Navarro River Redwoods State Park
Encyclopedia
Navarro River Redwoods State Park is a state park
in Mendocino County, California
consisting of 660 acres (2.7 km²) of second-growth
redwood forest in a narrow stretch 11 miles (17.7 km) long on both banks of the Navarro River
, from the town of Navarro
to the river's confluence with the Pacific Ocean
.
, which winds through the park along the north bank of the river and has many turnouts allowing travelers to stop for day use activities such as picnics and short walks through the forest. Fishing, swimming, kayaking, and canoeing are also possible.
Two developed campgrounds are part of the park. The Navarro Beach Campground is on the beach to the south of the river mouth; it has ten campsites, picnic tables, fire grills, and pit toilets, but no shade or drinking water. The Paul M. Dimmick Campground is inland, in a second-growth redwood grove near the river; it has 25 campsites, picnic tables, fire grills, pit toilets, and drinking water, but it may be flooded in the winter.
, steelhead trout, and river otter
s; great blue heron
s, kingfisher
s, loon
s, and osprey
nest along its banks. Raccoon
s and black-tailed deer
live in the forest, and gray whale
s and harbor seal
s may sometimes be seen from the beach on the Pacific Ocean
at the mouth of the river.
Because the region now covered by the park was heavily logged
in the 19th century, only second-growth redwood trees remain. However, two groves of old-growth redwoods may be seen in nearby Hendy Woods State Park
, upriver a few miles southeast on Route 128.
and several fires reduced the town to almost nothing by 1921; in 1922, the road that would become Highway 128 was built, re-using portions of the train bed. The inn remained open until the 1970s; the Navarro Mill Company House, and the Mill Superintendent's House (now home to the Navarro-by-the-Sea Center, a nonprofit group that maintains the buildings) also remain.
The town at the mouth of the Navarro river was not the only town in the area called Navarro. After the mill at the mouth of the Navarro burned down in 1902, G. C. Wendling built a new mill on the North Fork of the Navarro River, near the inland tip of what is now the park. In 1905, the town of Wendling was founded around the mill. In 1914 the Wendling Mill was purchased by the Navarro Lumber Company, at which point the town of Wendling also became known as Navarro Mill and eventually Navarro
. In order to distinguish it from the inland Navarro, the town at the beach became known as Old Navarro, Navarro Ridge, or Navarro-by-the-sea.
In 1970, the beach and Fletcher's Inn (by then known as the Navarro-by-the-Sea Hotel) came to the attention of the California Supreme Court in the law case Dietz v. King, also known as Gion–Dietz because it was decided together with another case, Gion v. City of Santa Cruz. Starting in around 1949, the owners of the hotel had posted a 50 cent toll on the dirt access road to the beach, although beachgoers had not always paid the charge. The King family bought land including the beach and the road in 1959, and blocked public access to the beach; the Dietzes, representing the public, sued in 1966. The Supreme Court considered the hundred-year-long history of free public access to the beach (interrupted only during World War II
, when the U.S. Coast Guard used it as a base for their patrols) and ruled that the access road was a public right-of-way
.
The Paul M. Dimmick State Park, a 12 acre (0.04856232 km²) site now part of Navarro River Redwoods, was established in 1928; it was named after a former superintendent at the Albion Lumber Company. The surrounding land of Navarro River Redwoods State Park was purchased on behalf of the California state park system by the Save-the-Redwoods League
in 1987. The parks department also bought the Fletcher Inn in 1996 for $300,000, and in 1998 the National Trust for Historic Preservation
listed it as one of their "Save America's Treasures
" projects.
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
in Mendocino County, California
Mendocino County, California
Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California, north of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 87,841, up from 86,265 at the 2000 census...
consisting of 660 acres (2.7 km²) of second-growth
Secondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
redwood forest in a narrow stretch 11 miles (17.7 km) long on both banks of the Navarro River
Navarro River
The Navarro River is a river in Mendocino County, California. It flows northwest through the Coastal Range to the Pacific Ocean. Encompassing , its watershed includes the Anderson Valley, a well-known wine-growing region in Mendocino County. The main stem of the Navarro River begins less than ...
, from the town of Navarro
Navarro, California
Navarro is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located west of Ukiah, at an elevation of 269 feet...
to the river's confluence with the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
Activities and facilities
The park may be reached via State Route 128California State Route 128
State Route 128 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting the Mendocino coast to the Central Valley through the state's Wine Country.-Route description:...
, which winds through the park along the north bank of the river and has many turnouts allowing travelers to stop for day use activities such as picnics and short walks through the forest. Fishing, swimming, kayaking, and canoeing are also possible.
Two developed campgrounds are part of the park. The Navarro Beach Campground is on the beach to the south of the river mouth; it has ten campsites, picnic tables, fire grills, and pit toilets, but no shade or drinking water. The Paul M. Dimmick Campground is inland, in a second-growth redwood grove near the river; it has 25 campsites, picnic tables, fire grills, pit toilets, and drinking water, but it may be flooded in the winter.
Fauna and flora
The river supports coho salmonCoho salmon
The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...
