Governor Newsom and EPA officials visit beloved Big Basin Redwoods State Park
BOULDER CREEK, Calif. (KION) Last year's fires devastated the Santa Cruz Mountains, including the Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Governor Gavin Newsom and U.S. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan paid a visit to Big Basin on the anniversary of the fires to discuss ways the state and federal government are working together on wildfire recovery. The CZU Fires were devastating on an entirely different level, the beloved park is filled with majestic trees, history, and memories for people.
Still, life is coming back to the forest.
"Soon after the fire, it looked like all the redwoods had died because they had no green on them. Here we are, a year later, 9 out of 10 redwoods are alive, maybe even more than that," said Chris Spohrer, District Superintendent of California State Parks.
Driving through the Big Basin Redwoods State Park, one gets a sense of the sheer magnitude of destruction the fires caused, burning over 97% of the park.
"We're closing in on the end of the phase 2 clean up which means that all of the burn sites, there was over one hundred structures that were burned here, were completely cleaned up," said Spohrer.
This also includes the removal of 21,000 hazard trees or trees that have been so burned, they have the potential to fall in public places.
Newsom says they plan on having a stronger wildfire response in California. The EPA and state fire officials pledged they are working on wildfire recovery efforts and efforts to control the impacts of climate change.
"We have to do more and we have to do better as it relates to actively managing our forest, vegetation management efforts, our repositioning of assets, and our modeling," said Newsom.
"This problem is solely unique to California. We're seeing this all along the west coast but we're seeing floods in the midwest. We're seeing hurricanes on the east coast," said Michael S. Regan, U.S. EPA Administrator.
However, In California, things are expected to keep getting worse with the state experiencing a severe drought. The governor announcing water restrictions during his visit to Big Basin.
