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Home Exclusive look: Inside what is left of California’s historic Big Basin State Park in the heart of Bay Area wildfires

Exclusive look: Inside what is left of California’s historic Big Basin State Park in the heart of Bay Area wildfires

Nearly all Big Basin’s iconic redwood trees were scorched, and while many escaped the blaze with foliage intact, dozens near the park center had been torched up to the crown and their tops had burn…

CAMEROON MAGAZINE - GM21/08/20204 Mins read84 Views

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: A redwood tree burns near Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: The Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center is burned to the ground during a blaze in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: A burned sing that reads « Big Basin Redwoods State Park » is burned during a blaze in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: The bathrooms at the Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center are burned during a blaze in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: Some redwood trees sustain damage at the Blooms Creek Campground in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: Burned tress line highway 236 in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: A large redwood tree falls down after sustaining damage during a fire near the Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: Redwood trees line the entrance of the Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. Some of the trees sustained damage during a fire that has devastated the area in recent days. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: Some redwood trees burn near highway 236 in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: A barricade notifying visitors that the parking lot is full sits outside of Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: A fire continues to burn near some burned cars at the Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: Some pay phones are burned during a blaze that destroyed the Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK – AUGUST 20: Some of the redwood trees near the Big Basin Redwoods State Park Headquarters & Visitor Center sustain damage during a blaze in Boulder Creek, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

BOULDER CREEK — The headquarters buildings at Big Basin Redwoods State Park are all burned to rubble, but the vast majority of the park’s famed ancient giant redwoods are still upright — although many are no longer standing quite as tall, two journalists from this news organization confirmed Thursday.

It took a nearly five-mile hike through the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains to reach what remained of California’s oldest state park after the CZU Lightning Complex wildfire was through with it. They found scattered among the tall trees some fallen giants. One, found just before the headquarters and with a base more than a dozen feet across, had burned and shattered, sending the massive trunk crashing to the ground, where it lay in a deathbed of ash and blackened undergrowth.

Read about how the wildfire destroyed the historic buildings at Big Basin, and toppled some redwoods

Other redwoods still upright were burning at the base, fire eating up inside their trunks, and these trees seemed doomed to fall.

Video: Inside Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Bay Area fires aftermath. CLICK HERE if you’re having trouble viewing media on a mobile device.

Around the headquarters and the nearby campgrounds, where happy shouts of excited visitors ordinarily ring out on a summer afternoon, and Stellar’s jays squawk noisily, silence prevailed, broken occasionally by the sound of a forest titan smashing to earth with the sound of a bomb going off. A single crow flew quietly through the devastation.

The park’s memorably rich and earthy forest smell was replaced by acrid woodsmoke from many smoldering fires.

A State Parks official said it appeared the fire in the park had swept through with high intensity.

Fire ecologist Kristen Shive, director of science at Save the Redwoods League, said that redwood bark is up to a foot thick and resists fires, but if flames burn hot enough, they can damage the layer of material under the bark, which transports water and nutrients, with fatal results. Still, she said, even badly burned redwoods may look bad but can eventually recover.

SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com

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