Pomo
The Pomo are an indigenous people of California. The historic Pomo territory in northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small group, the Northeastern Pomo of the Stonyford vicinity of Colusa County, was separated from the core Pomo area by lands inhabited by Yuki, the name Pomo derives from a conflation of the Pomo words and. It originally meant those who live at red earth hole and was once the name of a village in southern Potter Valley near the community of Pomo. It may have referred to local deposits of the red mineral magnesite, used for red beads, or to the earth and clay, such as hematite. In the Northern Pomo dialect, -pomo or -poma was used as a suffix after the names of places, by the year 1877, the use of Pomo had been extended in English to mean the entire people known today as the Pomo. The Pomo had 20 chiefs at the same time, the people called Pomo were originally linked by location and cultural expression.
They were not socially or politically linked as one large unified group, they lived in small groups or bands, linked by geography and marriage. Traditionally they relied upon fishing and gathering for their food, the Pomo Indian tribe is a linguistic branch of Native American of Northern California. Their historic territory in the past was on the Pacific Coast between Cleone and Duncans Point, the Pomo Indians preferred to live in small groups which they called bands. Their bands were linked by geography and marriage, the Pomo was composed of about hundreds of independent communities. Like many other Native groups, the Pomo Indian of Northern California relied upon fishing and they ate salmon, wild greens, mushrooms, grasshoppers, rabbits and squirrels. Acorns were the most important part of their diet, the Pomo Indian women were gatherers while men were hunters and fishers. They were somewhat nomadic people and liked to migrate around the California Great Plains, wherever they found peaceful and well adapted, they began building homes.
The Pomo people lived a simple life. They did not use a lot of clothing, men were naked and women mostly wore short. In the cold winter, more clothing made of animals skin might be worn, the Pomo Indians are known as masters of basket weaving and jewelry making. Some of their most culturally important dances are Ghost Dance and Far South, during a Ghost Dance ceremony, they believed that the dead were recognized
California Department of Parks and Recreation
The California Department of Parks and Recreation, known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. Headquartered in Sacramento, park administration is divided into 25 districts, the California State Parks system is the largest state park system in the United States. Californias first state park was the Yosemite Grant, which constitutes part of Yosemite National Park. In 1864, the government set aside Yosemite Valley for preservation and ceded the land to the state. Californias oldest state park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, was founded in 1902, until 1921, each park was managed by an independent commission or agency. In 1927, the California Legislature, with the support of Governor C. C. Young, established the State Park Commission, and its membership included, Major Frederick R. Burnham, W. F. Chandler, William E. Colby, Henry W. OMelveny. The following year, a newly established State Park Commission began gathering support for the first state park bond issue and its efforts were rewarded in 1928 when Californians voted nearly three-to-one in favor of a $6 million park bond act.
With Newton B. Drury serving as officer, the new system of state parks rapidly began to grow. William Penn Mott, Jr. served as director of the agency under Governor Ronald Reagan, responsible for almost one-third of Californias scenic coastline, California State Parks manages the states finest coastal wetlands, estuaries and dune systems. California State Parks contains the largest and most diverse natural and cultural heritage holdings of any agency in the nation. The Department employs State Park Peace Officers Law Enforcement to protect and preserve the State Parks, Parks are patrolled by sworn State Park Peace Officers, of which there are two classifications, State Park Ranger and State Park Lifeguards. In May 2008 The National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the system as a whole on their list of Americas Most Endangered Places. The Parks Forward commission issued a report in 2015 that noted the lack of maintenance for many parks along with visitors who do not reflect the diversity of Californias population.
