Protecting Resources at Redwood National and State Parks through Cooperation and Understanding
Hofstra T, Bundros G, Hill B. 1997. Protecting Resources at Redwood National and State Parks through Cooperation and Understanding. Pages 329-334. In Harmon D: Making protection work: proceedings of the ninth conference on research and resource management in parks and on public lands. Albequerque, NM. March 17-21, 1997. The George Wright Society. Hancock, MI
Excerpt: "The environmental and economic consequences of timber harvesting in the Pacific Northwest have provoked controversy for decades. No place symbolizes this controversy better than Redwood National Park (RNP) which was the focal point of a bitter debate over its creation and expansion.The original 1968 park boundary (Figure 1) encompassed a narrow 1/4-mile corridor along the lower reaches of Redwood Creek and was a compromise between intensely competing interests. On lands upslope and upstream of the park boundary the combination of timber harvest, logging road construction, and major storms greatly accelerated naturally high erosion rates. This resulted in a significant threat to the downstream park resources through increased sediment loads.and accumulations in streams, elevated water levels, stream bank erosion, and impacts to biological resources (Ridenhour and Hofstra 1994). Conservation groups were concemed with loss of valuable park resources and filed a series of lawsuits demanding the Secretary of the Interior take action to protect park lands. After lawsuits, court decisions, contentious hearings, and considerable division among local communities, Congress expanded RNP in 1978. To reduce risk of damage to downstream park resources, this legislation authorized a program to rehabilitate areas within the park and to control erosion on private lands upstream of the park."
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Hofstra, Terry; Bundros, Greg; Hill, Barry
- Date of Issue
- 1996
- Units
- REDW
- Keywords
- cooperation, erosion control, human impact, legislation, redwood creek, Redwood national and State Parks, rehabilitation, Resource protection, sedimentation, timber harvesting, water level, water quality