Sinkyone Wilderness State Cultural Resources, and Creating Opportunities State Park for High-Quality Outdoor Recreation
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Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is Sinkyone to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping One hundred years ago, Wilderness to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and Sinkyone Wilderness State cultural resources, and creating opportunities State Park for high-quality outdoor recreation. Park was an industrial landscape, logged for its natural resources. Today, California State Parks supports equal access. efforts are underway to Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at restore its wild beauty for (707) 986-7711. If you need this publication in an alternate format, contact [email protected]. generations to come. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov SaveTheRedwoods.org/csp Sinkyone Wilderness State Park Briceland Thorn Road Whitethorn, CA 95589 (707) 986-7711 © 2011 California State Parks (Rev. 2016) S inkyone Wilderness State Park is PARK HISTORY self-identity, but all groups formed a part of a wild and beautiful stretch of Native People larger economy that delivered goods as shoreline known as “The Lost Coast.” This The Sinkyone people lived in the area far as the Eastern United States. rugged area, about 36 miles southwest of now known as Sinkyone Wilderness This area was probably more densely Garberville, is one of the few places on State Park for thousands of years populated by Sinkyones before California’s long coastline that cannot be before European contact. At the time the European incursion than it is now. reached by a state highway or paved road. the Europeans arrived, the Sinkyone Today, many people of Sinkyone Fortunately for those who seek peace population probably numbered as many descent live throughout the and serenity, the remote location of this as 4,000. The boundaries of Sinkyone north coast. rocky place has foiled decades of attempts lands extended east to the main stem of Traditional practices by developers who had hoped to exploit the Eel River and the river’s South Fork, passed down through its stunning scenery. south beyond what is now Leggett, and generations of Sinkyone The thick morning fog that develops west to the ocean. experience created as the land meets the sea muffles most The name Sinkyone was assigned by a highly productive sounds. As the fog threads its way over high 20th-century ethnographers to classify environment. cliffs and settles in among the park’s tall separate political groups who spoke the Conservation and redwoods, only the thunder of the ocean’s same dialect of the Athabascan language restoration projects rolling surf and the faint barking of sea lions family. Each distinct political group headed by local reaches the ear of a silent hiker. maintained its own geographic area and Bear Harbor slide lumber products to Dollar resurrected the lumber company waiting schooners — the for a while by use of skillful marketing and preferred method to load partnerships. Despite good management, lumber products onto Mr. Dollar shut the mill down in 1901. ships. He called the gulch In November 1908, the Nelson Lumber “Anderson’s Landing,” later Company of New York State acquired the mill renamed “Northport.” for $10 in gold. Lumberyards shipped wood The land continued to change hands to markets into the early 1900s. frequently, with various attempts to revive Lumber schooners departed logging operations. At the end of World regularly from Usal, Anderson’s War II, the Georgia-Pacific Plywood and Landing, Needle Rock, and Lumber Co. took over. In 1975, the State other local ports. Eventually, of California began acquiring local land to roads and railroad tracks were preserve as Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. Wharf constructed at Bear Harbor for lumber shipping, 1893 built. No longer dependent When concerned environmentalists sued to on the sea for transportation, prevent Georgia-Pacific from clear-cutting tribal groups, using time-tested methods, people settled further inland. the remaining forest in 1986, the lumber have been instrumental in bringing The Bear Harbor Railroad was built in company sold the property to the Trust for restorative healing to the landscape. the early 1890s to haul tanoak from inland Public Land. The funds necessary to purchase forests to Bear Harbor. Plans to extend 3,000 acres of trees came from the Save the Early Settlers the line from Bear Harbor to a mill near Redwoods League, the Trust for Public Land, In the 1850s, early European settlers Piercy were cancelled claimed land in the area of today’s Shelter after a fatal accident Cove. Beginning in the 1860s, settlers and the 1906 occupied the land around what is now earthquake. Railroad called Bear Harbor, where they grazed remnants may still be cattle. Soon the landscape