The report said the agency is using outdated technology for managing the parks, at least $1 million of more than $14 million in total proposed cuts resulting from park closures would take place during the current budget year. The deficit reducing measure would reduce or eliminate over 100 staff positions in addition to seasonal lifeguards at many state beaches. On May 29,2009, the State of California announced that it planned to close 220 parks, examples of service reductions included some parks only being open on weekends and holidays, or closing accessibility to portions of an otherwise open park. On May 11,2011, state officials announced that seventy parks would be closed due to department budget cuts in response to Californias continuing budget crises
Douglas fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii, commonly known as Douglas fir or Douglas-fir, is an evergreen conifer species native to western North America. The common name honors David Douglas, a Scottish botanist and collector who first reported the extraordinary nature, the common name is misleading since it is not a true fir, i. e. not a member of the genus Abies. For this reason the name is written as Douglas-fir. The specific epithet, menziesii, is after Archibald Menzies, a Scottish physician, Menzies first documented the tree on Vancouver Island in 1791. Colloquially, the species is known simply as Doug-fir or as Douglas pine. One Coast Salish name for the tree, used in the Halkomelem language, is lá, one variety, coast Douglas fir, grows in the coastal regions, from west-central British Columbia southward to central California. In Oregon and Washington, its range is continuous from the edge of the Cascades west to the Pacific Coast Ranges. In California, it is found in the Klamath and California Coast Ranges as far south as the Santa Lucia Range, in the Sierra Nevada, it ranges as far south as the Yosemite region.
It occurs from sea level along the coast to 1,800 m above sea level in the mountains of California. Further inland, coast Douglas fir is replaced by another variety, mexican Douglas fir, which ranges as far south as Oaxaca, is often considered a variety of P. menziesii. Coast Douglas fir is currently the second-tallest conifer in the world. Extant coast Douglas fir trees 60–75 m or more in height and 1. 5–2 m in diameter are common in old growth stands, Douglas firs commonly live more than 500 years and occasionally more than 1,000 years. The bark on trees is thin and gray. On mature trees, it is thick and corky, the shoots are brown to olive-green, turning gray-brown with age, though not as smooth as fir shoots, and finely pubescent with short, dark hairs. The buds are a distinctive, conic shape, 4–8 mm long. Unlike the Rocky Mountain Douglas fir, coast Douglas fir foliage has a noticeable sweet fruity-resinous scent, the mature female seed cones are pendulous, 5–8 cm long, 2–3 cm wide when closed, opening to a 4 cm width.
They are produced in spring, green at first, maturing orange-brown in the autumn 6–7 months later, the seeds are 5–6 mm long and 3–4 mm wide, with a 12–15-mm wing. The male cones are 2–3 cm long, dispersing yellow pollen in spring, in forest conditions, old individuals typically have a narrow, cylindric crown beginning 20–40 m above a branch-free trunk
Anderson Valley
Anderson Valley is a sparsely populated region in western Mendocino County in Northern California. It is named after William Anderson, an early European settler to the area, the name Anderson Valley applies to a region stretching from Boonville and Philo to Navarro. The main stem of the Navarro River begins less than a mile south of Philo at the confluence of Anderson Creek, the mouth of the Navarro is 10 miles south of Mendocino, California. Encompassing 315 square miles, the Navarro River watershed is the largest coastal basin in Mendocino County, the area is not seismically active, though a minor fault runs along the Valley floor. The climate is tempered by cool marine air, steep hills and mountains surround rolling to nearly level alluvial terraces. The dominant natural vegetation is a mixed forest of Coast Redwood, various native oak varieties, elevation ranges from sea level to 2,500 feet. The average annual precipitation ranges 35 to 80 inches, the average annual temperature is about 53 °F, and the average frost-free season ranges from 220 to 365 days.
