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Castle Rock State Park to stay open under one-year deal!

A $250,000 deal between the State of California and the Sempervirens Fund announced today will keep Castle Rock State Park open for a year. The park is a forested expanse of land that plunges toward the sea from the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The deal is one of more than two dozen between outside groups and the state to attempt to keep as many as possible of the 70 state parks that are scheduled to close at the end of June, open! Castle Rock is the second state park in Santa Cruz County to be saved from the closure deadline.

Castle Rock includes, in its 5,229 acres, incredible vistas, redwood, Douglas fir and madrone forests, steep canyons, and craggy rock formations that are popular with climbers. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Castle Rock likely was placed on the state’s closure list due to low attendance. The agreement could allow the state to begin work on a planned new entrance on the site of an adjacent Christmas tree farm recently purchased by Sempervirens Fund, which would add parking, flush toilets and other visitor amenities. If Castle Rock is an undiscovered masterpiece, Sempervirens has been its curator. One of the nation’s oldest conservation groups, it played a role in creation of the park in 1968, and over the years has added 36 parcels, comprising 4,000 acres, to the park’s boundaries.

A large chunk of that land has been shut off to hikers. Sempervirens bought the San Lorenzo River Redwoods from the San Lorenzo Valley Water District a dozen years ago and conveyed it to the state, but budget shortfalls have kept the state from opening it to the public.

The deal will allow state park staff to continue operating the park, and it opens up a 1,340-acre section of park known as the San Lorenzo River Redwoods, which includes the headwaters of its namesake river. Reed Holderman, Sempervirens Fund’s executive director said:

“It’s really the start, or the finish, of the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail. It’s really important to us.” “It is sort of a gem in the rough that people don’t know about, and they should.”

As for the deal itself, according to the Sentinel:

The deal is similar to a “donor agreement” first struck between the California State Parks Foundation and the state to keep Henry W. Coe State Park in Santa Clara County open. Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks also struck deal to keep the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park operating.

Holderman said the Sempervirens Fund is providing money in order to provide continuity with state staffers who are working in the park, so that they can stay at their jobs, rather than be laid off.

Since 1900, the group has preserved more than 34,000 acres of Central Coast redwoods. Funds for the agreement are coming out of the group’s acquisition fund, and it is inviting people to donate by calling 650-949-1453 or visiting www.sempervirens.org

State Parks spokesman Roy Stearns said that more than two dozen agreements are in place, and there are 15 more deals in negotiations and another 10 that are going through a request for proposals to run the parks.

-Bill at

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