View source for Redwood National and State Parks

{{short description|Group of national and state parks in California, United States}}
{{featured article}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Redwood National and State Parks
| photo = Redwood_National_Park,_fog_in_the_forest.jpg
| photo_caption = A forest of coast redwoods in fog
| photo_alt = Refer to caption
| iucn_category = V
| map = California#USA
| map_width = 280
| relief = 1
| location = [[Humboldt County, California|Humboldt County]] & [[Del Norte County, California|Del Norte County]], California, US
| nearest_city = [[Crescent City, California|Crescent City]]
| coordinates = {{coord|41.3|N|124|W|region:US-CA|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coords_ref = 
| established = October 2, 1968
| area_acre = 139,091
| area_ref = <ref name="area">{{cite web |title=National Park Service Acreage Reports |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lwcf/acreagereports.htm |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=February 3, 2024 |date=December 31, 2023 |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922010512/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lwcf/acreagereports.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| visitation_num = 458,400
| visitation_year = 2022
| visitation_ref = <ref name="visits">{{cite web |title=Annual Visitation Report by Years: 2012 to 2022 |url=https://irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/National%20Reports/Annual%20Visitation%20By%20Park%20(1979%20-%20Last%20Calendar%20Year) |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-date=November 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110122708/https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/SSRSReports/National%20Reports/Annual%20Visitation%20By%20Park%20(1979%20-%20Last%20Calendar%20Year) |url-status=live }}</ref>
| governing_body = [[National Park Service]] and [[California Department of Parks and Recreation]]
| website = {{URL|https://nps.gov/redw}}
| embedded1 = {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| child         = yes
| criteria      = {{UNESCO WHS type|(vii), (ix)}}(vii), (ix)
| ID            = 134
| year          = 1980
}}
}}

The '''Redwood National and State Parks''' ('''RNSP''') are a complex of one [[List of national parks of the United States|United States national park]] and three [[List of California state parks|California state parks]] located along the coast of northern [[California]]. The combined RNSP contain Redwood National Park, [[Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park]], [[Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park]], and [[Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park]]. The parks' 139,000 acres (560 km<sup>2</sup>) preserve 45 percent of all remaining old-growth coast redwood forests.

Located in [[Del Norte County, California|Del Norte]] and [[Humboldt County, California|Humboldt]] counties, the four parks protect the [[endangered species|endangered]] coast redwood (''[[Sequoia sempervirens]]'')—the tallest, among the oldest, and one of the most massive tree species on Earth—which thrives in the humid temperate rainforest. The park region is highly seismically active and prone to tsunamis. The parks preserve 37 miles (60 km) of pristine coastline, indigenous flora, fauna, grassland prairie, cultural resources, waterways, as well as threatened animal species, such as the Chinook salmon, northern spotted owl, and Steller's sea lion. 

Redwood forest originally covered more than two million acres (8,100 km<sup>2</sup>) of the California coast, and the region of today's parks largely remained wild until after 1850. The [[California gold rush|gold rush]] and attendant timber business unleashed a torrent of European-American activity, pushing Native Americans aside and supplying lumber to the West Coast. Decades of unrestricted [[Clearcutting|clear-cut logging]] ensued, followed by ardent [[nature conservation|conservation]] efforts. In the 1920s, the [[Save the Redwoods League]] helped create Prairie Creek, Del Norte Coast, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks among others. After lobbying from the league and the [[Sierra Club]], Congress created Redwood National Park in 1968 and expanded it in 1978. In 1994, the [[National Park Service]] (NPS) and the [[California Department of Parks and Recreation]] combined Redwood National Park with the three abutting Redwoods State Parks into a single administrative unit. Modern RNSP management seeks to both protect and restore the coast redwood forests to their condition before 1850, including by [[controlled burning]].

In recognition of the rare ecosystem and cultural history found in the parks, the United Nations designated them a [[World Heritage Site]] in 1980. Local tribes declared an Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area in 2023, protecting the parks region, the coastline, and coastal waters. Park admission is free except for special permits, and visitors may camp, hike, bike, and ride horseback along about {{Convert|200|mi|km}} of park system trails.

==History==

===Native Americans===
[[File:Hfca 1607 whipple toni 1982.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.75|A [[Tolowa]] woman working park maintenance in 1982|alt=A woman in a hard hat near wooden beams]]
Modern day [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] nations such as the [[Yurok people|Yurok]], [[Tolowa]], [[Karuk]], [[Chilula]], and [[Wiyot people|Wiyot]] have historical ties to the region,{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1a.htm Section I. A. The Yurok]}} which has had various indigenous occupants for millennia.{{sfn|Trask|2004|p=8}} Describing "a diversity in an area that size that has probably has never been equaled anywhere else in the world", historian [[David Stannard]] accounts for more than thirty native nations that lived in northwestern California.{{sfn|Stannard|1993|pages=21–22}} Scholar Gail L. Jenner estimates that "at least fifteen" tribal groups inhabited the coastline.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=20}}

The Yurok, Chilula, and Tolowa were the most connected to the current parks' areas.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=20–21}} Based on an 1852 census, anthropologist [[Alfred Kroeber]] estimated that the Yurok population in that year was around 2,500.{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1a.htm Section I. A. The Yurok]}} Historian [[Ed Bearss]] described the Yurok as the most populous in the area, estimating that there were around 55 villages.{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1a.htm Section I. A. The Yurok]}} Until the 1860s, the Chilula lived in the middle region of the Redwood Creek valley in close company with the redwood trees.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url=http://npshistory.com/publications/redw/newspaper/2002.pdf |title=The Chilula: Bald Hills People |work=Park Newspaper (Visitor's Guide) |author=<!-- none listed --> |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=2002 |access-date=August 11, 2023 |page=2 |via=[[National Park Service]] History eLibrary<!-- some publication details pulled from http://npshistory.com/publications/redw/index.htm#documents--> |archive-date=August 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811200043/http://npshistory.com/publications/redw/newspaper/2002.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> They primarily settled along [[Redwood Creek (Humboldt County)|Redwood Creek]] between the coast and [[Minor Creek (California)|Minor Creek, California]], and in summer they would range into and camp in the [[Bald Hills (Humboldt County)|Bald Hills]].{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1c.htm Section I. C. The Chilula]}} The Tolowa were located near the [[Smith River (California)|Smith River]], and on lands that are now part of Jedediah Smith State Park, an area which 21st century excavation found has been inhabited for at least 8,500 years.{{sfn|Tushingham|2013|pages=47, 57}}

Native Americans residing within the park areas relied on redwood trees as a construction material, and some featured the trees in their mythology, including the Chilula, who viewed the trees as gifts from a creator.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=VII–VIII, 35}} The tribes harvested coast redwoods and processed them into planks, using them as building material for boats, houses, and small villages.<ref name="Castillo">{{cite web|last=Castillo |first=Edward D.|title=Short Overview of California Indian History |publisher=California Native American Heritage Commission |year=1998 |url=http://ceres.ca.gov/nahc/califindian.html |access-date=June 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026054357/http://ceres.ca.gov/nahc/califindian.html |archive-date=October 26, 2008 }}</ref> To construct buildings, the planks would be erected side by side in a narrow trench, with the upper portions lashed with [[willow]] or [[hazel]] and held by notches cut into the supporting roof beams. Redwood boards were used to form a two- or three-[[roof pitch|pitch roof]].{{sfn|Nabokov|Easton|1990|p=290}}
[[File:Yurok plankhouse05.jpg|thumb|Reconstructed [[Yurok people|Yurok]] plankhouse made of redwood boards|alt=Weathered, gray redwood house with modestly pitched roof]]

===Arrival of European Americans===
Historians believe that the first Europeans to visit land near what is now the parks were members of the [[Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo|Cabrillo]] expedition led by [[Bartolomé Ferrer]].{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history2a.htm Section II. A. The Cabrillo–Ferrelo Expedition]}} In 1543, Ferrer's ship made landfall at [[Cape Mendocino]] and may have reached waters off Oregon as far north as the 43rd parallel.{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history2a.htm Section II. A. The Cabrillo–Ferrelo Expedition]}} [[Hubert Howe Bancroft]] disagreed, believing that Ferrer's ship did not travel so far north.{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history2a.htm Section II. A. The Cabrillo–Ferrelo Expedition]}} Explorers including [[Francis Drake]] sailed past{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history2a.htm II. Coastal Exploration]}} the foggy, rocky coast, but generally did not set anchor until 1775, when [[Bruno de Heceta]] and [[Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra]] of Spain spent about ten days at the Yurok village of [[Tsurau, California|Tsurai]] south of the parks.{{sfn|Heizer|Mills|2022|p=1}} [[George Vancouver]] and [[Francisco de Eliza]] followed in 1793.{{sfn|Heizer|Mills|2022|p=1}} American fur trading ships under contract to Russians stopped at Tsurai during the early 19th century.{{sfn|Heizer|Mills|2022|pp=1–2}}

Prior to [[Jedediah Smith]] in 1828, no other explorer of European descent is known to have explored the interior of the Northern California coastal region. Smith and nineteen companions left [[San Jose, California]], and explored what are now called the [[Trinity River (California)|Trinity]], Smith, and [[Klamath River|Klamath]] rivers, passing through coast redwood forests and trading with Native American groups. They reached the coast near [[Requa, California|Requa]], parts of which are within the parks' boundaries.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=41–42}}

