Restoring Ethnographic Landscapes and Natural Elements in Redwood National Park

National Park Service resource managers throughout the country are increasingly struggling with what appear to be contradictory philosophies about managing vegetation. That National Park officials have interpreted the National Park Service’ s enabling legislation to mean that parks should be maintained in their natural condition may be due to the fact that the Yellowstone Park Act of 1872, and the acts creating many of the first National Parks, called for the retention of those sites in their natural condition, although “ natural” was not defined (Sellars 1997). The lack of a comprehensive definition of “ natural” has allowed different park managers to manage similar situations in different ways. The situation becomes even more complex when ethnographic landscapes, archeological sites, and cultural landscapes are overlaid or interspersed within a “ natural” area. The Bald Hills of Redwood National Park are just such a complex area, containing a mixture of natural and cultural resources. In 1828, when trapper and explorer Jedediah Smith traveled through Chilula Indian territory in the Bald Hills, he is thought to have camped at Gans Prairie where he noted in his logbook that he could see the Pacific Ocean. In 1970, the Pacific Ocean was still visible from this location, but today Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ) encroachment into the prairie obstructs any ocean view and exotic grasses, forbs, and shrubs threaten to dominate the remaining grassland. The loss of historic and ethnographic landscapes, grasslands, oak woodlands, and other natural resources is indicative of the problems faced in managing an area as complex as the Bald Hills.