How Big Basin Became California's First State Park

Big Basin became California's first state park in 1902. The fight to get there started two years earlier, in May 1900, when a group of citizens formed right in the basin to keep the last big stands of old-growth redwood away from the saw. They called themselves the Sempervirens Club. Their two-year campaign ended in a purchase that created California Redwood Park, which the Sempervirens Fund describes as "the first park established in California in the current state park system." All of it began nine miles up the road from Boulder Creek. And it began with a photographer who wouldn't hand over his negatives.

The basin before the park

People were part of this forest long before the preservation fight. California State Parks notes that humans lived in or near Big Basin for at least 10,000 years, and it identifies the Cotoni and Quiroste peoples, part of the broader Ohlone culture of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas, as the tribes of this landscape. They harvested seeds and acorns, wove baskets, and hunted elk and deer in these canyons.

That history isn't past tense. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, made up of the surviving descendant families of Indigenous people taken into Mission Santa Cruz (Awaswas speakers) and Mission San Juan Bautista (Mutsun speakers), works today through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust to restore Indigenous stewardship across ancestral lands that run from Ano Nuevo through these mountains to Monterey Bay. State Parks adds that descendants of the basin's tribes are working toward federal recognition.

By the late 1800s, the same forest was coming down fast. Sawmills worked the San Lorenzo Valley below. Boulder Creek was shipping lumber out by rail. The old growth in the basin was privately owned timberland with a short life expectancy.

A photographer refuses to hand over his negatives

The usual telling starts with Andrew P. Hill, a San Jose photographer. According to State Parks' cultural history, Hill photographed redwoods at Welch's Grove in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the grove's owner accused him of trespassing and demanded his negatives. Hill refused. He went a step further, vowing to himself to save the trees for future generations. The run-in came in 1899 or 1900, depending on the account; the Sempervirens Fund dates the start of his campaign to 1899.

Either way, Hill went home to San Jose and started organizing. A meeting at Stanford University in May 1900 pulled together journalists, politicians, artists, business owners, and scholars, and the group headed into the mountains to see the threatened forest for themselves.

Thirty-two dollars and a two-year campaign

What happened next is commemorated by a bronze plaque inside the park. California Historical Landmark 827 records that "a group of conservationists led by Andrew P. Hill camped at the base of Slippery Rock on May 15, 1900 and formed the Sempervirens Club to preserve the redwoods of Big Basin." The Sempervirens Fund's own history puts the founding gathering on May 18, along Sempervirens Creek, so accounts differ by a few days. On the substance they agree. A small group camped in the basin, decided the forest had to be saved, passed a hat, and collected 32 dollars to finance the effort.

Club member Carrie Stevens Walter put the goal plainly in 1901, writing of preserving "this magnificent domain of redwood forests," a line State Parks still quotes on the park's page. The club spent more than two years lobbying Sacramento.

In 1901 the legislature passed the enabling legislation (unanimously, by State Parks' account), and in 1902 the State of California bought the heart of the basin: roughly 3,500 to 3,800 acres of ancient forest, depending on the account. The landmark plaque dates the deeding of the land to September 20, 1902, and calls it the beginning of the California State Park System.

From California Redwood Park to Big Basin Redwoods

The new park was called California Redwood Park, and it grew from there. State Parks records that the park was renamed Big Basin Redwoods in 1927, and additional purchases (including 3,901 acres acquired from the Big Basin Lumber Company in 1906) kept expanding it. Today the park preserves more than 18,000 acres, including the largest continuous stand of ancient coast redwoods south of San Francisco, with trees between 1,000 and 1,800 years old.

The 1930s gave the park the look longtime visitors remember. Civilian Conservation Corps crews built the redwood Nature Lodge and Park Headquarters, a campfire center, a footbridge, cabins, and much of the trail network.

The club that started it all kept going too. After helping establish Castle Rock State Park in the late 1960s, the organization renamed itself the Sempervirens Fund in 1968, and it's still buying and protecting redwood forest in these mountains today.

