Redwood National Park
| Redwood National Park | |||
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| Location: | California , United States | ||
| Specialty: | Coast redwoods and species-rich rocky coast | ||
| Next city: | Eureka (California) | ||
| Surface: | 562.51 km² | ||
| Founding: | 2nd October 1968 | ||
| Visitors: | 482,536 (2018) | ||
| Address: | Redwood National Park | ||
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| Redwood National Park | |
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UNESCO world heritage 
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| National territory: |
 United States
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| Type: | nature |
| Criteria : | (vii) (ix) |
| Surface: | 41,571 ha |
| Reference No .: | 134 |
| UNESCO region : | Europe and North America |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1980 ( session 4 ) |
The Redwood National Park ( Redwood National and State Parks ) is a National Park of the United States at the California Pacific coast near the border with Oregon . Almost 50 percent of the natural population of coastal redwoods Sequoia sempervirens (English: Coast Redwood or California Redwood), the tallest trees on earth, grow in the reserve . The park of the natural, diverse coastal strip from the rugged include cliff coast over flat rock structures with rock pools to sandy beach is enough, and the slopes of the coastal mountains, where the redwoods, the flagship species of the ecosystem temperate rainforest are.
In the 1920s, the three California state parks Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park , Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park were established. The national park was established on October 2, 1968 and in 1994 the administration was combined with the state parks. Since 1980 , the area is a World Heritage of UNESCO reported. The park is jointly managed by the National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation .
history
Unlike most other national parks in the United States , Redwood National Park was not created to protect a geological formation or any other fixed object. It owes its establishment to the history of land use in Northern California, after the formerly extensive forests of the coastal redwoods were almost completely cleared and the original temperate rainforest was only found in the most remote parts of the state.
The indigenous people
The northern California Pacific coast has a long history of settlement . Immigrants moved along the coast and opened up the interior of the continent via the rivers. The ancestors of the ethnic groups in the area of the park come from the " Na-Dené culture". The time of their arrival on the continent is controversial. Linguistic comparisons showed that the ancestors of the Karok were as early as 300 BC. Lived in the hinterland of today's park. At the turn of the ages, the oldest redwoods still standing today sprouted. From the 14th century Yurok can be traced , in the 16th century the Tolowa , Chilula and Hoopa advanced into the region.
These peoples consisted of a few hundred to a few thousand people and lived in small village and family communities. The mild climate, the abundance of fish in the sea and in the rivers and the game of the forests and prairies provided a generous basis for food, the forests the building material for houses. These favorable conditions allowed them the greatest population density of any known hunter-gatherer society in the world.
The Yurok made ornate baskets from roots, ferns and grasses, which they used for profane and ceremonial purposes. They had spears as hunting weapons and also used lighter spears and nets for fishing. They collected plants and fruits and used fire to burn the undergrowth in deciduous forests so that they could better gather acorns and other tree fruits.
They also used fire as a tool for hollowing out tree trunks and building canoes in the shape of a dugout canoe . For finer woodworking, they used tools made of stone and the horn of animal antlers. The Yurok built their houses from planks split from redwood and cedar logs. The walls were often held together by rope ties. What is striking about the reconstructed houses are small, round, beamed entrances, or better, loopholes, through which the Yurok protected themselves from the grizzly bears , which are now extinct throughout California .
The Yurok culture was entirely oriented towards the nature around them. Animals and plants, but also their houses built from the trees, were considered by them to be inhabited by ghosts. The redwoods themselves were their "eternal spirits". The way of life of the Northern California coastal Indians can be proven almost unchanged over several centuries. It was only with the arrival of the first Europeans that cultures changed within a few decades.
Explorer and prospector
The region was first explored in 1775. The Heceta Bodega expedition anchored in Trinidad Bay, a few kilometers south of today's park, and declared the coast to be Spanish property for the Kingdom of New Spain . There was little contact with the indigenous people here, but the discoverers probably brought in smallpox, which fell victim to numerous members of the coastal Salish tribes (see smallpox epidemic on the Pacific coast of North America from 1775 ). But since the coast was too flat for good harbors, subsequent seafarers ignored the region for a long time.
It was not until 1828, when the area was now part of Mexico , which was now independent from Spain , that the trapper Jedediah Smith crossed the coastal mountains with 20 fur hunters and a caravan of 300 mules in search of a new route between the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains. The dense forests were difficult to pass on foot, with the pack animals it was torture.
