User:Ctatkinson/Redwood National and State Parks
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Redwood National and State Parks | |
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Location | Humboldt County & Del Norte County, California, USA |
Nearest city | Crescent City |
Area | 131,983 acres (534.12 km2) |
Established | January 1, 1968 |
Visitors | 385,171 (in 2007[1]) |
Governing body | Co-managed by US National Park Service and California Department of Parks and Recreation |
World Heritage site | 1980 |
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The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. The parks consist of a combined area of 131,983 acres (534.12 km2) located entirely within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties and they protect 45% of all remaining Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) old-growth forests, totaling at least 38,982 acres (157.75 km2). These trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree species on Earth. In addition to the redwood forests, the parks preserve other indigenous flora, fauna, grassland prairie, cultural resources, portions of rivers and other streams, and 37 miles (60 km) of pristine coastline.
In 1850, old growth redwood forest covered more than 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km2) of the California coast. The northern portion of that area, originally inhabited by Native Americans, attracted many lumbermen and others turned gold miners when a minor gold rush brought them to the region. Failing in efforts to strike it rich in gold, these men turned toward harvesting the giant trees[2] for booming development in San Francisco and other places on the West Coast. After many decades of unobstructed clear-cut logging, serious efforts toward conservation began. By the 1920s work of the Save-the-Redwoods League, founded in 1918 to preserve remaining old growth redwoods, eventually resulted in the establishment of Prairie Creek, Del Norte Coast, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks among others. Redwood National Park was created in 1968, by which time nearly 90% of the original redwood trees had been logged. The National Park Service (NPS) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (CDPR) administratively combined Redwood National Park with the three abutting Redwood State Parks in 1994 for the purpose of cooperative forest management and stabilization of forests and watersheds as a single unit.
The ecosystem of the RNSP preserves a number of threatened animal species such as the Brown Pelican, Tidewater Goby, Bald Eagle, Chinook Salmon, Northern Spotted Owl, and Steller's Sea Lion.[3] In recognition of the rare ecosystem and cultural history found in the parks, the United Nations designated them a World Heritage Site on September 5, 1980 and an International Biosphere Reserve on June 30, 1983.[4]