The fire that changed everything

On August 18, 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex fire swept through 97 percent of the park's property, according to State Parks. Every historic structure was lost, including the CCC-era headquarters and lodge. The Sempervirens Fund calls the CZU fire, which burned more than 86,000 acres across the Santa Cruz Mountains, the most devastating fire ever recorded in the region.

The trees told a different story than the buildings. State Parks reports that most of the old-growth redwoods survived, and new growth has been coming back across the burned landscape ever since. Coast redwoods have lived through fire for a very long time. The visitor infrastructure hadn't.

What Big Basin looks like now

The park partially reopened in July 2022 and has been recovering in stages since. The park's official page lists day use from 8 a.m. to sunset and strongly recommends parking reservations because spaces are limited. Camping in the main park remains closed, though the Rancho del Oso campground on the coast side has reopened with five walk-in sites by reservation and one shared bike-in site.

Individual trails open and close as work continues, so check current conditions on parks.ca.gov before you drive up. This article can't promise what will be open on any given day. The Rancho del Oso side, off Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz, is open with no entrance fee.

The long-term rebuild runs through Reimagining Big Basin, State Parks' multi-year planning effort. A public visioning process wrapped up in summer 2022, and the project has since produced a Facilities Management Plan, a General Plan Amendment, and an environmental impact report, with a State Park and Recreation Commission hearing on the plans held July 2, 2026. The stated goal is to reestablish facilities that support visitors while protecting the forest that made the park worth fighting for in the first place.

Boulder Creek, the gateway then and now

Boulder Creek's own history is tangled up in this story. The town shipped the lumber that came out of these mountains, and when the logging economy faded in the early twentieth century, it leaned into visitors headed for the park instead. Rail historian Derek Whaley's Santa Cruz Trains research describes Boulder Creek transitioning "from a lumber town to a tourist town" built around attractions like Big Basin.

The geography hasn't changed. The park's official directions start here: from Highway 9 in downtown Boulder Creek, turn north onto Highway 236, and the entrance kiosk is nine miles up the road. If you're headed to the park, town is the last stop for gas, food, and supplies, the same role it's played for well over a century. Our directory of Boulder Creek businesses is a good place to see what's open before you start up Highway 236.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Big Basin open right now?

Partially. The park is open for day use from 8 a.m. to sunset, parking reservations are strongly recommended, and camping in the main park is closed while rebuilding continues, though Rancho del Oso on the coast side has a handful of walk-in and bike-in sites. Trail openings change as recovery work progresses, so check parks.ca.gov before you go.

Did the old-growth redwoods survive the 2020 fire?

Most did, according to State Parks. The CZU fire burned through 97 percent of the park and destroyed every historic building, but coast redwoods are adapted to fire, and the surviving giants have been putting out new growth since. The forest looks different than it did before 2020, and it's still recovering.

What does "California's first state park" actually mean?

Big Basin, established in 1902 as California Redwood Park, was the first park in what became the current California state park system. The state historical landmark at Slippery Rock marks the 1902 land transfer as the beginning of the California State Park System, and State Parks calls Big Basin its oldest park.

How do I get to Big Basin from Boulder Creek?

Take Highway 236 north from Highway 9 in downtown Boulder Creek; the park entrance kiosk is nine miles up. The road is narrow and winding, so allow more time than the mileage suggests, and confirm current access before you go.

Who lived in Big Basin before it was a park?

State Parks identifies the Cotoni and Quiroste peoples, part of the Ohlone culture, and notes that people lived in or near the basin for at least 10,000 years. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, descended from Indigenous people taken into the Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista missions, stewards ancestral lands in these mountains today through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust.

Big Basin's story runs nine miles up the road, but it starts in Boulder Creek. If a redwood day is on your list, see what else is happening in town first on our Boulder Creek events calendar.