The [[California Gold Rush]] of 1848 brought hundreds of thousands of Europeans and Americans to California,{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=44}} and the discovery of gold along the Trinity River in 1850 brought many of them to the region of the parks. This quickly led to conflicts wherein native peoples were displaced, raped, enslaved, and massacred.<ref name="History">{{cite web |title=American Indians |work=Area History |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=February 5, 2008 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/area-history.htm |access-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-date=December 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202183037/http://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/area-history.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1895, only one third of the Yurok in one group of villages remained; by 1919, virtually all members of the Chilula tribe had either died or been assimilated into other tribes.<ref name="Chilula">{{cite web |title=The Chilula |work=The Indians of the Redwoods |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1c.htm |access-date=August 14, 2023 |archive-date=October 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027100313/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1c.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Tolowa—whose numbers Bearss estimates at "well under 1,000" by the 1850s—had a population of about 120 in 1910,{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1b.htm Section I. B. The Tolowa]}} having been nearly extinguished in massacres by settlers between 1853 and 1855.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=54}}

Redwood logging followed gold mining, and most mining companies became lumber interests.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=60}} Redwood has a straight grain, making planks easy to cut. Because redwood can defy the weather and does not warp, it became a valuable commodity.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=61, 63}} Jenner says a good team of two men could saw through a redwood tree at about a foot per hour with a [[crosscut saw]], their preferred tool until after World War II.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=60, 77}} Because wheeled vehicles could not travel the landscape, teams of six or twelve oxen transported logs to logging roads.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=79}} Rivers or railroads took them to the region's lumber mills.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=77}} After the 1881 invention of the [[steam donkey]] and later its successor the bull donkey, the need to fell intervening trees so the donkeys could work spawned the practice called [[clearcutting]].{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=80-81}} Caterpillar tractors began to compete with manual labor in the late 1920s.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=81}}

===State park preservation===
{{main|State park|Sierra Club|Sempervirens Fund|Save the Redwoods League|National Park Service}}
[[File:Coastal redwood.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[coast redwood]] is the tallest tree species on Earth.|alt=Various coast redwood trees from a bottom perspective]]
After extensive logging, [[conservation movement|conservationist]]s and concerned citizens began to seek ways to preserve remaining trees, which they saw being logged at an alarming rate.<ref name="Logging">{{cite web |title=Logging |work=Area History |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/area-history.htm |access-date=August 14, 2023 |archive-date=December 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202183037/http://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/area-history.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Stumbling blocks slowed conservation: objections and some innovations came from the logging industry,{{efn|Two highlights in the long battle:<br />• [[Pacific Lumber]] (PL) introduced "[[selective cutting]]" and "sustained yield", policies that fell to a hostile takeover in 1985. PL declared bankruptcy in 2007. Today PL is [[Mendocino Redwood Company]], which restored management favorable to preservation.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=112–114}}<br />• Logging workers united in 1977. A 25-truck convoy featuring logging equipment crossed the country to deliver President Jimmy Carter a nine-ton peanut carved from old-growth redwood. The president refused the gift, and the [[Orick Peanut]] was returned to Orick, a logging town adjacent to the newly expanded park that saw substantial economic decline in the following decades.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rosalsky |first1=Greg |title=The tale of a distressed American town on the doorstep of a natural paradise |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/06/21/1106292966/the-tale-of-a-distressed-american-town-on-the-doorstep-of-a-natural-paradise |work=[[NPR]] |date=June 21, 2022 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |archive-date=September 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911205233/https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/06/21/1106292966/the-tale-of-a-distressed-american-town-on-the-doorstep-of-a-natural-paradise |url-status=live }}</ref>}} construction of the [[Redwood Highway]] brought roadside attractions and more visitors to the trees,{{sfn|Jenner|2016|loc=Chapter 12: The Redwood Highway Cuts a Path Through the Trees}} Congress failed to act,{{efn|In 1911, US Representative [[John E. Raker]] of California introduced legislation for the creation of a redwood national park, but Congress took no action.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=96}}}} and voracious demand for lumber came with the [[Post–World War II economic expansion|post-World War II]] construction boom.{{efn|According to the parks' official website: "It was the post World War II housing and economic boom caused the majority of old-growth redwoods to be clear cut. In just a few decades, hundreds of thousands of acres of old-growth redwoods on private lands were logged. By the 1960s, industrial logging had removed almost ninety percent of all the original redwoods."<ref name="Logging" />}}

Organizations formed to preserve the surviving trees:{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=99}} concerned about the sequoia of [[Yosemite]], [[John Muir]] cofounded the [[Sierra Club]] in 1892.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=91}} The [[Sempervirens Club]] was cofounded in 1900 by artist [[Andrew P. Hill]] who lobbied the media, and saw the [[Big Basin Redwoods State Park|oldest state park]] created along with the [[California State Parks|California state park system]].{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=92–95}} In 1916, politician [[William Kent (American politician)|William Kent]] [[Muir Woods National Monument|purchased land outright]] and helped to write the bill founding the [[National Park Service]] (NPS). In 1918, [[John Campbell Merriam|John Merriam]] and other members of the [[Boone and Crockett Club]]{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=127}} founded the [[Save the Redwoods League]].{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=4, 12}} The league bought land and donated funds for land purchases. Historian [[Susan Schrepfer]] writes that, in a sixty-year-long marathon, the Save the Redwoods League and the Sierra Club were racing the logging companies for the old trees.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=xiv}}

At first, in 1919, with Congress showing interest but no appropriations, NPS director [[Stephen Mather]] formed the NPS system with private wealth{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=231}}—he and his wealthy friends purchased parkland with their own money.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=18, 20}} Balancing opponents and supporters, the Save the Redwoods League saw their compromise bill pass in 1923, allowing condemnation for park acquisition with state oversight.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=29}} In 1925, the league backed a bill that would authorize a statewide survey by a landscape architect and permit land acquisition and condemnation for parks. In 1926, the league retained [[Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.|Frederick Law Olmsted]] to make that survey.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=31}} The league added to their bill a proposed state constitutional amendment authorizing up to $6&nbsp;million {{USDCY|6000000|1926}} in bonds to equally match private donations for state land purchases.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=32}} After sustaining a governor's veto in 1925,{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=31}} the league broadened its efforts to include the whole state, mounted a publicity campaign, and gained the support of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=33}} A new governor signed the parks bill into law in 1927, a bond issue was approved in the 1928 election.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=33}}
[[File:Redwood-NP Map 2020.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|A map of Redwood National and State Parks (2020)|alt=Refer to caption]]
In 1927, Olmsted's survey was complete and concluded that only three percent of the state's redwoods could be preserved. He recommended four redwood areas for parks, including three areas that became [[Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park|Prairie Creek Redwoods]], [[Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park|Del Norte Coast Redwoods]], and [[Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park|Jedediah Smith Redwoods]] State Parks. A fourth became [[Humboldt Redwoods State Park]], by far the largest of the individual Redwoods State Parks, but not in the Redwood National and State Parks system.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=33–36}} Now armed with matching funds after 1928, the league bought more land and added to these parks as conditions allowed.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=36}}

===National park===
{{main|National park|Land and Water Conservation Fund}} 
The NPS proposed a redwoods national park in 1938. The Save the Redwoods League opposed it, highlighting a division between preservationists who preferred unembellished nature and a segment of the park service who wished to provide recreation and playgrounds for the public.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=52, 60–61}} Both the league and the Sierra Club wanted a redwoods national park by the 1960s, but the club and the league supported different locations.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=117–118}} The club and the league were antagonists during the 1960s,{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=237}} often on opposite sides of national park arguments, until 1971 when the league backed a club position,{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=214}} and the late 1970s when the league became a club member.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=79, 110–111, 124, 127, 204}}

The Sierra Club wanted the largest possible park and usually sought help from the federal government.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=111, 122}} More cautious, the Save the Redwoods League tended to accommodate industry and support the state of California.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=111, 230, 239}} When the agency had no funds in 1963, the [[National Geographic Society]] funded an NPS survey of the redwoods.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=117}} In 1964, NPS released its ideas for three different sized redwood national parks.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=118, 121}} In 1964, Congress passed the [[Land and Water Conservation Fund]] to allow federal funds to purchase parkland.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=120–121}}

Describing a reason for the club's success, Willard Pratt of the Arcata lumber company wrote, "The Sierra Club demonstrated a basic political fact of life: Opposition to particular preservation proposals usually is local while support is national. If decision making can be placed at the national level, preservation usually can win".<ref name=Chronology />

Initially opposing the park in the 1960s, the Arcata, [[Georgia-Pacific]], and Miller lumber businesses operated up to the boundaries being discussed.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=140–141, 150–151, 154}} In 1965, five logging companies formally objected to any redwood national park.<ref name=Chronology >{{cite web|url=http://npshistory.com/publications/redw/chronology.pdf|title=Chronology: Establishment of the Redwood National Park|first=Willard E.|last=Pratt (Arcata)|access-date=December 6, 2023|publisher=NPS History|archive-date=December 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180541/http://npshistory.com/publications/redw/chronology.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Schrepfer writes that the final bill divided the impact between the lumber companies, between California counties, and tried to appeal to both the league and the club. Schrepfer says that in large part, the bill was framed on the loggers' terms.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|pp=156, 162}} After intense lobbying of Congress, the bill creating Redwood National Park was signed by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in October 1968.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=159}}