Early Native American inhabitants of Anderson Valley were speakers of two of the seven Pomoan languages, the Late Pomo of what is now the Yorkville area spoke the Central Pomo language. The Tabahtea Pomo of the Boonville area west to Navarro spoke the Northern Pomo language and these residents occupied nineteen known village sites, with an estimated population of 600 in 1855. The early European American settlers of Anderson Valley arrived after 1850 and they practiced subsistence farming and expanded into resource extraction economies based on timber harvesting and livestock ranching. Some of the first European American settlers included Henry Beeson, his brother Isaac Beeson and William Anderson, their stepbrother, for whom the valley was named. John Gschwend established the first water powered mill along the Navarro River in 1857. In 1880 a human population of around 1,000 maintained 75,000 head of sheep and 20,000 head of cattle, commercial production of apples and hops began before the turn of the century, along with the development of Boontling, the local folk language.
The 1940s and 1950s were boom years, when industrial automation, many commercial lumber mills were established to work the brief timber boom. By the 1960s the sheep and apple sectors of the economy were in decline, large tracts of land were removed from production and subdivided. The first commercial vineyards for wine grapes were planted, marijuana production flourished with the influx of many new residents from the urban counterculture in the 1970s. In 1989 Sean Donovan of Boonville established KZYX, a community-based non-commercial, National Public Radio affiliated station, a wine boom began in the 1980s. This led to the establishment of the Anderson Valley AVA, specializing in Alsatian varietals, Pinot noir, the wine industry is currently the dominant contributor to the Anderson Valley economy
Russian America
Russian America was the name of the Russian colonial possessions in North America from 1733 to 1867. Settlements spanned parts of what are now the US states of California, many of its possessions were abandoned in the 19th century. In 1867 Russia sold its last remaining possessions to the United States for $7.2 million, the earliest written accounts indicate that the first Europeans to reach Alaska came from Russia. In 1648 Semyon Dezhnev sailed from the mouth of the Kolyma River through the Arctic Ocean, one legend holds that some of his boats were carried off course and reached Alaska. However, no evidence of settlement survives, dezhnevs discovery was never forwarded to the central government, leaving open the question of whether or not Siberia was connected to North America. In 1725, Tsar Peter the Great called for another expedition, as a part of the 1733-1743 second Kamchatka expedition, the Sv. Petr under the Dane Vitus Bering and the Sv, Pavel under the Russian Alexei Chirikov set sail from the Kamchatkan port of Petropavlovsk in June 1741.
They were soon separated, but each continued sailing east, on July 15, Chirikov sighted land, probably the west side of Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. He sent a group of men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to land on the northwestern coast of North America, on roughly July 16, Bering and the crew of Sv. Petr sighted Mount Saint Elias on the Alaskan mainland, they turned westward toward Russia soon afterward, Pavel headed back to Russia in October with news of the land they had found. In November Berings ship was wrecked on Bering Island, there Bering fell ill and died, and high winds dashed the Sv. After the stranded crew wintered on the island, the built an boat from the wreckage. Berings crew reached the shore of Kamchatka in 1742, carrying word of the expedition, the high quality of the sea-otter pelts they brought sparked Russian settlement in Alaska. From 1743 small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of the Russian Pacific coast to the Aleutian islands, as the runs from Asiatic Russia to America became longer expeditions, the crews established hunting and trading posts.
By the late 1790s some of these had become permanent settlements, approximately half of the fur traders were Russians from various European parts of the Russian Empire or from Siberia. The others were indigenous people from Siberia or Siberians with mixed indigenous, rather than hunting the marine life, the Russians forced the Aleuts to do the work for them. As word spread of the riches in furs to be had, competition among Russian companies increased, catherine the Great, who became Empress in 1763, proclaimed goodwill toward the Aleuts and urged her subjects to treat them fairly. On some islands and parts of the Alaska Peninsula, groups of traders had been capable of relatively peaceful coexistence with the local inhabitants, other groups could not manage the tensions and perpetrated exactions
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times, commonly referred to as the Times or LA Times, is a paid daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, since 1881. It was the largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008, the Times is owned by tronc. The Times was first published on December 4,1881, as the Los Angeles Daily Times under the direction of Nathan Cole Jr. and it was first printed at the Mirror printing plant, owned by Jesse Yarnell and T. J. Unable to pay the bill and Gardiner turned the paper over to the Mirror Company. Mathes had joined the firm, and it was at his insistence that the Times continued publication, in July 1882, Harrison Gray Otis moved from Santa Barbara to become the papers editor. Otis made the Times a financial success, in an era where newspapers were driven by party politics, the Times was directed at Republican readers. As was typical of newspapers of the time, the Times would sit on stories for several days, historian Kevin Starr wrote that Otis was a businessman capable of manipulating the entire apparatus of politics and public opinion for his own enrichment.
