The effort to rebuild Big Basin Redwoods State Park after a crushing 2020 wildfire is taking a significant step forward this week with a $6 million donation to fund a new park interpretive center.
The contribution, made by the Reyneri family of Los Altos through the nonprofit Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, advances what has been a slow but steady recovery for California’s oldest and perhaps most venerated state park.
“This is a milestone,” said Will Fourt, senior parks and recreation specialist for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, crediting the Reyneri family for a transformational piece of Big Basin’s ongoing reconstruction. “It’s a small building right in the heart of the old growth (forest), but it’s really a key building. It’s where all visitors to the park will pass and start their experience in the old-growth redwoods.”…