The Save the Redwoods League donated parcels in 1974 and 1976.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=212}} The club found the Olmsted plan of delicately choosing sites was the wrong approach to defend against tractor [[clearcutting]].{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=239}} In 1977, the club said that only ridge-to-ridge land acquisition around a water channel could preserve a watershed and thus the trees.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=203}} Amidst both local support of environmentalists and opposition from local loggers and logging companies, {{convert|48000|acre|km2}} were added to Redwood National Park in an expansion signed by President [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1978.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=226}} The purchase included lands that had already been logged, and the NPS was charged with restoring the land and reducing soil erosion.{{sfn|Crapsey|1997|pp=59,62}} At hundreds of millions of dollars, it was the most expensive land purchase ever approved by Congress.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=226}} By 1979, the league had preserved {{convert|150000|acre|km2}}, nearly twice the area that the federal government was able to save with park legislation.{{sfn|Schrepfer|1983|p=239}}

===Further recognition===
{{see also|World Heritage Site|World Network of Biosphere Reserves|Tribal sovereignty in the United States}}
The [[United Nations]] designated the Redwood National and State Parks a [[World Heritage Site]] in 1980. The evaluation committee noted cooperative management and ongoing research in the parks by [[Humboldt State University|Cal Poly Humboldt University]] and other partners.<ref name=UNEP>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/134/|title=Redwood National and State Parks|access-date=October 29, 2023|publisher=[[UNESCO World Heritage Centre]]|archive-date=October 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028210430/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/134/|url-status=live}}</ref> The parks are within the [[California Coast Ranges Biosphere Reserve|California Coast Ranges]] and their resources are considered irreplaceable.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/area-history.htm|title=Area History|date=November 23, 2022|access-date=December 9, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=December 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202183037/http://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/area-history.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1983, the parks were designated an [[Man and the Biosphere Programme|International Biosphere Reserve]].<ref name=NPSfacts>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/park-facts.htm|title=Park Facts|date=February 21, 2023|access-date=January 30, 2024|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=January 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130213630/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/park-facts.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2017, the US withdrew them along with more than a dozen other reserves from the [[World Network of Biosphere Reserves]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/unesco-new-biosphere-reserves-us-withdraws-reserves|title=UN Announces 23 New Nature Reserves While U.S. Removes 17|last1=Smith|first1=Casey|last2=Greshko|first2=Michael|date=June 14, 2017|access-date=December 6, 2023|publisher=[[National Geographic]]|archive-date=December 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180607/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/unesco-new-biosphere-reserves-us-withdraws-reserves|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2023, following the lead of First Nations in Canada and Aboriginal people in Australia, three federally recognized indigenous tribes—the [[Resighini Rancheria]] of the Yurok People, [[Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation]], and [[Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria]]—announced that as sovereign governments they have protected the Yurok-Tolowa-Dee-ni' Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area.<ref name=Pew /> The effort protected {{convert|700|sqmi|sqkm}} of territorial ocean waters and coastline reaching from Oregon to just south of Trinidad, California,<ref name=Pew>{{cite news|title=Tribal Nations Designate First US Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area|url=https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2024/01/25/tribal-nations-designate-first-us-indigenous-marine-stewardship-area|date=January 26, 2024|access-date=January 30, 2024|work=[[Pew Charitable Trusts]]|first1=Jos|last1=Hill|first2=Bobby|last2=Hayden|archive-date=January 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130211907/https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2024/01/25/tribal-nations-designate-first-us-indigenous-marine-stewardship-area|url-status=live}}</ref> and contributed to the California 30x30 plan to conserve 30 percent of the state's land and coastal water by 2030.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.californianature.ca.gov/|title=What is 30x30?|access-date=February 1, 2024|publisher=[[State of California]]|archive-date=February 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201133813/https://www.californianature.ca.gov/|url-status=live}}</ref> The tribes invited cooperation with US agencies and other indigenous nations.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kimbrough|first=Kim|date=January 29, 2024|work=[[Mongabay]]|access-date=January 31, 2024|url=https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/first-ever-u-s-indigenous-marine-stewardship-area-declared-in-california/|title=First ever U.S. Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area declared in California|archive-date=February 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215042033/https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/first-ever-u-s-indigenous-marine-stewardship-area-declared-in-california/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Park management==
Redwood National Park is directly managed by the NPS from its office in [[Crescent City, California]].<ref name="directions">{{cite web |title=Directions |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/directions.htm |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=February 3, 2024 |date=January 7, 2023 |archive-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604213405/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/directions.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The three state parks are overseen by the [[California Department of Parks and Recreation]].<ref name=plan36 /> The park management coordinates with tribal leaders, as the parks contain land and village sites belonging to groups including the Yurok and Tolowa.{{sfn|Bearss|1982|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/history1c.htm Section I. C. The Chilula]}}<ref name="History" /> NPS manages about {{convert|1400|acre|km2}} of federal park land and waters that lie within the [[Yurok Indian Reservation]].<ref name=plan36>{{cite web|title=Redwood National and State Parks: General Management Plan, General Plan (Summary)|url=https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/GMP.pdf|publisher=[[National Park Service]] and State of California|access-date=October 16, 2023|pages=3, 6|archive-date=October 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017203534/https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/GMP.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Redwood National Park management oversees many other details aside from the redwoods and organic species that reside within the park boundaries. They regulate areas that are off limits to motor vehicles, boats, drones, horses, pets and even bicycles. In addition, park management establishes limitations on camping, campfires, food storage and backcountry use, as well as necessary permits.<ref>{{cite web |title=Superintendent's Compendium |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/management/superintendent-s-compendium.htm |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=August 14, 2023 |date=May 17, 2023 |archive-date=August 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814232934/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/management/superintendent-s-compendium.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

When it opened in 1969, Redwood National Park had six permanent employees.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=167}} As of 2023, the combined RNSP had 96 permanent and 52 temporary staff members.<ref name=NPSfacts /> Early park managers prioritized restoring existing structures, rehabilitating the watershed, and developing wildlife management plans.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=167–168}} Until 1980, managers assumed that the three state parks, which are contained within the boundaries of the national park, would be donated to the NPS.<ref name=plan36 /> The donation did not happen,<ref name=plan36 /> and NPS and the state signed a memorandum of understanding in 1994 governing joint management, and agreeing to the name "Redwood National and State Parks".{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=168}} As of 2021, the combined RNSP had 1,185,000 annual visitors.<ref name=NPSfacts />

==Natural resources==
The Redwood National and State Parks conserve an area which contains the largest contiguous old-growth coast redwood forest as well as habitats for endangered species.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=177}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Redwood National and State Parks: 2020 Conservation Outlook Assessment |url=https://worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/node/984/pdf |website=IUCN World Heritage Outlook |access-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180141/https://worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/node/984/pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Coast redwood===
[[File:Redwood oldgrowth.jpg|left|thumb|upright=.8|''[[Sequoia sempervirens]]''|alt=The bottom of a big tree with a small trunk veering off]]
Discovered in Redwood National Park in 2006 in an unpublished location,{{efn|[[Guinness World Records]] says "its precise location is kept a closely guarded secret to try and protect it."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tallest-tree-living|title=Tallest tree living|access-date=March 6, 2024|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|archive-date=February 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204073738/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tallest-tree-living|url-status=live}}</ref>}} the [[List of tallest trees|tallest living tree]] is the coast redwood tree (''[[Sequoia sempervirens]]'') named [[Hyperion (tree)|Hyperion]],{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=119}} at {{convert|380|ft|m}}. It is followed by Helios at {{convert|377|ft|m}}, and Icarus at {{convert|371|ft|m}}, both also in Redwood National Park.<ref name=tallest>{{cite news|title=People who want to visit the world's tallest living tree now risk a $5,000 fine|url=https://www.npr.org/2022/08/01/1114846960/hyperion-tree-off-limits-fine|date=August 1, 2022|access-date=October 23, 2023|last=Kim|first=Juliana|work=[[NPR]]|archive-date=December 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204030142/https://www.npr.org/2022/08/01/1114846960/hyperion-tree-off-limits-fine|url-status=live}}</ref> For many years thought to be the tallest, one specimen named simply "Tall Tree" in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park was measured at {{convert|367.8|ft|m}}. "So many people have stood on the base of the tree that the ground is hard packed", said Professor [[Stephen C. Sillett]] of Cal Poly Humboldt university in the 1990s.<ref name="Carle" /> The top {{convert|10|ft|m}} of the tree died in the 1970s and fell off in the 1990s.<ref name="Carle">{{cite web |last=Carle |first=Janet |title=Tracking the Tallest Tree |publisher=California State Park Rangers Association |url=http://www.cspra.com/wave04/tree.html |access-date=November 15, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519104346/http://www.cspra.com/wave04/tree.html |archive-date=May 19, 2008}}</ref> In 2022, after documenting damage caused by visitors to the tallest living tree, NPS announced a penalty for those who approach it of up to a $5,000&nbsp;fine {{USDCY|5000|2022}} and six months in jail,<ref name=tallest /> and it shows visitors instead to views of other trees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/hyperion.htm|title=Should I Hike to Hyperion?|access-date=October 23, 2023|date=November 29, 2022|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=September 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921132511/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/hyperion.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mature coast redwoods live an average of 500–700&nbsp;years; a few are documented to be 2,000&nbsp;years old.<ref name="Acreage"/> As of 1990, a stand in nearby Humboldt Redwoods State Park had the greatest [[biomass]] ever recorded.{{sfn|Olson|Roy|Walters|1990|p=547}} Redwood trees develop enormous limbs that accumulate deep organic soils from which new tree-sized redwood trunks emerge{{sfn|Sillett|Antoine|Campbell-Spickler|Carroll|2018}} and in which plants called ''[[epiphytes]]'' can grow.{{sfn|Spickler|Sillett|Marks|Welsh|2006|p=16}} Mats of epiphytic ferns well above ground are home to [[invertebrate]]s, [[Mollusca|mollusks]], [[earthworms]], and [[salamander]]s.{{sfn|Spickler|Sillett|Marks|Welsh|2006|pp=17, 18, 22}}

