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Local News

State parks in Mendocino County suffered moderate damage from storm systems

A tree blocking a path. Ferns and other undergrowth.
Marty Durlin

Two bridges across Little River in Van Damme State Park were destroyed, resulting in the most significant structural damage in the district.

The recent series of atmospheric rivers knocked down old growth trees and inflicted moderate structural damage in Mendocino State parks. Preliminary estimates for clean up and repair after the storms range from half a million to a million dollars. More precise numbers will be available after a thorough investigation of the costs to replace a couple of bridges over Little River, in the Van Damme State Park.

Terry Bertels is the District Superintendent for the Sonoma Mendocino Coast District of California State Parks. The district has 23 parks, 17 of which are in Mendocino County. The parking lot at Van Damme beach was especially hard hit with water and debris, which called for a significant cleanup effort.

“Then as you go further inland from the beach parking lot, we had as many as 70 trees that came down across trails in Van Damme,” he said. “We had two bridges across Little River that are basically destroyed and will have to be re-engineered and rebuilt. That’s obviously going to take a little bit of time. So that was probably the worst damage across a unit that we had. Certainly, we had a lot of tree damage across the district. We lost, I believe it was four old growth trees across three different park units. We lost one significant old growth in Montgomery Woods, we lost one significant old growth and then a small probably old growth in Hendy Woods, and then we lost one old growth in Armstrong Redwoods near Guerneville. Of course, there’s no coming back from the loss of an old growth. So those are especially painful. Beyond that, we had trees that came down in campgrounds,” which are starting to open up again. Mendocino Woodlands State Park also lost a water tank from a tree falling on it, and a vehicle was damaged. “Just lots and lots of trees across the district that have come down,” Bertels concluded.

Some of the fallen trees had to be cleared away from roads and trails, but at least one in Hendy Woods and another in Montgomery Woods will remain to continue serving a role in the ecosystem. One in Hendy Woods fell next to a trail, so the hole will be filled, but Bertels said of the tree that, “As it sits right now, it’s a pretty healthy tree that’s lying on the ground, and in all likelihood it’s going to continue to serve the park as a nurse tree for insects and decay fungi and you name it…Certainly the one in Montgomery Woods, it basically exploded when it hit the ground, so it’s going to serve the park as well. I think the intention is, they had a long life doing what they did, and now they’ll have a long life serving the rest of the ecosystem in the parks.”

Tourist destinations were affected, too, like the barn at Spring Ranch, which is a popular wedding venue, with a seating capacity of 200 people. Bertels reported that the barn further back from Highway 1 lost a portion of the roof from the south side. “The barn’s not in great shape,” he conceded; “but we did have hopes and designs to try to get that roof replaced and do some structural repairs inside to keep it upright. The plan right now is to have an architect of historical structures come in and review the structure and give us an idea of whether it’s feasible to get it on better footing.” That has yet to be determined.

Another visitor favorite was breached by the waves. While wet winters used to be common, Bertels doesn’t think the last series of storm systems is a return to the old normal. “I think there was some deferred damage,” he reflected. “We haven’t paid for it for a number of years because we haven’t had these extreme storms, so there was more out there that was waiting to fail, just waiting for that extreme event…the series of atmospheric rivers that came through, coupled with the winds, coupled with the high swells that we got, there’s just a lot going on with these storms. Case in point would be Point Cabrillo State Historic Park, in the lighthouse. Over its history, there have been three times that waves have come up over the cliff’s edge and swamped the lighthouse, and this was one of them. Those types of things don’t happen that often. They do happen, but they don’t happen every year…it definitely was out of the ordinary.”

Bertels is optimistic that being part of the disaster declaration will make his district eligible for more funding for recovery operations and repairs, especially for the bridges. “I hope that’s the case, because those aren’t going to be cheap,” he predicted; “and it’s going to be hard for us to do it if we don’t have that assistance.”

State parks won’t be closed, but Bertels asks visitors to be patient and try not to get hurt. “Keep an open eye and be careful,” he advised. “Stay out (of closed areas) if you can, but if you just can’t help yourself, know that the hazards are there, and keep an eye out for them.”

Local News
Sarah Reith came to Mendocino County in 2008 and worked as a reporter and freelancer, joining KZYX as a community news reporter in 2017. She became the KZYX News Director in March, 2023.