In 1849, the scientist and author Josiah Gregg and six companions moved in search of gold along the northern coast of California, which had just passed over from Mexico to the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War . He was the first to explore the redwood forests and made systematic records, for example of a coastal redwood tree with a diameter of over 6.50 m.
The year before, in 1848, gold had been found on the upper reaches of the Trinity River during the California gold rush . Along the rivers, the gold diggers penetrated deeper and deeper into the forests of the coastal mountains. New settlements emerged overnight, initially as tent cities, trees were cleared and the first huts were built. Mule and donkey caravans paved the way for settlers and traders. Along the Trinity River, the prospectors reached the Klamath River and the area of today's park. When gold was found in the vicinity of its mouth at Gold Bluff Beach , the influx of whites swelled sharply.
The penetration of the settlers into the habitats of the indigenous population inevitably led to conflicts. Assaults by the Yurok on the property of the settlers triggered raids on their villages, and the relationship became hostile. From the circle of unsuccessful gold diggers, militias formed , who set out to take “punitive actions” against the villages of the indigenous population. They murdered, pillaged and raped and were richly rewarded as heroes. After California was recognized as a US state in 1850, two small military posts were built at the mouth of the Klamath and in Crescent City, and the dominance of whites was clarified.
Most gold prospectors found little to nothing - and where gold veins or deposits of gold-bearing sand were discovered, the sites were quickly exhausted. After only a few years the boom was over and the settlers either withdrew or turned their attention to other treasures. The "red gold" - the wood of the sequoia trees - became an almost inexhaustible source of income.
The age of the wood industry
The enormous increase in population in the course of the settlement of the west led to an enormous demand for timber. The timber industry became the leading industry west of the Mississippi within a few years. The wood of the Coastal Redwood was very popular as a good timber with many uses because it is particularly weather-resistant and largely resistant to fungi, the tick and even termites.
Above all, the coastal redwood grows in dense stands and due to its height, each felled tree provides large quantities of wood (in 1902 an average redwood covered the material requirements of 22 houses), which made the work of the logging teams very economical.
Adventurers and entrepreneurs obtained logging licenses on federally owned public land by legal and illegal means. Straw men invoked laws on settlement and mining rights in order to obtain ownership of land which, contrary to all regulations, was never settled, but only cut down. Whole ship crews registered settlement plots in one day, ceded the rights to timber industrialists in exchange for cash and alcohol, and set off on the next voyage the next day.
The number of logging camps in the California Coast Mountains grew tremendously in the 1860s to 1880s. Initially, the technology and tools were only sufficient for smaller trees, but specialists soon emerged who worked together to satisfy the hunger for building materials. The choppers felled the tree with great precision so that it would not hit so hard that it splintered or damage neighboring trees. Peelers peeled off the bark and Sawers cut the trunk into transportable pieces. These were dragged out of the forest with carts of oxen or horses over back alleys , which were constantly watered by auxiliary staff to make the ground slippery.
Mechanization brought about steam-powered cables. Steam engines were also used in the sawmills. In 1853 there were already nine sawmills in the small town of Eureka, which was only created in 1850, 40 km south of today's park, and more were later built in Crescent City and Orick. Steam-powered tractors were introduced, and a short railroad was later built to carry the trunks. Crawler tractors were used from 1925, the first chainsaws from 1930. After the Second World War, the timber business finally turned into an industry: Bulldozers built roads in the slopes, heavy trucks brought the logs to the sawmills. The deforestation no longer affected individual forests, but entire regions were exploited by clear cutting .
The pillars in the ore mines of the American West were made of redwood, as were the planks of merchant ships and warships. The railway sleepers brought enormous demand. But the greatest amount went into house building. Most of the buildings on the American west coast since Victorian times have been constructed from the wood of the sequoia tree. Special needs arose in the rebuilding of San Francisco after the earthquake and fires of 1906 , including the famous Haight-Ashbury homes .
The National Park
Early attempts to protect the redwood forests went back to 1879 when US Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz also put the redwoods on a proposal list for additional national parks as a result of the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. The idea met with hesitant opposition from economic interests and sank in the archives. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century and increasingly after the reconstruction of San Francisco, voices were raised in conservative circles calling for the protection of remnants of the coastal redwood tree. The Save the Redwoods League was founded in 1918 by notables from California society. Within a very short time, they raised enormous funds from private donations that were sufficient to buy the core areas of the three state parks Jedediah Smith , Del Norte Coast and Prairie Creek . The state of California brought in its own land, replaced logging licenses and founded the state parks between 1923 and 1929. At the end of World War II , the Save the Redwoods League called for donations in memory of fallen soldiers and was able to save around 20 km² of redwood forests adjacent to Jedediah Smith State Park . As the National Tribute Grove, they were dedicated to the memory of all US soldiers, returnees and fallen, and expanded the state park.