Redwoods prefer sheltered slopes, and they thrive on moist flat ground along rivers below {{convert|1000|ft|m}} in elevation.{{sfn|Olson|Roy|Walters|1990|p=543}} Coastal fog provides about 40 percent of their annual water intake.<ref name="trees" /> Redwoods have existed along the coast of northern California for at least 20&nbsp;million years and are related to tree species that existed 160&nbsp;million years ago in the [[Jurassic]] era.<ref name="trees">{{cite web |title=About The Trees |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=February 28, 2015 |url=http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/about-the-trees.htm |access-date=August 14, 2023 |archive-date=October 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029193918/http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/about-the-trees.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> About 96 percent of the world's old-growth coast redwood forest has been logged,<ref name="Acreage" /> and almost half (45 percent) of what remains is in the RNSP.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.savetheredwoods.org/wp-content/uploads/files/RR-Brochure.pdf|publisher=Redwoods Rising|via=[[Save the Redwoods League]]|access-date=March 7, 2024|title=When you picture a redwood forest|archive-date=December 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231228154807/https://www.savetheredwoods.org/wp-content/uploads/files/RR-Brochure.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The parks protect {{convert|38982|acre|km2}} of old-growth forest, almost equally divided between federal and state management.<ref name="Acreage">{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=August 17, 2008 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/faqs.htm |access-date=August 14, 2023 |archive-date=August 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815001251/https://www.nps.gov/redw/faqs.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] named the coast redwood an [[endangered species]] in 2011.{{sfn|Farjon|Schmid|2013}}

===Other flora===
[[File:Fern Canyon pano 1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Fern Canyon]] in [[Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park]]|alt=Canyon with walls covered in ferns and a stream running down the center]]
Coast redwood tends to dominate in places it likes but often can be found together with also-fast-growing [[coast Douglas-fir]] trees. Closer to the ocean, [[Alnus rubra|red alder]] grow in place of the salt-water intolerant redwood.<ref name=Urness>{{cite news|title=World's best redwood hike not all about big trees|url=https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/travel/outdoors/hikes/2014/06/03/giant-redwoods/9920771/|date=June 4, 2014|last=Urness|first=Zach|newspaper=[[Statesman Journal]]|publisher=[[Gannett]]|access-date=January 14, 2024|archive-date=February 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215042035/https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/travel/outdoors/hikes/2014/06/03/giant-redwoods/9920771/|url-status=live}}</ref> The tallest known [[Sitka spruce]] grows in the parks.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=5}} Sitka spruce are plentiful along the coast, better adapted to salty air than other species. Other associated trees are the [[tanoak]], [[Pacific madrone]], [[bigleaf maple]], and [[Umbellularia|California laurel]].<ref name="Plants">{{cite web |title=Plants |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=March 4, 2022 |url=http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/plants.htm |access-date=May 11, 2023 |archive-date=October 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029190931/http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/plants.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Huckleberry]] and [[snowberry]] are part of the forest [[understory]]. The [[Rhododendron|California rhododendron]] and [[azalea]] are flowering shrubs common in the parks. Plants such as the [[Polystichum munitum|sword fern]] and [[redwood sorrel]] are prolific.<ref name="Plants"/>

In Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, [[Fern Canyon]] is a well-known ravine {{convert|50|ft|m}} deep,<ref name=Urness /> with walls completely covered in ferns—[[Adiantum jordanii|California maidenhair]], [[Struthiopteris spicant|deer fern]], [[Polypodium californicum|California polypody]], [[Polypodium glycyrrhiza|licorice fern]], and [[Polystichum munitum|western swordfern]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/ferns/viewing-areas.shtml|title=Fern Viewing Areas Not On National Forests|publisher=[[US Forest Service]]|access-date=October 24, 2023|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029032444/https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/ferns/viewing-areas.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> The ancestors of some of these ferns reach back 325 million years.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trails – South of the Klamath River |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/hiking-trails-south.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029032448/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/hiking-trails-south.htm |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |access-date=October 24, 2023 |publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref>

===Fauna===
[[File:Northern Spotted Owl.USFWS.jpg|right|thumb|upright|The [[northern spotted owl]] (''Strix occidentalis caurina'') is a [[threatened species]] known to exist in the parks.|alt=A Northern spotted owl staring at the camera]]
Various ecosystems exist within the parks—seacoast, river, prairie, and densely forested zones—offering refuge to numerous rare and endangered species.<ref name=GP42>{{cite web|title=Redwood National and State Parks: General Management Plan, General Plan (Summary)|url=https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/GMP.pdf|publisher=[[National Park Service]] and State of California|access-date=October 16, 2023|pages=12, 13, 42–43|archive-date=October 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017203534/https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/GMP.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> About 66 species of land mammals have been documented, including the [[American black bear|black bear]], [[mountain coyote|coyote]], [[North American cougar|cougar]], [[bobcat]], [[North American beaver|beaver]], [[North American river otter|river otter]], and [[black-tailed deer]].<ref name=NPSmammals>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/land-mammals.htm|title=Land Mammals|access-date=January 16, 2024|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|date=July 14, 2023|archive-date=January 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116215046/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/land-mammals.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Roosevelt elk]] are the most readily observed of the large mammals in the park.<ref name=visitorsguide /> Successful herds, brought back from the verge of extinction in the region,{{sfn|Ricca|2019|p=243}} are now common in park areas.<ref name=visitorsguide>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/upload/RNSP_VG_2022-v5-13-small-508-2.pdf|title=Redwood National and State Parks Visitor Guide|date=2022|access-date=October 18, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=October 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019212043/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/upload/RNSP_VG_2022-v5-13-small-508-2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Different species of [[bat]]s, such as the [[big brown bat]], and other smaller mammals including [[mink]]s, [[marten]]s, [[Douglas squirrel|red squirrel]]s, [[northern flying squirrel]]s, [[shrew]]s, [[mole (animal)|mole]]s, [[brush rabbit]], [[gopher]]s, and [[raccoon]]s live in the parks, although small mammals are infrequently seen.<ref name=NPSmammals />

Inhabiting or ranging into the park are 28 species that are federally recognized as endangered, threatened, or candidates for protection; about a third of that number can be regularly seen in the parks.<ref name="threatened">{{cite web |title=Threatened and Endangered Species |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/threatened-and-endangered-species.htm |date=March 3, 2015 |access-date=December 21, 2022 |archive-date=May 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524232929/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/threatened-and-endangered-species.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[bald eagle]], which usually nests near a water source, is listed as a state of California [[endangered species]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Birds/Bald-Eagle|title=Bald Eagles in California|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[State of California]]|archive-date=October 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019212045/https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Birds/Bald-Eagle|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Chinook salmon]]—historically an essential food for indigenous residents{{sfn|Lynch|2012|p=22}}—[[northern spotted owl]], and [[Steller's sea lion]] are a few of the other animal species that are threatened.<ref name="threatened"/><ref name="threatened2">{{cite web |title=Animals |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=April 17, 2008 |url=http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/animals.htm |access-date=November 15, 2008 |archive-date=December 28, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228120539/http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/animals.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[tidewater goby]] is a federally listed endangered species that lives near the Pacific coastline that were extirpated from the parks in 1968 when shoreline alterations affected the water's salinity. The [[Eulachon|candlefish]] soon followed in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tidewater Goby and Candlefish|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/tidewater-goby-and-candlefish.htm|access-date=October 18, 2023|date=November 24, 2017|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=October 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019212043/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/tidewater-goby-and-candlefish.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Enhydra lutris|Sea otter]]s were extirpated in the parks at the turn of the 20th century but [[Lutra canadensis|river otter]]s remain.<ref name=NPSmarine /> Also endangered, the [[marbled murrelet]] can nest high on redwood branches.<ref name=visitorsguide />