, steelhead trout, and river otter
River otter
River otter may refer to:*River Otter, a river in Devon*European Otter*Japanese River Otter*Neotropical River Otter*North American River Otter, a common animal in North American waterways*Southern River Otter, found in Chile and Argentina...
s; great blue heron
Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
s, kingfisher
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
s, loon
Loon
The loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia...
s, and osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
nest along its banks. Raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s and black-tailed deer
Black-tailed Deer
Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer occupying coastal temperate rainforest on North America's Pacific coast are subspecies of the mule deer. They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all recent authorities maintain they are subspecies...
live in the forest, and gray whale
Gray Whale
The gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of about , a weight of , and lives 50–70 years. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were...
s and harbor seal
Harbor Seal
The harbor seal , also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere...
s may sometimes be seen from the beach on the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
at the mouth of the river.
Because the region now covered by the park was heavily logged
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
in the 19th century, only second-growth redwood trees remain. However, two groves of old-growth redwoods may be seen in nearby Hendy Woods State Park
Hendy Woods State Park
Hendy Woods State Park is a state park located in Mendocino County, California. The park contains two groves of old growth Coast Redwood: Big Hendy and Little Hendy . The Navarro River runs through the length of the park....
, upriver a few miles southeast on Route 128.
History
The park land near the Navarro beach includes several historic buildings. Captain Fletcher's Inn was built by Charles Fletcher, a Scottish sailor who came to the area in 1851 and was the first European settler on the Navarro estuary. In 1860, Fletcher sold most of his land to Henry Tichenor and Robert G. Byxbee, who built a lumber mill on it in 1861. Fletcher then built his inn in 1865 to house sailors in the lumber trade while they waited for their ships to load. In time, a town of 1000 people sprang up around the mill, called Navarro. A train on the north bank of the river brought logs to the mouth of the river, where they were brought across to the mill on the south bank. The mill closed in 1893, and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
and several fires reduced the town to almost nothing by 1921; in 1922, the road that would become Highway 128 was built, re-using portions of the train bed. The inn remained open until the 1970s; the Navarro Mill Company House, and the Mill Superintendent's House (now home to the Navarro-by-the-Sea Center, a nonprofit group that maintains the buildings) also remain.
The town at the mouth of the Navarro river was not the only town in the area called Navarro. After the mill at the mouth of the Navarro burned down in 1902, G. C. Wendling built a new mill on the North Fork of the Navarro River, near the inland tip of what is now the park. In 1905, the town of Wendling was founded around the mill. In 1914 the Wendling Mill was purchased by the Navarro Lumber Company, at which point the town of Wendling also became known as Navarro Mill and eventually Navarro
Navarro, California
Navarro is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located west of Ukiah, at an elevation of 269 feet...
. In order to distinguish it from the inland Navarro, the town at the beach became known as Old Navarro, Navarro Ridge, or Navarro-by-the-sea.
In 1970, the beach and Fletcher's Inn (by then known as the Navarro-by-the-Sea Hotel) came to the attention of the California Supreme Court in the law case Dietz v. King, also known as Gion–Dietz because it was decided together with another case, Gion v. City of Santa Cruz. Starting in around 1949, the owners of the hotel had posted a 50 cent toll on the dirt access road to the beach, although beachgoers had not always paid the charge. The King family bought land including the beach and the road in 1959, and blocked public access to the beach; the Dietzes, representing the public, sued in 1966. The Supreme Court considered the hundred-year-long history of free public access to the beach (interrupted only during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when the U.S. Coast Guard used it as a base for their patrols) and ruled that the access road was a public right-of-way
Right of way (public throughway)
Right of way is a term first used to describe the right to travel unhindered, to access a route regardless of land ownership or any other legality.The right of way may be limited...
.
The Paul M. Dimmick State Park, a 12 acre (0.04856232 km²) site now part of Navarro River Redwoods, was established in 1928; it was named after a former superintendent at the Albion Lumber Company. The surrounding land of Navarro River Redwoods State Park was purchased on behalf of the California state park system by the Save-the-Redwoods League
Save-the-Redwoods League
The Save the Redwoods League is an organization dedicated to the protection of the remaining Coast Redwood trees in the state of California. It was founded in 1918 by Frederick Russell Burnham, Madison Grant, John C. Merriam, and Henry Fairfield Osborn....
in 1987. The parks department also bought the Fletcher Inn in 1996 for $300,000, and in 1998 the National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...
listed it as one of their "Save America's Treasures
Save America's Treasures
Save America's Treasures is a United States Federal initiative to preserve and protect American historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public-private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation...
" projects.
External links
- Navarro River Redwoods State Park, official California State Parks web page
- Navarro River Redwoods State Park and Beach, State Parks of the Mendocino District
- Interactive map of memorial groves established by the Save-the-Redwoods LeagueSave-the-Redwoods LeagueThe Save the Redwoods League is an organization dedicated to the protection of the remaining Coast Redwood trees in the state of California. It was founded in 1918 by Frederick Russell Burnham, Madison Grant, John C. Merriam, and Henry Fairfield Osborn....
within the park