Outside these protected areas and in the early years also occasionally illegally within the unmarked borders, the deforestation continued. By the 1960s, nearly 90% of the original holdings had disappeared. Only now did the movement to protect additional areas, and especially after connecting the isolated state parks, get louder. The National Geographic Society used donations to finance a study of the last remaining primeval forest areas in the coastal mountains and the design of suitable borders for a new national park.
As part of this study, the three tallest trees on earth were found on the banks of the small Redwood Creek and measured. The National Geographic Society report attracted attention in Washington. The US Congress began with hearings in which the timber industry proposed the conversion of the existing state parks into a national park and the conservation organization Sierra Club called for a new park with 225 square kilometers. Again the Save the Redwoods League and other organizations collected donations and bought land. After two years of negotiations, the law was in place and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the charter of the new Redwood National Park on October 2, 1968, which placed almost 150 square kilometers under the protection of the federal government in addition to the existing state parks. His wife, Lady Bird Johnson , was honored for her influence on the decision and a grove was named Lady Bird Johnson Grove . In March 1978 the park was expanded by around 120 km² and an additional protection zone was set up along the upper reaches of rivers flowing into the park with around 90 km². Most of the new areas are not old redwood stands, but include freshwater and brackish water lakes, prairies and a chain of hills covered with deciduous forest.
In 1980 the United Nations World Cultural Organization declared the Redwood National Park a World Heritage Site . In 1994 the administration of the state parks was merged with the national park. The United States Congress expanded the park by around 100 km² at the end of 2005 when it transferred the entire water catchment area of Mill Creek in the northeast of the park from the commercial Six Rivers National Forest and the Forest Service to the park administration and thus under protection posed.
geography
The Redwood National and State Park extends almost 90 km along the Pacific coast in the hills of the coastal mountains in the north of the US state California . The highest point is the Grashoppers Peak (1014 m) in the Bald Hills . About half of the park are each in the Californian counties of Humboldt and Del Norte . The park covers an area of 534 km² and consists mainly of wooded slopes, a 52 km long coastline , several rivers and lakes and small prairie areas . The park also includes the Pacific Ocean up to 400 m from normal water mark in the coastal areas .
The park does not include the villages of Crescent City , Orick and Klamath , which are largely enclosed by parkland , with a total of around 5,000 inhabitants, and the mouth of the Klamath River .
The park is 500 km north of San Francisco and 500 km south of Portland , about 15 km south of the state line between California and Oregon . Other national parks in the region include Crater Lake National Park in Oregon (225 km) and Lassen Volcanic National Park (370 km) and Yosemite National Park (750 km) in California.
The north half of the park is bordered to the east by the Six Rivers National Forest , which is largely used for commercial logging. Parts of the National Forest are in turn designated as the Smith River National Recreation Area , an area that has been developed for recreational use, especially fishing .
geology
Northern California is a particularly geologically active area. Only 60 km south of the park and a few kilometers off the coast, three tectonic plates collide. The Pacific Plate shifts northwards along the North American Plate (with the well-known San Andreas Fault as a result) and the Juan de Fuca Plate , or its part called the Gorda Plate , comes towards the continent from the northwest . In the head-on collision, the Gorda plate dips under the Pacific and North American plates, which are lifted and unfolded in the process. This is how the coastal chain was created, with parts of the Siskiyou Mountains in the north and Salmon Mountains in the south forming the hinterland of the national park. This geologically unstable location leads to frequent earthquakes and seaquakes in the region - the Good Friday quake off Alaska in 1964 triggered the worst tsunami in US history and caused massive damage to the city of Crescent City on the edge of the park, killing 11.
The bedrock of the coast and the coastal mountains consists of the so-called Franciscan complex , which is composed of Cretaceous sandstones , siltstones and slates from sediments of an ancient sea. The layers, which are between 100 and 150 million years old, are often folded, broken and torn by shear forces. Smaller proportions are metamorphic rocks , some of volcanic origin. Often these are colored green due to a high proportion of epidote . Inclusions of flint can be found in various places in the park . In the northeast there are layers of serpentine near the surface.