Along the coastline, [[California sea lion]]s, [[Steller sea lion]]s and [[harbor seal]]s live near the shore and on [[stack (geology)|seastack]]s, rocky outcroppings forming small islands just off the coast. [[Dolphin]]s and [[Gray whale|Pacific gray whale]]s are occasionally seen offshore.<ref name=NPSmarine>{{cite web|url=https://nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/marine-mammals.htm|title=Marine Mammals|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|date=November 21, 2017|archive-date=October 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019212045/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/marine-mammals.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Brown pelicans and three species of [[cormorant]]s are mainly found on cliffs along the coast and on seastacks, while [[sandpiper]]s and three species of [[gull]]s inhabit the seacoast and inland areas. Inland, freshwater-dependent birds such as the [[common merganser]], [[osprey]], [[red-tailed hawk]], [[heron]]s, and [[jay]]s are a few of the bird species that have been documented. Approximately 280 bird species, or about one third of those found in the US, have been documented within park boundaries.<ref name=NPSbirds>{{cite web|url=https://nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/birds.htm|title=Birds|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|date=February 1, 2022|archive-date=October 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019212047/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/birds.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Reptile]]s like four species of [[sea turtle]] can be found offshore and sometimes on beaches.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.savetheredwoods.org/wp-content/uploads/mp_c_crnp.pdf|title=Coastal Redwood National and State Parks|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[Save the Redwoods League]]|archive-date=November 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106091152/https://www.savetheredwoods.org/wp-content/uploads/mp_c_crnp.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Amphibian]]s can be found in the parks, which the [[gopher snake]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/gopher-snake.htm|title=Gopher snake|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029032444/https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/gopher-snake.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[tailed frog]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/tailed-frog.htm|title=Tailed Frog|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029032445/https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/tailed-frog.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[clouded salamander]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/clouded-salamander.htm|title=Clouded Salamander|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029032450/https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/clouded-salamander.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and three species of [[newt]]s<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.savetheredwoods.org/blog/path/delights-of-the-rainy-season-in-the-redwoods/|title=Showers activate waterfalls, newts, and fungi|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=[[Save the Redwoods League]]|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029032445/https://www.savetheredwoods.org/blog/path/delights-of-the-rainy-season-in-the-redwoods/|url-status=live}}</ref> call home. Well-known [[detritivore]]s, the [[banana slug]] and the [[harpaphe haydeniana|yellow-spotted millipede]], inhabit the parks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/banana-slug-and-millipede.htm|title=Banana Slug & Millipede|access-date=October 25, 2023|date=November 20, 2017|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=October 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029032444/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/banana-slug-and-millipede.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Invasive species===
Over 200 exotic species live in the RNSP. Of these, 30 have been identified as [[invasive species]], and 10 of the 30 are considered threats to local species and ecosystems. Exotic species currently account for about a quarter of the total flora in the parks. Growing in varying amounts over the parks' different vegetation areas, about one percent of plants in old-growth areas are exotic species, compared to 50 to 75 percent in the Bald Hills prairies.<ref name="NPSexotic">{{cite web |title=Resource Management and Science – exotic plant management |url=http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/exotic-vegetation.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215205919/http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/exotic-vegetation.htm |archive-date=February 15, 2015 |access-date=October 19, 2023 |publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref> [[Spotted knapweed]] and [[poison hemlock]] were both under consideration in 2015 for addition to a high-priority watch list maintained by the park system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/exotic-plant-species-list.htm|title=exotic plant species list|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|date=February 28, 2015|access-date=October 17, 2023|archive-date=July 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716184625/http://www.nps.gov/redw/naturescience/exotic-plant-species-list.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Geography===
[[File:Redwood coast 02.jpg|left|thumb|Coastline area|alt=Coastal waters with various rocky masses protruding]]

The parks are located in the most [[seismic]]ally active area in the country. Frequent minor [[earthquake]]s in the park and offshore under the Pacific Ocean have resulted in shifting river channels, [[landslide]]s, and [[erosion]] of seaside cliffs. The [[North American Plate|North American]], [[Pacific Plate|Pacific]], and [[Gorda Plate]]s are [[tectonic plates]] that all meet at the [[Mendocino triple junction]], about {{convert|100|mi|km}} southwest of the parks. During the 1990s, more than nine [[Richter magnitude scale|magnitude]]&nbsp;6.0 earthquakes occurred along this [[Fault (geology)|fault]] zone.<ref name="geology">{{cite web |title=Natural Features & Ecosystems |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm |access-date=March 25, 2023 |archive-date=March 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325220220/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> More recently, a 6.4 magnitude quake in 2022 with a hypocenter off the coast caused two deaths. Visitors' centers closed but the parks remained open.<ref>{{cite news|title=Redwood parks in Humboldt County remain open after Tuesday's 6.4 magnitude quake|url=https://www.ktvu.com/news/redwood-parks-in-humboldt-county-remain-open-after-tuesdays-6-4-magnitude-quake|last=Song|first=Sharon|date=December 20, 2022|access-date=January 15, 2024|work=[[KTVU]] TV|publisher=[[Fox Television Stations]]|archive-date=January 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115174821/https://www.ktvu.com/news/redwood-parks-in-humboldt-county-remain-open-after-tuesdays-6-4-magnitude-quake|url-status=live}}</ref> The area is the most [[tsunami]]-prone in the continental US, and visitors to the seacoast are told to seek higher ground immediately after any significant earthquake.<ref name=NPSsafety >{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/safety.htm|title=Your Safety|access-date=October 17, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=October 18, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018232519/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/safety.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The parks' altitude ranges from below [[sea level]] up to {{convert|837|m|ft|sp=us}} at [[Rodgers Peak (California)|Rodgers Peak]].<ref name="UNEP"/>

Both coastline and the mountains of the [[California Coast Ranges]] can be found within park boundaries. The majority of the rocks in the parks are part of the [[Franciscan assemblage]].<ref name=UNdata>{{cite web|title=Redwood National & State Parks|date=May 22, 2017|url=http://world-heritage-datasheets.unep-wcmc.org/datasheet/output/site/redwood-national-state-parks/|access-date=January 15, 2024|publisher=[[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] and UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre|archive-date=January 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115230115/http://world-heritage-datasheets.unep-wcmc.org/datasheet/output/site/redwood-national-state-parks/|url-status=live}}</ref> Assemblage [[metamorphic rock|metamorphic]] and [[sedimentary rock]]s of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, along with marine and alluvial sedimentary deposits of the Tertiary and Quaternary periods, are underneath the Redwood Creek basin.{{sfn|Cashman|Kelsey|Harden|1995|p=B1}} These sedimentary rocks are primarily [[sandstone]], [[siltstone]], and [[shale]], with lesser amounts of [[chert]], [[Greenschist|greenstone]], and metamorphic rocks.<ref name=UNdata />

===Climate ===
The Redwood National and State Parks have a [[warm-summer Mediterranean]] climate ([[Köppen climate classification|Köppen]]: ''Csb'').{{efn|See temperature and precipitation data in the table below and the Köppen-Geiger criteria.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Table 2 Overview of the Köppen-Geiger climate classes including the defining criteria. |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata2018214/tables/3 |journal=Nature: Scientific Data |language=en |access-date=March 2, 2024 |archive-date=October 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022004427/https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata2018214/tables/3 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} They receive abundant rain during most of the year, with a peak in winter, a decrease in June and September, and two dry summer months (July and August).<ref name= NCDC >{{cite web
| url = ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/1981-2010/products/station/USC00044577.normals.txt
| title = CA Klamath
| publisher = [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]
| access-date = June 27, 2013
| archive-date = May 25, 2017
| archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170525091853/ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/1981-2010/products/station/USC00044577.normals.txt
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
[[File:030803a redwoodfog.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Fog is persistent during the summer.|alt=Trees in a forest obscured by fog]]

The parks are part of a [[temperate rainforest]] that runs along the western United States coast.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=4}} The nearby Pacific Ocean has major effects on the climate in the parks. Temperatures near the coast mostly remain between 40 and 60&nbsp;degrees Fahrenheit (4&ndash;15&nbsp;°C) all year.<ref name="weather">{{cite web |title=Weather |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=October 13, 2022 |url=http://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/weather.htm |access-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-date=December 28, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228160823/http://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/weather.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Redwoods tend to grow in this area of steadily temperate climate, though most grow at least a mile or two (1.5&ndash;3&nbsp;km) from the coast to avoid the saltier air, and they never grow more than {{convert|50|mi|km}} from it. In this humid coastal zone, the trees receive moisture from both heavy winter rains and persistent summer fog.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=6}} The presence and consistency of the summer fog is actually more important to overall health of the trees than the precipitation. This fact is borne out in precipitation totals of around {{convert|71|in|cm}} annually,<ref name= NOWclimate /> with healthy redwood forests throughout the areas of less precipitation because excessive needs for water are mitigated by the ever-present summer fog and the cooler temperatures it ensures. The rare snow falls mostly on the hills and mountains in and adjacent to the park.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=25}}

