” in its wildfire response.
In an update on Friday morning, Cal Fire said it expected “significant fire growth to be seen.”
“Extreme fire behavior with short and long range spotting continues to challenge arson attempts,” the agency said. “Fires continue to run in multiple directions and affect multiple communities.”