Occasionally there are thin layers of much younger sand and clay stones above the Cretaceous rock . Their origins lie in deposits from rivers or on flat coasts at the beginning of the Pleistocene around 1.8 million years ago. In the area of Gold Bluff Beach in the southern half of the park, the current deposited gold leached from these rocks and the sites were exploited in the 1850s in the wake of the California gold rush . You are exhausted today.
The Redwood Creek in the south of the park marks the "Grogan- rejection ", south-west of the predominate metamorphic rocks. In the north of the park is the “South Fork Fault”, where the stratification of the sedimentary rocks is clearly visible.
climate
The coastal region is characterized by a maritime climate with low seasonal fluctuations. The maximum temperatures are only between 12 and 17 ° C, the minimum temperatures between 4 and 11 ° C. The long-term average precipitation is 2540 mm (Berlin: 589 mm), which means that the forests meet the definition of a rainforest of temperate latitudes . The greatest amounts of precipitation are distributed over the winter months, the summers from June to September are relatively dry, but frequent fog in the forests ensures consistently high humidity.
The high amount of precipitation is caused by inland, moisture- saturated sea winds , which are forced to rise on the coastal mountains and cool down, which leads to downhill rain .
Ecosystems
The main focus of interest in Redwood National Park is of course the temperate rainforest with the eponymous coastal redwoods. In addition, there are deciduous forests on drier locations, smaller prairie sections, several rivers and lakes as well as the rocky coast and the strip of the Pacific Ocean belonging to the park.
Rainforest
The two main tree species of the temperate rainforest in the coastal mountains are the coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens , English "coast redwood") from the cypress family and the Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ), a pine plant . Depending on the location, they grow mixed with other species.
The classic forests accompany rivers and streams or stand on alluvial land . The growing conditions for the coastal sequoia are ideal here; For hundreds of years, the water has brought nutrients and supplies the tree with the enormous amounts of water it needs for its metabolism. This is the only place where coastal redwoods reach their maximum height of over 100 m and over the centuries they form dense stands, which are only occasionally supplemented by other tree species. At Redwood Creek in the south of the park, Hyperion, at 115.5 m (as of early 2007), is the tallest known tree on earth.
As old-growth designated jungles are marked by the coastal redwoods and their properties:
- Redwoods have such dense treetops with age that hardly any sunlight penetrates to the ground. All other species have to adapt to these conditions, so there is little undergrowth in the forests.
- The coastal redwoods, together with their mycorrhiza , a network of the roots of the tree and adapted fungi , are very efficient at utilizing the nutrients in the soil. The uniform climate and high humidity accelerate the breakdown processes of the destructors . The result is that few nutrients are available for other species in the soils of the redwood forests.
- Redwoods are particularly tough and durable. Their thick bark and the high amount of moisture in the water-bearing layers protect them from the forest fires caused by lightning strikes , which are common in the coastal mountains . Even if the bark of an old redwood is partially destroyed in a severe forest fire and the fire reaches the heartwood, the tree only burns out inside, the layers that are crucial for water and nutrient transport are often spared. Even if the tree is completely hollowed out as a result, the stability of the outer layers is sufficient to keep it alive for several centuries. The wood, which is particularly rich in tannins, also protects the coast redwood from most pests. At the point of minor injuries to the trunk, it can form a knot called a burl , from which a new shoot can later emerge, which can replace it in the event of severe damage to the crown.
As a result of these factors, the coastal redwood reaches an age of over 2000 years and creates self-adapted forests in which it has a competitive advantage over other tree species. Only a few species can live successfully in an old redwood stand.
Fallen sequoia
Coastal redwoods
In the national park
bark
The Douglas fir succeeds in this because it has developed a waiting state. Young Douglas firs also grow in the shade for about ten years. During this time they reach a height of 4 to 7 meters and then almost completely stop their growth for decades. Only when the canopy above them is torn open due to the death of a neighboring tree, a forest fire or a landslide on a slope do they resume growth and develop into large trees.
In the rainforest, in addition to the conifer species Douglas fir, giant arborvitae and coastal fir, there are deciduous trees such as Lithocarpus densiflorus and the Oregon maple as well as the madrona from the genus of strawberry trees , California laurel and American red alder . As far as the ground is covered, here reign sword ferns , Redwood sorrel, wood sorrel , than man-high bushes from the family of blueberry and heather plants before. In the months of May and June, the rhododendron Rhododendron macrophyllum and azaleas with their flowers add color accents.