Parts of the parks are threatened by [[climate change]]. Increasing average temperatures have led to reduced water quality, affecting the fish and other fauna, and rising sea levels threaten to damage park structures near the coast. The redwoods benefit from higher carbon levels and are resilient against temperature changes.<ref name=NPSclimate>{{cite web |title=Redwoods and Climate Change |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=October 25, 2022 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/climate-change.htm |access-date=April 21, 2023 |archive-date=September 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906190851/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/climate-change.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Scientists fear climate change is likely to shift the range in which coast redwoods live to outside protected areas,<ref>{{cite news|title=iPhone app uses Google Earth to track climate change impact on redwoods|last=Moukaddem|first=Karimeh|date=May 24, 2011|access-date=December 30, 2023|url=https://news.mongabay.com/2011/05/iphone-app-uses-google-earth-to-track-climate-change-impact-on-redwoods/|work=[[Mongabay]]|archive-date=December 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230164316/https://news.mongabay.com/2011/05/iphone-app-uses-google-earth-to-track-climate-change-impact-on-redwoods/|url-status=live}}</ref> and many have done research on [[assisted migration]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/pacific-northwest-trees-dying-climate-change-migration-0c060e68e111ca06f51fc9e8e61e66b8|last1=Gilles|first1=Nathan|others=Columbia Insight|date=December 28, 2023|work=[[Associated Press]]|access-date=December 29, 2023|title=As tree species face decline, 'assisted migration' gains popularity in Pacific Northwest|archive-date=December 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231228205328/https://apnews.com/article/pacific-northwest-trees-dying-climate-change-migration-0c060e68e111ca06f51fc9e8e61e66b8|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|Studies on assisted migration were conducted by groups including the USFS,<ref>{{cite report|title=Adaptation to climate change? Moving coast redwood seedlings northward and inland|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/55431|last1=Dagley|first1=Christa M.|date=2017|last2=Berrill|first2=John-Pascal|last3=Johnson|first3=Forrest T.|last4=Kerhoulas|first4=Lucy P.|publisher=[[US Forest Service]], Pacific Southwest Research Station: 219-227|access-date=December 30, 2023|archive-date=December 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230164635/https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/55431|url-status=live}}</ref> the Save the Redwoods League,{{sfn|Douhovnikoff|Dodd|2011}} and the Canadian government.<ref>{{cite report|title=Potential for Assisted Migration of Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) to Vancouver Island|date=2022|publisher=Pacific Forestry Centre|last1=Winder|first1=R.S.|last2=Waring|first2=V.R.|last3=Jones|first3=A.|last4=Valance|first4=A.|last5=Eddy|first5=I.|url=https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=40819|number=40819|isbn=978-0-660-45861-8|via=Government of Canada|access-date=December 30, 2023|archive-date=December 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213145929/https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=40819|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{Weather box
| location = [[Crescent City, California|Crescent City]] 3 NNW, CA ([[Eureka, California]] Office)
| single line = yes
| Jan record high F = 72
| Feb record high F = 77
| Mar record high F = 75
| Apr record high F = 77
| May record high F = 86
| Jun record high F = 85
| Jul record high F = 81
| Aug record high F = 80
| Sep record high F = 87
| Oct record high F = 93
| Nov record high F = 74
| Dec record high F = 68
| year record high F = 93
| Jan high F = 54.3
| Feb high F = 55.2
| Mar high F = 56.1
| Apr high F = 57.9
| May high F = 60.8
| Jun high F = 63.1
| Jul high F = 65.4
| Aug high F = 66.1
| Sep high F = 65.9
| Oct high F = 62.1
| Nov high F = 56.6
| Dec high F = 53.1
| year high F = 59.7
| Jan low F = 40.0
| Feb low F = 40.2
| Mar low F = 41.1
| Apr low F = 43.2
| May low F = 45.7
| Jun low F = 48.1
| Jul low F = 51.1
| Aug low F = 51.6
| Sep low F = 48.4
| Oct low F = 45.5
| Nov low F = 41.6
| Dec low F = 39.2
| year low F = 44.6
| Jan record low F = 24
| Feb record low F = 25
| Mar record low F = 28
| Apr record low F = 30
| May record low F = 32
| Jun record low F = 32
| Jul record low F = 36
| Aug record low F = 40
| Sep record low F = 37
| Oct record low F = 29
| Nov record low F = 27
| Dec record low F = 20
| year record low F = 20
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation inch = 11.51
| Feb precipitation inch = 8.96
| Mar precipitation inch = 9.84
| Apr precipitation inch = 6.76
| May precipitation inch = 3.23
| Jun precipitation inch = 1.78
| Jul precipitation inch = 0.19
| Aug precipitation inch = 0.42
| Sep precipitation inch = 1.26
| Oct precipitation inch = 4.67
| Nov precipitation inch = 9.46
| Dec precipitation inch = 13.37
| year precipitation inch = 71.45
| snow colour = green
| Jan snow inch = 0.0
| Feb snow inch = 0.0
| Mar snow inch = 0.0
| Apr snow inch = 0.0
| May snow inch = 0.0
| Jun snow inch = 0.0
| Jul snow inch = 0.0
| Aug snow inch = 0.0
| Sep snow inch = 0.0
| Oct snow inch = 0.0
| Nov snow inch = 0.0
| Dec snow inch = 0.0
| year snow inch = T
| unit precipitation days = 0.01 in
| Jan precipitation days = 16
| Feb precipitation days = 15
| Mar precipitation days = 17
| Apr precipitation days = 13
| May precipitation days = 8
| Jun precipitation days = 6
| Jul precipitation days = 2
| Aug precipitation days = 3
| Sep precipitation days = 4
| Oct precipitation days = 9
| Nov precipitation days = 16
| Dec precipitation days = 17
| year precipitation days = 132
| source 1 = NOAA (normals, 1991–2020)<ref name= NOAAclimate >{{cite web
| url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/us-climate-normals/#dataset=normals-monthly&timeframe=30&location=CA&station=USC00042147
| title = Crescent City 3 NNW, CA
| publisher = [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]
| access-date = March 9, 2024
| archive-date = May 5, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210505115421/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/us-climate-normals/#dataset=normals-monthly&timeframe=30&location=CA&station=USC00042147
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
| source 2 = National Weather Service Forecast Office Eureka, California (records, precipitation days, snowfall 1991–2020)<ref name= NOWclimate >{{cite web
| url = https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=eka
| title = Crescent City 3, California
| publisher = NOWData – NOAA Online Weather Data
| access-date = March 9, 2024
| archive-date = March 4, 2024
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240304133319/https://www.weather.gov/wrh/Climate?wfo=eka
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
| source = 
}}

===Fire===
{{main|Controlled burn|Cultural burning|Native American use of fire in ecosystems|Wildfire|Wildfire suppression}}
The [[California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection]] (CAL FIRE) is responsible for fire management in the redwoods state parks, and NPS manages fire in the national park.<ref name="prescribed">{{cite web |title=Redwood National and State Parks Fire Management Plan 2010 |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |url=https://parkplanning.nps.gov/showFile.cfm?projectID=27448&MIMEType=application%252Fpdf&filename=REDW%202010%20FMP%20and%20Appendices%20A%5FL%2Epdf&sfid=83698 |format=pdf |access-date=March 21, 2023 |archive-date=March 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321171750/https://parkplanning.nps.gov/showFile.cfm?projectID=27448&MIMEType=application%252Fpdf&filename=REDW%202010%20FMP%20and%20Appendices%20A_L.pdf&sfid=83698 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Frank-Lake TanoakOrchardProperty-Oct2019.jpg|thumb|Forest Service research ecologist with mixed tribal ancestry conducting a cultural burn for tanoak acorns in 2019|alt=A man lighting various small fires in a forest]]
Because coast redwood bark—in places up to a foot thick—has no [[resin]], the trees are resistant to fire and will regrow after burning.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=8}} The redwood forest is foggy, humid, not generally susceptible to fire, and lightning strikes among redwoods are rare, meaning that most fires are anthropogenic. A 2003 fire was an exception; a lightning storm started fires in least 274 California locations, including the Canoe Fire in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which burned from September through October.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|pp=162–163}} By about 11 percent, old-growth coast redwoods have the greatest volume of fuels of any forest type.{{sfn|Norman|Varner|Arguello|Underwood|2009|p=9}}

After they arrived {{circa|1300}}{{sfn|Norman|2007|p=16}} and until white settlers invaded their lands in the 1850s,{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=158}} the Tolowa people intentionally set low-intensity [[ground fire]]s.{{efn|Norman et al. set out in 2009 to correct the record by improving measurements by sampling at {{convert|10|to|30|cm|in}} of tree height. Earlier studies were conflicting and found fires ranging from rare to frequent; studies finding rare fires were typically measured at {{convert|150|to|250|cm|in}}). Analysis of the new samples found 1- to 5-year frequency only around park open grasslands known as prairies and not in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. Direct comparisons cannot be made, but researchers found frequency of at least 6 to 10 years (more than 5 years) for other areas near the parks.{{sfn|Norman|Varner|Arguello|Underwood|2009|pp=4, 9, 22–23}}}} Indigenous residents, including the Karuk and Tolowa, used fire to protect [[tanoak]] trees and their [[acorn]]s, a primary food supply.{{sfn|Lewis|1973|pp=14, 50–53, 69}}{{sfn|Halpern et al.|2022}} Their fires improved their hunting grounds, reduced pests, and decreased the likelihood of larger fires.{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=158}} There is evidence that medium-intensity [[surface fire]] was set regularly in the area,{{sfn|Brown|Baxter|2003|p=147}} but today, after decades of fire suppression and resulting increased fuel density, maximum-intensity [[crown fire]] has taken the place of surface fires when fire occurs.{{sfn|Brown|Baxter|2003|p=155}} Near the tree's crown, coast redwood bark may be less than one inch thick.{{sfn|Fritz|1932|p=8}}

