Big Basin Redwoods State Park Update

California State Parks staff continues to move forward with the Big Basin Redwoods State Park Facilities Management Plan (BBFMP). Site planning and design considerations are in the works with the Reimagining Big Basin project team engaging stakeholders and the public in the recovery from the August 2020 CZU fires. A round of public meetings and an open house are to be scheduled for this summer with a focus on site design review and gathering public input.

The Facilities Management Plan process, begun in the summer of 2023, addresses park facilities to support visitors and to protect sensitive habitats at Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The BBFMP planning process team indicates that the planning will be complete by 2025.

Draft planning vision and objectives include:

– Prioritize forest health
– Provide equitable, diverse, and evocative visitor experiences
– Diversity, transportation, and access opportunities
– Practice land stewardship
– Include indigenous perspectives
– Promote landscape connectivity
– Design with reverence and resilience
– Engage the park community and build partnerships

In the meantime, repair work continues in the park, and new trails are being opened. Parks staff reports, “Access to Mt McAbee has been restored via Hihn Hammond Road. Mt McAbee Overlook sits at 1,739 ft and features expansive views of the West Waddell Wilderness stretching down to Rancho del Oso and the Pacific Ocean. Also, the newly reopened Blooms Creek Connector trail enables visitors to access Hihn Hammond Road to Mt McAbee via the Main Day-use area with the option to loop back on Middle Ridge Road.”

Learn more at reimaginingbigbasin.org.

Photos courtesy of California State Parks

View Big Basin’s Story: The CZU Lightning Complex Fire