The coastal redwoods no longer grow more than 60 m on higher and drier locations. In addition to the species already mentioned, there are the West American hemlock , oak and Jeffrey's pine . Because the stands here are less dense and the crowns are not completely closed, more light penetrates to the ground and there is considerably more undergrowth.
Other flowering plants also live here, such as the fireworks flower, the Californian manroot and, in more open locations, the Douglas iris and the skunk cabbage , which is also known as the yellow false calla. The rhododendron and the western azalea remain common.
The fauna of the redwood forest is one of the most biodiverse of all temperate ecosystems. However, it is mainly the invertebrates that contribute to this, and above all the destructors of the upper soil layers. The arachnids on the ground and in the tree tops are also particularly rich in species. Character species of the forest that are more easily perceptible to humans are the northern subspecies of the spotted owl , which only occurs in undisturbed primeval forests, and the California pygmy owl. The banana snail is also typical of the forests. It can be up to 25 cm long and is striking because of its yellow color. The 15 different tailed amphibians that occur in the rainforests are inconspicuous . One example is the rough-skinned yellow-bellied newt.
Deadwood plays an essential role as a habitat for specialized species. Even after it dies, a redwood can stand upright for another 200 years. During this time it serves wood-dwelling insects and their predators as a food source. If the crown breaks off, the cavities at great heights are an attractive habitat for light-loving species.
In addition, many animals live in the looser areas of the temperate rainforest, which also populate the neighboring ecosystems. Black bears , mule deer , gray fox and raccoons , bald eagles and ospreys should be mentioned here.
The breeding behavior of the marmelalk is unusual . This seabird does not live in colonies on the rocky coast like its relatives, but builds nests in exposed, particularly tall trees that can be up to 60 km from the coast. Coast redwoods are one of his favorite nesting trees.
More forests
The salt-resistant Sitka spruce predominates in the immediate vicinity of the coast, but is quickly displaced by more demanding species inland.
On dry locations in the hills of the central and northern park, the cypress family can no longer prevail; oaks dominate here , especially the California black oak , beech trees such as Lithocarpus densiflorus (English Tanoak), the Oregon maple and, among the conifers, the Douglas fir.
Prairies
The Bald Hills in the southeast of the park are the driest and highest part of the national park. The round crests reach 1000 m above sea level. Here open prairies alternate with loose deciduous forests. In spring the open grassland turns into a colorful meadow of flowers, and in late summer a second bloom falls. Typical flowering plants in these areas are various knight spurs . The character tree is the Oregon White Oak (also called Gerry Oak). It forms groups of trees and forest fringes, alongside the red oak and the Oregon maple.
The range of hills with the prairies is the habitat for mule deer and shrub rabbits, the bushes are home to the black-headed phoebe from the tyrant family and the song bunting. Coyotes and foxes hunt on the ground , while puma and bobcat are rare . Birds of prey such as the red-tailed buzzard , kestrel, and great horned owls hunt in the air at dusk and at night .
In the north-east of the park there are other prairie areas, which owe their special features to the geological conditions. Here the rock is so rich in magnesium that only a few tree and shrub species can tolerate these locations. Some pines , the tanoak, buckthorn family and the manzanita form of bearberry can still grow here. On the other hand, the variety of sweet grasses is all the greater. More than 30 species have been found here so far. Bear grass is particularly striking among the flowering plants .
rivers and lakes
In the hills of the park there are many smaller and larger streams and rivers as well as some lakes. In the northern part of the park, the Smith River and its tributary Mill Creek flow as the last unobstructed river system in California. Salmon and trout have been living here for thousands of years in waters that have not been influenced by humans, and the cutthroat trout have their largest population here. The Redwood Creek in the south has been severely damaged by the effects of the timber industry. In its catchment area, large areas have been cleared, so that the erosion brings huge amounts of soil into the river. This silts up the river bed and destroys the spawning grounds of most fish species. The fish are a source of food for great blue herons , goosander , belt fishermen and the North American otter .
The park is divided in the middle by the mouth of the Klamath River , which does not belong to the park area but is owned by the Yurok Indians. Several herds of elk from the largest subspecies Roosevelt elk, Cervus elaphus roosevelti, live on the banks of the river .