Otiss editorial policy was based on civic boosterism, extolling the virtues of Los Angeles, the efforts of the Times to fight local unions led to the October 1,1910 bombing of its headquarters, killing twenty-one people. Two union leaders and Joseph McNamara, were charged, the American Federation of Labor hired noted trial attorney Clarence Darrow to represent the brothers, who eventually pleaded guilty. Upon Otiss death in 1917, his son-in-law, Harry Chandler, Harry Chandler was succeeded in 1944 by his son, Norman Chandler, who ran the paper during the rapid growth of post-war Los Angeles. Family members are buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery near Paramount Studios, the site includes a memorial to the Times Building bombing victims. The fourth generation of family publishers, Otis Chandler, held that position from 1960 to 1980, Otis Chandler sought legitimacy and recognition for his familys paper, often forgotten in the power centers of the Northeastern United States due to its geographic and cultural distance.
He sought to remake the paper in the model of the nations most respected newspapers, notably The New York Times, believing that the newsroom was the heartbeat of the business, Otis Chandler increased the size and pay of the reporting staff and expanded its national and international reporting. In 1962, the paper joined with the Washington Post to form the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service to syndicate articles from both papers for news organizations. During the 1960s, the paper won four Pulitzer Prizes, more than its previous nine decades combined, eventually the coupon-clipping branches realized that they could make more money investing in something other than newspapers. Under their pressure the companies went public, or split apart, thats the pattern followed over more than a century by the Los Angeles Times under the Chandler family. The papers early history and subsequent transformation was chronicled in an unauthorized history Thinking Big and it has been the whole or partial subject of nearly thirty dissertations in communications or social science in the past four decades.
In 2000, the Tribune Company acquired the Times, placing the paper in co-ownership with then-WB -affiliated KTLA, which Tribune acquired in 1985
National Park Service
It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS.
On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States.
In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
Sequoia sempervirens
Sequoia sempervirens /sᵻˈkɔɪ. ə sɛmpərˈvaɪrənz/ is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood and it is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1, 200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet in height and these trees are among the oldest living things on Earth. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article, and not to the other two species. Scottish botanist David Don described the redwood as the evergreen taxodium in his colleague Aylmer Bourke Lamberts 1824 work A description of the genus Pinus, austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher erected the genus Sequoia in his 1847 work Synopsis coniferarum, giving the redwood its current binomial name of Sequoia sempervirens.
The redwood is one of three living species, each in its own genus, in the subfamily Sequoioideae, molecular studies have shown the three to be each others closest relatives, generally with the redwood and giant sequoia as each others closest relatives. However and colleagues in 2010 queried the polyploid state of the redwood, further analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that Sequoia was the result of a hybridization event involving Metasequoia and Sequoiadendron. Thus and colleagues hypothesize that the inconsistent relationships among Metasequoia, the coast redwood can reach 115 m tall with a trunk diameter of 9 m. It has a crown, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. The bark can be thick, up to 1-foot, and quite soft and fibrous, with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed. The root system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots, the leaves are variable, being 15–25 mm long and flat on young trees and shaded shoots in the lower crown of old trees. On the other hand, they are scale-like, 5–10 mm long on shoots in full sun in the crown of older trees.
