Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park is a
state park of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, United States, harboring groves of
coast redwoods in three separate units along the
Van Duzen River
The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
. It is located south of
Eureka, California
Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Ba ...
, then another east of
Fortuna
Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...
on
State Route 36. The small park was created by a donation from Owen R. Cheatham, founder of
Georgia-Pacific Corporation, who wanted to preserve the stand of redwoods in perpetuity. Originally established in 1943, the park has grown to . Cheatham Grove, west of the main unit, was added to the park in 1983 due to efforts of the
Save the Redwoods League
Save the Redwoods League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore coast redwood (''Sequoia sempervirens'') and giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees through the preemptive purchase of development rights ...
.
Use
The park is so secluded due to its location off the major regional artery,
U.S. Route 101, that on a weekday a visitor can be the only person in any one of the several groves. Cheatham Grove has a small trail about a mile long and was one of the filming sites for ''
Return of the Jedi
''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...
'' as the
Forest Moon of Endor. There is also 1 albino redwood along the trail and is the location of a
Redwood Edventure Quest.
Climate
According to the
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park has a
warm-summer mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.
Proposed for closure
Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park was one of 70
California state parks
The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...
proposed for closure by July 2012 as part of a deficit reduction program. It was previously one of several state parks threatened with closure in 2008. Those closures were ultimately avoided by cutting hours and maintenance system-wide.
See also
*
List of California state parks
This is a list of parks, historic resources, reserves and recreation areas in the California State Parks system.
List of parks
See also
* California State Beaches
*List of California State Historic Parks
* Parks in California
* California Dep ...
References
External links
Official Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park website
{{authority control
State parks of California
Parks in Humboldt County, California
Coast redwood groves
Old-growth forests
Campgrounds in California
Protected areas established in 1943
1943 establishments in California