In the south of the coastline there are several lagoons inside and outside the park , originally bays of the ocean, which were separated from the sea by narrow, attached sandbanks. The separation of the Freshwater Lagoon is so advanced that its water balance is now independent of the Pacific and it carries fresh water .
North America's most important migratory route for millions of migratory birds that spend the winter in the south runs along the Pacific coast in spring and autumn. The lagoons are important resting places, also for species that do not breed in the park. At this time of the year, arctic species, especially limicoles and geese, can be observed here.
Coast and ocean
The coastal stretches of Northern California in and near Redwood National Park are mostly rocky coasts. The chain of coastal mountains drops sharply to the ocean. Exceptions are the estuaries and a few flat beaches in the deeper bays. There, too, sections of the dark sand usually mix with striking boulders and flat rock structures.
The closer the coast gets, the more the composition of the forest changes. The Sitka spruce tolerates the salt in the air best and increases rapidly. Various buckthorn plants predominate on the edge of the forest and in the bush communities on rock structures and sand dunes . The poison oak often occurs here , where even touching leaves or other parts of the plant can lead to serious symptoms of poisoning. Californian manroot, from the cucurbit family , grows in the bushes. Flowering plants, especially water leaf plants and daisy family , grow on edges and in open areas. In some parts of the park, brown pelicans build their colonies in the bushes and trees. Rocky cliffs are breeding grounds for guillemots , cliff oystercatchers , pigeon duck and ear shag .
Only a few species with widely branched roots can be found in the dunes : beach carnations, sea mustard , sand verbenias and the chile strawberry , one of the archetypes from which the cultivated forms were drawn. Kentish plover , wedge-tailed plover and sanderling breed here . Behind the dunes lies the California coastal prairie , a short-grass habitat used by the elk herds in some sections .
In contrast to the relative poverty of species on land, there is the diversity of flora and fauna in the habitats that are directly influenced by the ocean. On this section of the Pacific coast, ocean currents bring the nutrient-rich, cold water to the surface from great depths, making the region the most biodiverse coast in the temperate latitudes . The most interesting biotopes are in the tidal zone between high and low water levels . Tide pools in flat rocky coasts are only connected to the sea at high tide; their inhabitants are trapped in the basin at low tide. Here live crustaceans , sea stars , sea anemones , sea snails and various nudibranchs . The giant green anemone has become rare . Some of the species tolerate falling completely dry, others have to retreat deep into the crevices when the water level falls.
A diverse marine species community lives in the open water, the first 400 m of which are still part of the park area. Seaweed forms large stocks in the form of kelp forests off the coast, where the Steller sea lion hunts. The sea otters who use tools in the bays of the rocky coast and gray whales , which can also be observed from land on their annual migrations, are remarkable . In particular, the estuaries with their sandbanks are important spawning areas for fish, such as the endangered California sea goby, and locks for salmon, including the rare king salmon , and steelhead trout , which spawn as so-called anadromous migratory fish in freshwater but live most of their life in the ocean .
National park conservation projects
After around 95 percent of the old stocks have been cut down, almost 50 percent of all coast redwoods on earth are growing in Redwood National and State Park . The remainder is spread across other California sanctuaries and a few small populations in private forests.
The original state parks of the 1920s and the Oldgrowth Forests are in an almost unaffected natural state and do not require any special conservation or maintenance measures. In individual cases, the rangers of the National Park Service regulate the flow of visitors in order to minimize negative influences. Only 50 cars are allowed to drive to the Tall Tree Grove , a section of forest on Redwood Creek in the south of the park, in the vicinity of which Hyperion, the tallest known tree on earth grows. Those who have not reserved a permit and had no luck at the last minute either have to wait for one of the next few days or hike the almost 30 km on foot. In other parts of the park, however, almost as impressive forests are better developed and easily accessible even for day visitors.
In contrast, the expansion areas from 1978 consist mainly of areas that were deforested commercially in earlier decades or are far removed from their original condition due to the construction of roads and other consequences of logging. The Watershed Restoration Program has been running in these parts of the park since the 1980s, with the aim of restoring the natural water balance of the slopes and thus improving the conditions for reforestation that is as original as possible. In a first step, the roads laid by the loggers are leveled again and the drainage facilities built during road construction are removed. Precipitation should flow along the natural lines into the streams and rivers, give the soil back its original moisture and reduce the massive increase in erosion and the risk of landslides after deforestation .
