It’s too soon to tell if the Santa Clara tree still lives, but we have no reason to not hold onto hope that it survived.

Fire Erupts due to Lightning Storm

Many of us were shocked to hear late last week that the CZU Lightning Complex fires had tore through Big Basin Redwood State Park along with many other acres of forestry in the Santa Cruz mountains. Besides being saddened to hear of the lost historic welcome center, camp grounds, and other man-made characteristics of the park, we were especially grieved to ponder the possibility of our majestic Sequoia sempervirens being scorched beyond recovery. The oldest trees in the world succumbing to the fire seemed to act as a sinister symbol of the destruction many Californians feel sweeping through the state.

Historical Connection

But for Santa Clara students, alumni, and staff, the connection to Big Basin and the giant, ancient Redwoods goes past our own memories of the park or our environmentalist tendencies. SCU–in its early days as Santa Clara College–was instrumental in the park receiving its protected status in 1902 thanks to former Santa Clara College student Andrew P. Hill.

Hill, a painter and photographer, had discovered the beauty of the Redwoods while on a photography assignment in Felton (also in the Santa Cruz Mountains), and became an activist for saving the old growth forest of the area, of which only 25% remained. He went on to become a founding member of the Sempervirens Club, a group of activists similar to the Sierra Club that campaigned for turning the area of Big Basin into a state park to protect it from logging and other development.

Essential to the fight was the 9th and 12th president of Santa Clara, Father Kenna, S.J., who personally rallied the majority Catholic state legislature to appropriate $250,000 for purchasing the land. As a result of the successful campaign, the tree that measures the largest in diameter at breast height was named the Santa Clara tree, and the SCU Yearbook was named The Redwood. In the SCU Archives we have evidence that the leadership of Santa Clara went on to support the Sempervirens Club for at least a hundred years after Big Basin was established as a state park. It’s easy to tell new students at Santa Clara University that they are part of an inherently environmentalist program that goes back a century and a quarter.

Does the Santa Clara Tree live?

The question remains if the Santa Clara tree survived the blaze. Early Monday afternoon we received word from Paul Rogers, a journalist covering Big Basin for the San Jose Mercury News, that it is too soon to tell which of the largest trees had made it through. “There are still fires burning in the park near the headquarters, trees and power lines are down on the roads, and the only way in is to walk for nearly 5 miles each way along Highway 236,” Rogers wrote by email on August 24. Embers on the trails make it unsafe to walk within the park, he added.

Yet, at some point in the day, an AP reporter made it into the park and writes on the AP Newswire service that most of the large trees remain, and the Mother of the Forest, the tallest tree in Big Basin, is still standing and has survived. This is excellent news that bodes well for the status of the Santa Clara tree, located not far from there just past Opal Creek on the Skyline to the Sea trail, as well as the Father of the Forest, thought to be 2,000 years old, and the entire park as a unit.

Resiliency and Hope

Experts remind us that redwood forests are extremely resilient; they not only bear the scars from fires over the centuries, but even necessitate fire to spur their growth. Paul Rogers gave numerous examples as to why the fire may even be beneficial for the forest of the park in his article in the San Jose Mercury that was published earlier Monday afternoon as well, “California fires: Burned redwoods at Big Basin, other parks will recover soon, experts say.” In fact researchers were not able to kill Redwoods in experiments conducted in the 1980s and the ancient lineage of the trees are thought to go back tens of millions of years according to fossilized evidence.

The longevity and heartiness of these breathtaking trees offer a positive signal for the future of Big Basin and a hopeful metaphor for the recovery ahead for SCU and Northern California–after coronavirus, after racial injustice, after wildfires.

If it’s good news for the redwoods and the Santa Clara tree, then it’s good news for Santa Clarans and the state of California.

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Header image: Santa Clara Conservationists assembled at the base of the “Santa Clara Tree” in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, c. 1903-1907. Included in the portrait are Robert Kenna, S.J., Santa Clara’s President (front row, leaning on cane), and Andrew P. Hill, standing in back, far right. Big Basin Redwoods State Park is California’s oldest state park. Courtesy of SCU Library Digital Collections.