Since its founding in 1905, and especially with its policies of the 1930s, the [[US Forest Service]] (USFS) has for the most part defended both human settlements and timber companies against fire using [[wildfire suppression]] techniques intended to ''eliminate'' fire.<ref name=FHSsuppression>{{cite web|title=U.S. Forest Service Fire Suppression|url=https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/us-forest-service-history/policy-and-law/fire-u-s-forest-service/u-s-forest-service-fire-suppression/|access-date=December 13, 2023|publisher=[[Forest History Society]]|archive-date=March 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326125741/https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/us-forest-service-history/policy-and-law/fire-u-s-forest-service/u-s-forest-service-fire-suppression/|url-status=live}}</ref> Repealed in 1937, the 1850 California [[Act for the Government and Protection of Indians]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Laws of the State of California: An Act For The Government and Protection of Indians|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2001696098/|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|date=1850|access-date=January 3, 2024|lccn=2001696098|archive-date=January 3, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103152258/https://www.loc.gov/item/2001696098/|url-status=live}}</ref>—for which the state apologized in 2019<ref>{{cite web|date=June 18, 2019|title=Governor Newsom Issues Apology to Native Americans for State's Historical Wrongdoings, Establishes Truth and Healing Council|url=https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/06/18/governor-newsom-issues-apology-to-native-americans-for-states-historical-wrongdoings-establishes-truth-and-healing-council/|access-date=January 3, 2024|publisher=[[State of California]]|archive-date=February 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240207073202/https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/06/18/governor-newsom-issues-apology-to-native-americans-for-states-historical-wrongdoings-establishes-truth-and-healing-council/|url-status=live}}</ref>—provided that "Any person was subject to fine or punishment if they set the prairie on fire, or refused to use proper exertions to extinguish the fire."<ref>{{cite web|title=Early California Laws and Policies Related to California Indians|last=Johnston-Dodds|first=Kimberly|date=September 2002|access-date=January 3, 2024|publisher=California Research Bureau, California State Library|url=https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/IB.pdf|via=California Courts|pages=5, 29|archive-date=January 3, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103150412/https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/IB.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Recognizing that fire has benefits, the service began in the 1970s to change policy to allow fire to burn.<ref name=FHSsuppression /> More recently in the 2000s, USFS embraced indigenous fire management when USFS researcher Steve Norman advocated "a modified Native American burning model".{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=165}}

In 2020, the Karuk tribe formed the Endowment for Eco-Cultural Revitalization<ref>{{cite web|title=kúkuum yáv nukyâati peethívthaanee: We make the world good again|url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bebd5ff6a9f748968790c31448f03a2e|access-date=January 9, 2024|publisher=Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources|date=February 21, 2020|via=[[ArcGIS]]|archive-date=January 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109164620/https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bebd5ff6a9f748968790c31448f03a2e|url-status=live}}</ref> to promote cultural burning<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/21507802/wildfire-2020-california-indigenous-native-american-indian-controlled-burn-fire|title=We must burn the West to save it|last=Irfan|first=Umair|date=July 13, 2021|access-date=January 9, 2024|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|publisher=[[Vox Media]]|archive-date=January 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104142713/https://www.vox.com/21507802/wildfire-2020-california-indigenous-native-american-indian-controlled-burn-fire|url-status=live}}</ref> in their homeland in the park region.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 12, 2022 |title=Then And Now – Ocean Bounty |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/thenandnow4.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109174817/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/historyculture/thenandnow4.htm |archive-date=January 9, 2024 |access-date=January 9, 2024 |publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref> Operating with a new perspective, park managers conduct controlled fires in the grassland areas of the parks—to control invasive species,{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=161}} hold back the spread of Douglas fir,{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=165}} and increase the availability of materials needed by local tribes for [[basket weaving]].{{sfn|Jenner|2016|p=161}}

==Recreation==
The parks have five visitor centers, where general information, maps, and souvenirs are available; some of the centers offer activities during the summer, led by park rangers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm |title=Visitor Centers |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313222932/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> There is no entry fee for the RNSP, though some camping areas and park areas require paid passes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/fees.htm|title=Fees & Passes|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=March 10, 2023|archive-date=March 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313081147/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/fees.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since the 2019 closure of the DeMartin Redwood Youth Hostel, a low-amenities shared lodging facility near [[Klamath, California|Klamath]], California,<ref name="nps.gov/redw">{{cite press release|title=Former Hostel Building To Be Removed|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/news/removehostel.htm|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|date=September 24, 2019|access-date=January 14, 2024|archive-date=October 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028042531/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/news/removehostel.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> there are no hotels or motels within the parks' boundaries. About {{convert|325|mi|km}} north of [[San Francisco]], the parks are accessible by air, automobile, and public transit.<ref>{{cite web|title=Directions|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/directions.htm|access-date=January 17, 2024|date=January 7, 2023|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=June 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604213405/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/directions.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> NPS itself offers no lodging but for accommodations, links to each town from north to south along US 101: [[Brookings, Oregon]], and in California, [[Crescent City, California|Crescent City]], Klamath, [[Orick, California|Orick]], [[Trinidad, California|Trinidad]], [[McKinleyville, California|McKinleyville]], [[Arcata, California|Arcata]], [[Eureka, California|Eureka]], [[Ferndale, California|Ferndale]], and the counties of [[Del Norte County, California|Del Norte]] and [[Humboldt County, California|Humboldt]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Lodging and Camping|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/lodging.htm|date=April 11, 2022|access-date=January 17, 2024|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928023137/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/lodging.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The state parks have four frontcountry campgrounds which can be accessed by vehicle and used for a fee; the parks' website suggests making a reservation. These are at Mill Creek campground in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park and Jedediah Smith campground in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, which together have 231 campsites; the Elk Prairie campground in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, which has 75; and the Gold Bluffs Beach campground which has 26. Other nearby parks and recreation areas have additional camping options.<ref name="camping">{{cite web |title=Campgrounds |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=December 8, 2022 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/developedcampgrounds.htm |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311044816/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/developedcampgrounds.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Horse riding RNP.png|thumb|alt=Line of horses with riders in front of forest|[[Equestrianism|Horseback riders]] entering Redwood National Park]]

Hiking is the only way to reach the seven backcountry camping areas, the use of which requires a permit. Camping is only allowed in designated sites, except on gravel bars along Redwood Creek that allow for dispersed camping. Proper food storage to minimize encounters with bears is strongly enforced, and hikers and backpackers are required to take out any trash they generate.<ref name="backcountry">{{cite web |title=Backcountry: Designated Campsites |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=October 30, 2021 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/backcountry-campsites.htm |access-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312051638/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/backcountry-campsites.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The NPS subscribes to the seven principles of [[Leave No Trace]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/leave-no-trace-seven-principles.htm|title=Leave No Trace Seven Principles|access-date=January 17, 2024|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|archive-date=March 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318090644/https://www.nps.gov/articles/leave-no-trace-seven-principles.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Almost {{convert|200|mi|km}} of hiking trails exist in the parks. Throughout the year, trails are often wet and hikers need to be well prepared for rainy weather and consult information centers for updates on trail conditions. Some temporary footbridges are removed during the rainy season, as they would be destroyed by high streams.<ref name="backcountry" />

Horseback riding and [[mountain biking]] are allowed on certain trails.<ref>{{cite web |title=Outdoor Activities |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=October 22, 2021 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/outdooractivities.htm |access-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315144312/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/outdooractivities.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Kayaking]] is permitted, with ranger-led kayak tours offered during the summer.<ref name=Kayak /> Kayakers and canoeists frequently travel the Smith River,<ref>{{cite web |title=Jedediah Smith Redwoods Day Use Area |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/jedsmithdayuse.htm |website=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=March 18, 2023 |date=January 28, 2021 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318160743/https://www.nps.gov/places/jedsmithdayuse.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> which is the longest undammed river remaining in California.<ref name=Kayak>{{cite web |title=Kayaking |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=November 24, 2017 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/kayaking.htm |access-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318160416/https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/kayaking.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Visitors can fish for [[salmon]] and [[trout]] in the Smith and Klamath rivers, and the beach areas offer opportunities to catch [[Smelt (fish)|smelt]] and [[perch]]. A California sport fishing license is required to fish any of the rivers and streams.<ref name="fishing">{{cite web |title=Fishing |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=September 30, 2020 |url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/fish.htm |access-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318163433/https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/fish.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of national parks of the United States]]
*  [[Redwoods Rising]]
* [[National parks in California]]
* [[Lost Man Creek Dam]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

