A raging wildfire has inflicted serious damage on Big Basin Redwoods State Park northeast of Santa Cruz, prompting a conservation group on Thursday to openly mourn the loss of California’s oldest state park.
“We are devastated to report that Big Basin, as we have known it, loved it, and cherished it for generations, is gone,” said the Sempervirans Fund in a statement. “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.”
California State Parks confirmed in a news release that the park “sustained extensive damage” Tuesday from the C.Z.U. August Lightning Complex fires and would be closed until further notice.
“The fire damaged the park’s headquarters, historic core and campgrounds,” said the statement. “Staff are currently assessing the damage cause by the fire to state park property and we do not know the number of acres burned within the park right now.”
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