was devoted seen in the park. to cattle and sheep ranches, in addition to By 1892, the demand farms and orchards. for lumber had Until then, the only routes into and out destroyed thousands of the area were those used by the native of acres of virgin coast people. By the mid-1860s, lines of pack redwoods. John A. mules carried a steady supply of local Wonderly, who had tanoak bark to San Francisco’s tanneries. acquired the Usal Before long, the settlers had to build Lumber Company in wharfs and chutes to aid in loading waiting 1888, shut it down ships with lumber, tanoak bark, and other because of the lack Photo courtesy of Julie Martin, Save the Redwoods League profitable cargoes. In 1872, Robert Anderson of timber. In 1894 San built a wire chute at Little Jackass Gulch to Franciscan Robert Redwood grove on Lost Coast Trail the State Coastal Conservancy, and other The park’s small herd of dedicated donors. These acres were added Roosevelt elk roams the coastal to Sinkyone Wilderness State Park in 1986. prairies. Once almost countless, the elk were nearly hunted out NATURAL HISTORY of existence. Originally relocated Geology from Prairie Creek Sinkyone Wilderness lies near the junction Redwoods State of three major tectonic plates — the Pacific, Park, the elk were North American, and Gorda plates. The rescued by the actions “Mendocino triple junction” is one of the of a group of ranchers who most seismically active places in the state. saved the remaining elk and The park’s dramatic, sheer coastal bluffs their habitat. are just one landform resulting from fault Among amphibious movement. At the north end of the park just species of special south of Whale Gulch, fault-related landforms concern, southern torrent include a narrow, incised linear valley with salamanders like cold, wet Left: Roosevelt bull elk several sag ponds, which are clear indicators places; tailed frogs find Above: Small herd refuge among stands of of fault activity. of Roosevelt elk The park’s beaches are mostly black sand, Douglas-fir, redwood, resting at the Needle with tiny rock fragments derived from the and Sitka spruce. Rock Visitor Center local Franciscan bedrock. The sands are Adult coastal giant made up of dark, iron-rich mineral grains, salamanders can be found in the forests, and Climate and small cobbles and gravels. Sometimes, their larval stages are more conspicuous unusual purple and pink sand beaches in streams. Foothill yellow-legged frogs Summer temperatures range from 45 appear within the park and then vanish. prefer streams with rocky shores, such as to 75 degrees. Summer fog is usually gone by Brought about by the “washing” action Usal Creek. mid-morning. Rain is most common between of the surf, this event occurs when waves Overhead, raptors — including red-tailed November and May, when the temperatures winnow the heavier sand grains back into hawks, Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, range from 35 to 55 degrees. the sea, leaving behind a “frosting” of pink golden eagles, northern harriers, peregrine Climate change affects all living things or purplish garnet sand grains that cover the falcons, spotted owls, and ospreys — descend within the redwood forest. Experts underlying black sands. from the skies, seeking their prey. fear that the area’s increase in average temperature and decrease in thick summer Animals and Plants Sinkyone Wilderness has steep slopes heavily wooded with Douglas-fir forest closer fog and rain will endanger redwoods and the Red, pinto, and flat abalone inhabit the to the coast. Tanbark oak woodland grows other plants and creatures that depend on rocky intertidal waters. Steelhead, Coho, and on the inland slopes. Coastal terraces are the redwood environment. Chinook salmon live in tributaries, coastal covered with coastal prairie and coastal scrub drainages, streams, and rivers. California vegetation. Some old-growth redwoods along RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES brown pelicans, rhinoceros auklets, and their the Lost Coast Trail survived the logging era. The former ranch house of Calvin Cooper close relatives —tufted puffins — can often Stewart and his family, built in the 1920s, be seen diving for fish. campgrounds, check in at the Be extremely careful around the majestic Needle Rock Visitor Center. Roosevelt elk — they can be especially Trail camps — These first- dangerous. During mating season, massive come, first-served campsites bulls battle each other for the right to for backpackers are located mate. When calves are born, elk cows between Bear Harbor and become fiercely protective. If you want to Usal Beach on the Lost take elk photos, stay on trails and use a Coast Trail. zoom lens; do not try to get close to the Horse Camping — elk. These fast-moving animals may be Equestrian camping found throughout the park. is permitted at Usal Beach Rarely, bears have been seen in the and Wheeler campgrounds.