Exclusive: Race to protect Big Basin’s Mother, Father of the Forest, other ancient redwood trees after inferno
Birds are starting to return to the fire-ravaged park, which remains closed to visitors indefinitely
Mercury News
By ETHAN BARON | ebaron@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: August 29, 2020 at 12:20 p.m. | UPDATED: August 31, 2020 at 4:14 a.m.
BIG BASIN, CA - AUGUST 28: Will Christianson and Jason Vincent clear away fallen brush from the base of the Mother of the Forest redwood as hot spots from the CZU Complex fire continue burning in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Friday, Aug., 28, 2020, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BIG BASIN — The Douglas fir came crashing down just a couple dozen feet from the famous “Mother of the Forest” tree Friday, and the impact shook the earth, blowing another smoldering hot spot into live flames. The fire-damaged fir was taken down with chainsaws in a controlled fall, to prevent it from toppling on its own and damaging one of the old-growth giants still standing a stone’s throw away.
It’s the first step in the disaster response for one of California’s flagship state parks, where the mission is to protect the ancient redwood trees that made it through the devastation of the CZU Lightning Complex Fire ravaging Santa Cruz County. The majority of the iconic trees — including the cherished Mother and “Father of the Forest” — survived the blaze, this news organization confirmed Friday. But there are many big redwoods whose bases were burned to the heart, and which could be toppled by a falling fir, huge numbers of which were severely damaged because the species fares poorly in flames.