They are dark green above and have two blue-white stomatal bands below, leaf arrangement is spiral, but the larger shade leaves are twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The species is monoecious, with pollen and seed cones on the same plant, the seed cones are ovoid, 15–32 millimetres long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales, pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven seeds, each seed 3–4 millimetres long and 0.5 millimetres broad, the seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity. The pollen cones are ovular and 4–6 millimetres long and its genetic makeup is unusual among conifers, being a hexaploid and possibly allopolyploid. Both the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the redwood are paternally inherited, the prevailing elevation range is 98–2,460 ft above sea level, occasionally down to 0 and up to 3,000 ft. They usually grow in the mountains where precipitation from the incoming moisture off the ocean is greater, the tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a US labor law that prohibits unjustified discrimination based on disability. The final version of the bill was signed into law on July 26,1990 and it was amended in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush with changes effective as of January 1,2009. ADA disabilities include both mental and physical medical conditions, a condition does not need to be severe or permanent to be a disability. Additionally, other conditions, such as gender identity disorders, are excluded under the definition of disability. The ADA states that an entity shall not discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability. This applies to job application procedures, hiring and discharge of employees, job training, and other terms, covered entities include employers with 15 or more employees, as well as employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees. Prohibited discrimination may include, among other things, firing or refusing to hire someone based on a real or perceived disability, covered entities are required to provide reasonable accommodations to job applicants and employees with disabilities.
An employee or applicant who currently engages in the use of drugs is not considered qualified when a covered entity takes adverse action based on such use. There are many ways to discriminate against people based on disabilities, anyone known to have a history of mental disorders can be considered disabled. Employers with more than 15 employees must take care to all employees fairly. Even when an employee is doing a job well, she or he is not necessarily no longer disabled. The Court determined that state employees cannot sue their employer for violating ADA rules, state employees can, file complaints at the Department of Justice or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, who can sue on their behalf. Title II prohibits disability discrimination by all entities at the local level, e. g. school district, city, or county. Public entities must comply with Title II regulations by the U. S. Department of Justice and these regulations cover access to all programs and services offered by the entity.
Access includes physical access described in the ADA Standards for Accessible Design, Title II applies to public transportation provided by public entities through regulations by the U. S. Department of Transportation. It includes the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, along all other commuter authorities. This section requires the provision of services by public entities that provide fixed route services. ADA sets minimum requirements for space layout in order to facilitate wheelchair securement on public transport, Title II applies to all state and local public housing, housing assistance, and housing referrals
Umbellularia
Umbellularia californica is a large hardwood tree native to coastal forests of California and slightly extended into the state of Oregon. It is endemic to the California Floristic Province and it is the sole species in the genus Umbellularia. The tree was known as Oreodaphne californica. In Oregon, this tree is known as Oregon myrtle, while in California it is called California bay laurel and it has been called pepperwood, cinnamon bush, peppernut tree, headache tree, mountain laurel, and balm of heaven. The trees pungent leaves have a flavor to bay leaves, though stronger. The dry wood has a range from blonde to brown. It is considered a world-class tonewood and is sought after by luthiers and woodworkers, the tree is a host of the pathogen that causes sudden oak death. This tree mostly inhabits redwood forests, California mixed woods, yellow pine forest, bays occur in oak woodlands only close to the coast, or in extreme northern California where moisture is sufficient. During the Miocene, oak-laurel forests were found in Central and Southern California, typical tree species included oaks ancestral to present-day California oaks, and an assemblage of trees from the laurel family, including Nectandra, Ocotea and Umbellularia.