===Works cited===
====Books====
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book|last=Bearss|first=Edwin C.|author-link=Ed Bearss|title=Redwood National Park: History Basic Data|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/index.htm|access-date=October 27, 2023|orig-date=First published September 1, 1969|date=March 1982|oclc=22209484|archive-date=January 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120054139/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/redw/index.htm|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|title=Silvics of North America|volume=1. Conifers|date=1990|others=Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H., (tech. coords)|series=Agriculture Handbook 654|location=Southern Research Station|publisher=[[US Department of Agriculture]]: [[US Forest Service]]|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/1547|first1=David F. Jr.|last1=Olson|first2=Douglass F.|last2=Roy|first3=Gerald A.|last3=Walters|chapter=Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.|pages=541–551|access-date=October 26, 2023|archive-date=October 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020115500/https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/1547|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|title=The Role of Fire in the Redwood Region|last=Fritz|first=Emanuel|author-link=Emanuel Fritz|date=1932|publisher=University of California, College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station|volume=C323|url=https://archive.org/details/roleoffireinredw323frit/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{cite book|title=The Four Ages of Tsurai: A Documentary History of the Indian Village on Trinidad Bay|last1=Heizer|first1=Robert F.|author1-link=Robert Heizer|last2=Mills|first2=John E.|date=2022|orig-date=1952|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0-520-34688-8}}
*{{Cite book|title=Historic Redwood National and State Parks|last=Jenner|first=Gail|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4930-1809-3}}
* {{cite book|title=Patterns of Indian Burning in California: Ecology and Ethnohistory|last1=Lewis|first1=Henry T.|editor-last=Bean|editor-first=Lowell John|publisher=Ballena Press|date=1973|url=https://archive.org/details/patternsofindian00henr/page/n277/|oclc=123142146}}
* {{cite book|title=Beyond the Golden Gate: A Maritime History of California|last=Lynch|first=Timothy G.|date=May 2012|url=https://archive.org/details/BeyondTheGoldenGateAMaritimeHistoryOfCaliforniaTheSanFrancisco|via=[[Internet Archive]]|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|oclc=810344025}}
*{{cite book |last1=Nabokov |first1=Peter |first2=Robert|last2=Easton  |title=Native American Architecture |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=October 25, 1990 |isbn=978-0-19-506665-4}}
* {{cite book | title=Redwood: A Guide to Redwood National and State Parks, California | publisher=Interior Dept., National Park Service, Division of Publications | year=1997 | isbn=978-0-912627-61-8 | url=https://archive.org/details/redwood98nati | via=[[Internet Archive]] | ref={{harvid|NPS|1997}} }}
** {{harvc |in=NPS |year=1997 |last=Crapsey |first=Maliney |c=Disturbances—And Restoration |pp=49–69}}
*{{cite book|title=The Fight to Save the Redwoods: A History of the Environmental Reform, 1917–1978|last=Schrepfer|first=Susan R.|author-link=Susan Schrepfer|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]]|date=1983|isbn=0-299-08850-2}}
*{{cite book|title=[[American Holocaust (book)|American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=November 18, 1993|last=Stannard|first=David E.|author-link=David Stannard|isbn =978-0-19-983890-5}}
{{refend}}

====Journal articles====
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite journal|url=https://ucanr.edu/sites/Mendocino/files/332654.pdf|last1=Brown|first1=Peter M.|last2=Baxter|first2=William T.|date=2003|volume=77|title=Fire History in Coast Redwood Forests of the Mendocino Coast, California|journal=Northwest Science|pages=147–158|via=University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources|access-date=December 13, 2023|archive-date=December 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213170144/https://ucanr.edu/sites/Mendocino/files/332654.pdf|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Douhovnikoff|first1=Vladimir|first2=Richard S.|last2=Dodd|title=Lineage Divergence in Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Detected by a New Set of Nuclear Microsatellite Loci|journal=[[The American Midland Naturalist]]|volume=165|issue=1|date=January 2011|pages=22–37|doi=10.1674/0003-0031-165.1.22|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40983393|jstor=40983393|s2cid=53327382|access-date=December 30, 2023|archive-date=December 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230185333/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40983393|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Halpern |first1=Arielle A. |last2=Sousa |first2=Wayne P. |author-link2=Wayne Sousa |last3=Lake |first3=Frank K. |last4=Carlson |first4=Thomas J. |last5=Paddock |first5=Will |last6=Tripp |first6=Bill |title=Prescribed fire reduces insect infestation in Karuk and Yurok acorn resource systems |journal=Forest Ecology and Management |date=February 2022 |volume=505 |doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119768 |ref={{harvid|Halpern et al.|2022}}|doi-access=free }} Tripp is credited for contributions "on behalf of the Karuk Tribe".
* {{cite journal|journal=[[The Journal of Wildlife Management]]|last=Ricca|first=Mark A.|date=January 2019|volume=83|issue=1|title=Book Review: ''Population Ecology of Roosevelt Elk: Conservation and Management in Redwood National and State Parks''|jstor=26609744|pages=243–244|doi=10.1002/jwmg.21599 |s2cid=92842943 }}
*{{cite journal|first1=Stephen C.|last1=Sillett|author1-link=Stephen C. Sillett|first2=Marie E.|last2=Antoine|first3=Jim|last3=Campbell-Spickler|first4=Allyson L.|last4=Carroll|first5=Ethan J.|last5=Coonen|first6=Russell D.|last6=Kramer|first7=Kalia H.|last7=Scarla|title=Manipulating tree crown structure to promote old-growth characteristics in second-growth redwood forest canopies|journal=[[Forest Ecology and Management]]|volume=417|date=2018|pages=77–89|issn=0378-1127|doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2018.02.036|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112718301798}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Spickler|first1=James C.|last2=Sillett|first2=Stephen C.|author2-link=Stephen C. Sillett|last3=Marks|first3=Sharyn B.|last4=Welsh|first4=Hartwell H. Jr.|date=2006|title=Evidence of a new niche for a North American salamander: Aneides vagrans residing in the canopy of old-growth redwood forest|journal=[[Herpetological Conservation and Biology]]|volume=1|issue=1|pages=16–26|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26449214}}
* {{cite journal|author-link=Haunani-Kay Trask|last=Trask|first=Haunani-Kay|date=2004|jstor=29768270|journal=[[Social Justice (journal)|Social Justice]]|volume=31|issue=4|pages=8–16|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29768270|title=The Color of Violence|access-date=January 22, 2024|archive-date=October 26, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026223931/https://www.jstor.org/stable/29768270|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt7vf2z450/qt7vf2z450_noSplash_c89062e5df2bd7f1391aa0b6d7060866.pdf|last=Tushingham|first=Shannon|title=Archaeology, Ethnography, and Tolowa Heritage at Red Elderberry Place, ''Chʊn‑su'lh‑dʊn'', Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park|journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology|volume=35|issue=1|date=2013|pages=i–172|access-date=January 24, 2024|archive-date=January 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124135023/https://escholarship.org/content/qt7vf2z450/qt7vf2z450_noSplash_c89062e5df2bd7f1391aa0b6d7060866.pdf|url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

====Technical reports====
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite tech report|title=Geology of the Redwood Creek Basin, Humboldt County, California|last1=Cashman|first1=Susan M.|last2=Kelsey|first2=Harvey M.|last3=Harden|first3=Deborah R.|via=California Water Resources Control Board|publisher=[[US Geological Survey]]|date=1995|pages=B1–B13|url=https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/tmdl/records/region_1/2003/ref2065.pdf |series=Professional Paper 1454-B}}
*{{cite iucn |last1=Farjon|first1=Aljos|author-link1=Aljos Farjon|last2=Schmid|first2=Rudolf|date=2013 |title=''Sequoia sempervirens'' |volume=2013 |page=e.T34051A2841558 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T34051A2841558.en |access-date=October 26, 2023}}
* {{cite tech report|url=https://www.savetheredwoods.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf_norman.pdf|title=A 500-year record of fire from a humid coast redwood forest: A report to Save the Redwoods League|last=Norman|first=Steven P.|date=March 19, 2007|access-date=December 31, 2023|publisher=[[Save the Redwoods League]]}}
* {{cite tech report|title=Fire and fuels management in coast redwood forests|first1=Steven P.|last1=Norman|first2=J. Morgan|last2=Varner|first3=Leonel|last3=Arguello|first4=Stephen|last4=Underwood|first5= Bradley|last5=Graham|first6=Greg|last6=Jennings|first7=Yana|last7=Valachovic|first8=Christopher|last8=Lee|date=January 1, 2009|work=JFSP Research Project Reports|publisher=US Joint Fire Science Program|via=DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska—Lincoln|url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/jfspresearch/158/|access-date=January 8, 2024}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|Redwood National and State Parks|voy=Redwood National Park|wikt=no|b=no|n=no|q=no|s=no|v=no}}

* {{Official website|url=https://www.nps.gov/redw/index.htm}} of Redwood National Park
* {{Official website|url=https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=413}} of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
* {{Official website|url=https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=425}} of Humboldt Redwoods State Park
* {{Official website|url=https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=415}} of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
* [https://hsuredwoodsproject.omeka.net/ Humboldt Redwoods Project] at Cal Poly Humboldt
* [https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/archives-library/fhs-archival-collections/inventory-of-the-redwood-national-park-records-1926-1980/ Inventory of the Redwood National Park Collection, 1926–1980], at Forest History Society

{{Clear}}
{{Protected areas of California|NPS}}
{{National parks of the United States}}
{{World Heritage Sites in the United States of America}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redwood National And State Parks}}
[[Category:Redwood National and State Parks| ]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in California]]
[[Category:National parks in California]]
[[Category:State parks of California]]
[[Category:Coast redwood groves]]
[[Category:Old-growth forests]]
[[Category:Parks in Del Norte County, California]]
[[Category:Parks in Humboldt County, California]]
[[Category:Beaches of Del Norte County, California]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1968]]
[[Category:1968 establishments in California]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in the United States]]
[[Category:Beaches of Northern California]]
[[Category:Temperate rainforests]]
[[Category:Articles with WikiMiniAtlas displaying incorrectly; WMA not showing area]]