Redwood Park Milestone Marked by Restoration and an Old Dispute

They’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of this enclave of coastal redwood trees this year with the continuation of an ambitious reclamation program and the revival of a long-standing dispute over how to most efficiently administer the park.

Redwood National Park, which lies along the coast 330 miles north of San Francisco, encompasses 106,000 acres; 70% of the park is federally owned and managed. But the remaining 30% is in three separately administered California state parks--Prairie Creek, Del Norte and Jedediah Smith.

The state-owned lands contain the prime old growth stands of 400- to 800-year-old coastal redwoods--the world’s tallest living things. The federal land has a few stands of old growth, including the tallest tree of them all, but nothing approaching the number of the trees in the state parks.

The dispute--conducted on friendly terms--has arisen intermittently since 1967 when the park was created by Congress, largely to prevent further logging in the areas surrounding the already existing state parks. The park was expanded 10 years later.

The National Park Service would like to assume administration of the state lands within Redwood’s boundaries. Such a consolidated administration makes sense and would save money, federal officials say.

Nonsense, reply state parks officials.

Doug Wornock, 58, Redwood National Park superintendent, claims the overlapping administrative functions cost taxpayers $250,000 to $500,000 a year.

“We have payroll clerks. They have payroll clerks. We do interpretive and campfire programs in the state parks. They do campfire and interpretive programs in the same parks. Their dump trucks go north in the morning passing our dump trucks going south,” Wornock said. “There is a lot of money being wasted by duplication. It’s embarrassing to both agencies.

“The obvious intent of Congress . . . was to combine the management and administration of the parks under the National Park Service, but it has never happened,” Wornock added.

Carl Chavez, 44, northern regional director of California state parks, said he does not begrudge Wornock advocating his position, “but you cannot discount the success of the state parks in the redwoods.”

“I think you will find the state park operation considerably more efficient than that of the National Park. We have to be,” he said. “We have an annual budget of only $300,000 for not only the three redwood parks but for Patrick’s Point and Humboldt Lagoon state parks as well.

“As for the National Park Service interpretive programs in the state park, I’d hardly say we’re dependent on them. We have the redwoods people come to see.”

In 1979, it looked like the problem had been worked out. The state signed an agreement giving the National Park Service administrative authority over the three state parks with California retaining title to the land.

But at the last minute, William Whalen, director of the Park Service, backed away.

Whalen, now executive director of the National Maritime Museum Assn. in San Francisco, admitted his action came as a surprise, but insists the reason is no mystery: “I had second thoughts about signing and backed off. I believed then and believe now the state was and is doing a superb job running the three parks. I thought at the time, ‘Why should the federal government spend more money in the redwoods when there were more important demands for dollars in other places?’

“Thinking back I am convinced I made a wise decision. There is competition built in the dual management arrangement. I think the public is better off for it. I don’t buy the argument about large sums of money going down the drain because of duplication of services.”

But the current Park Service director, William Penn Mott, said: “The dual management is working in providing services the public wants, but at a price more expensive than if the National Park Service was the sole agency involved. The state parks contain the best trees and the best ecological areas. We are all jealous of our turf and don’t like to turn it over to someone else.”

Meanwhile, the Park Service continues with its $2-million a year restoration project, which has accounted for nearly half of the Redwood National Park budget since 1978.

“We are trying to restore an entire ecosystem,” said Bob Belous, 53, the park’s assistant superintendent. “We are replanting areas logged over the last century hoping that in 200 to 300 years these areas will again appear as redwood forests never disturbed by man.”

More than 200 miles of old logging roads are being erased, thousands of stream beds are being returned to original channels, debris and logs left over from logging operations are being removed.

New trails have been constructed and a $1.4-million Redwood National Park visitor center was opened 1 1/2 years ago at Orick.