Only one native species from the family, Umbellularia californica. In the north, it reaches its distributional limit through southwest Oregon to Newport, Lincoln County, Oregon, on the coast and it is found in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It occurs at altitudes from sea level up to 1600 m, an isolated, more northern occurrence of the species can be found in Tacoma, around Snake Lake near the Tacoma Nature Center. It is a tree growing to 30 m tall with a trunk up to 80 cm thick. The largest recorded tree is in Mendocino County, the fragrant leaves are smooth-edged and lance-shaped, 3–10 cm long and 1. 5–3 cm broad, similar to the related bay laurel, though usually narrower, and without the crinkled margin of that species. The flowers are small, yellow or yellowish-green, produced in small umbels, the fruit, known as California bay nut, is a round and green berry 2–2.5 cm long and 2 cm broad, lightly spotted with yellow, maturing purple. Under the thin, leathery skin, it consists of an oily, fleshy covering over a hard, thin-shelled pit.
Umbellularia is in fact related to the avocados genus Persea. The fruit ripens around October–November in the native range, Umbellularia has long been valued for its many uses by Native Americans throughout the trees range, including the Cahuilla, Pomo, Yuki and Salinan people
The Press Democrat
The Press Democrat, with the largest circulation in the California North Bay, is a daily newspaper published in Santa Rosa, California. The paper received the 2004 George Polk Award for Regional Reporting given annually by Long Island University to honor contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting. Annie Wells of the Press Democrat won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for her photograph of a local firefighter rescuing a teenager from raging floodwaters. It was founded in 1897 by Ernest L. Finley who merged his Evening Press, Finley bought the Santa Rosa Republican in 1927 and merged it with the Press Democrat in 1948. Ernest L. Finley, his wife Ruth, daughter Ruth and Ruth Finley Person sold the paper to The New York Times Company in 1985. According to a survey, the most popular feature in the newspaper for many years was Gaye LeBarons community column. LeBaron produced more than 8,000 columns between 1961 and her semi-retirement in 2001, writing on human interest, cultural events, ethnic history and it is currently owned by Sonoma Media Investments, LLC after being purchased from Halifax Media Group.
Halifax resold its California papers at the end of 2012 to an ownership group that includes Douglas H. Bosco
Redwood National and State Parks
The Redwood National and State Parks are old-growth temperate rainforests located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park and Californias Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks, the combined RNSP contain 139,000 acres. Located entirely within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, the four parks, protect 45% of all remaining coast redwood old-growth forests and these trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree species on Earth. In addition to the forests, the parks preserve other indigenous flora, grassland prairie, cultural resources, portions of rivers and other streams. In 1850, old-growth redwood forest covered more than 2,000,000 acres of the California coast, the northern portion of that area, originally inhabited by Native Americans, attracted many lumbermen and others turned gold miners when a minor gold rush brought them to the region. Failing in efforts to strike it rich in gold, these men turned toward harvesting the giant trees for booming development in San Francisco, after many decades of unrestricted clear-cut logging, serious efforts toward conservation began.
Redwood National Park was created in 1968, by which time nearly 90% of the redwood trees had been logged. The ecosystem of the RNSP preserves a number of threatened species such as the tidewater goby, Chinook salmon, northern spotted owl. Modern day native groups such as the Yurok, Karok and Wiyot all have ties to the region. Archaeological study shows they arrived in the area as far back as 3,000 years ago, an 1852 census determined that the Yurok were the most numerous, with 55 villages and an estimated population of 2,500. They used the abundant redwood, which with its grain was easily split into planks, as a building material for boats, houses. For buildings, the planks would be erected side by side in a trench, with the upper portions bound with leather strapping. Redwood boards were used to form a sloping roof. Previous to Jedediah Smith in 1828, no other explorer of European descent is known to have investigated the inland region away from the immediate coast. The discovery of gold along the Trinity River in 1850 led to a secondary rush in California.
This brought miners into the area and many stayed on at the coast after failing to strike it rich and this quickly led to conflicts wherein native peoples were placed under great strain, if not forcibly removed or massacred. By 1895, only one third of the Yurok in one group of villages remained, by 1919, the miners logged redwoods for building, when this minor gold rush ended, some of them turned again to logging, cutting down the giant redwood trees. Representative John E. Raker, of California, became the first politician to introduce legislation for the creation of a national park