The lower input of soil into the rivers improves the living conditions of the salmon in the waters of the southern park. The first results are promising, even if it will take centuries for the forests to approach their original state.
In some of the loosely forested areas, and especially on the dry prairie locations, which were affected by use prior to placing them under protection, the rangers rely on prescribed fire (deliberately set, controlled forest fires) at longer intervals. These small fires burn quickly through the forest, hardly damaging the adapted tree species, but destroying immigrant trees and especially grasses that expand into the forests and significantly change the ecosystems. The park administration simulates natural forest fires caused by lightning strikes, which are part of the coastal forest ecosystem, and only increases their frequency until the distribution of the ecosystems and the species composition is as close as possible to the state that existed when the North American continent was colonized by Europeans was.
Tourist facilities
According to area (534 km²) and number of visitors (around 400,000 per year), the national park is one of the medium-sized national parks in the USA. It is accessed by coastal highway 101 in a north-south direction; the only US Highway 199 branching northeast through the coastal mountains is the connection to the interstate system .
Because it was founded as three state parks and a national park, there are four visitor information centers in the Redwood National Park that specialize in the particularities of their respective sections. The headquarters of the park administration and the largest visitor information center with a small museum is located in Crescent City on the northern edge of the park. There are no accommodations in the park, there are only hotels and motels in the neighboring villages. Four campsites that can be reached by road are spread across the different parts of the park and landscape, eight more in the hinterland are only accessible on foot.
In addition to the redwood groves, one of the most popular attractions in the park is the Gold Bluff Beach stretch of beach with the Fern Canyon - a small creek mouth in the form of a canyon with up to 13 m high, vertical walls completely covered with ferns.
In the vicinity of the park are:
- Patrick's Point State Park just south of the park: A stretch of rocky coast famous for sea otters .
- Battery Point Lighthouse Museum in Crescent City: A small museum about the history of shipping in an old lighthouse.
- Trees of Mystery in Klamath: A privately operated nature adventure park with redwoods and a cable car that takes visitors up to the top of the trees and onto a hill with an outstanding view.
Full length of the park, reported in 2001, runs long-distance footpath California Coastal Trail along the coast.
Trivia
- In Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park , George Lucas filmed the scenes for Return of the Jedi , which are set on the forest moon of Endor .
- South of Klamath, on a coastal cliff, stands a radar station from WWII disguised as a barn . It is one of the last remaining structures to warn of a Japanese invasion and is now a listed building.
- In 1997, then 23-year-old Julia Hill climbed a millennial redwood south of the park and lived in a tiny tree house for 738 days in order to stop the ongoing deforestation of the area through this tree occupation.
Quotes
- Once you've seen the redwoods, they leave an impression or create a vision that you will never get rid of - John Steinbeck
- They are not just trees, they are like ghosts. The groves in which they grow are not just places, they are like favorite places - favorite places of the Centaurs or the gods - John Masefield
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the summary on HistoryLink.org: [1] .
- ^ Save the Redwood League: Memorial Redwood Groves Honor the Men and Women of America's Armed Forces , May 26, 2014
- ↑ John Steinbeck: The journey with Charley. (Travels with Charley). Zsolnay, Vienna 2002, p. 200.
- ↑ John Masefield: Saltwater Ballads. (Saltwater Ballads). Dulk, Hamburg 1951.
literature
- Richard Rasp: Redwood . KC Publications, Las Vegas, 1989, ISBN 0-88714-022-X
- Eugene Kozloff: Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest . University of Washington Press, Seattle 1976, ISBN 0-295-95449-3
- Kathleen B. Lyons: Plants of the Coast Redwood Region . Looking Press, Boulder Creek CA 1988, ISBN 0-9626961-0-2
- Read F. Noss (Ed.): The Redwood Forest - History, Ecology and Conservation of the Coast Redwood . Island Press , Washington DC 2000, ISBN 1-55963-725-0
- Edwin C. Bearss, Redwood National Park - History Basic Data , US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Washington DC, 1969 (also online in full: Redwood National Park - History Basic Data )
- Ed Zahniser: Redwood - Official Handbook for Redwood National and State Parks . US Gov. Printing Office, Washington DC, 1997, ISBN 0-912627-61-1
Web links
- National Park Service: Redwood National Park (official site; English)
- US National Parks Net: Redwood National Park (English)
- Film "The Big Trees" (German: "For a handful of money") , with Kirk Douglas , from 1952
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
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