How wind-whipped fire hit, missed Sonoma County Parks

As firefighters slowly gain an upper hand on the North Bay fires, first responders and officials are still reviewing the impacts. And the assessments aren’t focusing solely on lost human lives and immolated homes. Tens of thousands of acres of wildlands and interface areas were blackened, and the scars left on the landscape will remain for years, an omnipresent and sobering reminder of one of the greatest natural fire disasters in the modern history of the United States.

The impacts on the land are perhaps particularly distressing for Sonoma County residents. The county is not as heavily urbanized as many portions of Southern California, or even the communities clustered around San Francisco Bay. A pronounced green ethos prevails in Sonoma County, particularly in regard to the state and regional parks. Locals love them fiercely. It is a rare resident who doesn’t spend time in them: camping, fishing or diving at the coastal parks, hiking at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and Hood Mountain Regional Park, mountain biking at Trione-Annadel State Park, birding at the Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail, or simply strolling around Spring Lake Regional Park.

So concern about the fires’ impacts on the public parks is assured. But there’s some good news. First, as of this writing, most if not all of the critical infrastructure at the parks appears to have been protected by the diligence –– indeed, heroism –– of first responders and park staffers.

While Jack London State Historic Park has not burned, staffers have removed items of critical cultural significance and treated buildings with Thermo-Gel, a fire retardant compound; the park will remain closed until further notice. Historic structures at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, including the observatory, visitor center and a venerable barn, have escaped the flames, and were likewise treated with Thermo-Gel.

“There’s a lot of fire in Sugarloaf, and our concern remains high,” said Gloria Sandoval, the deputy director of public relations for the California Department of State Parks and Recreation. “The park is closed, but we’re hopeful we’ll be able to continue protecting our significant structures.”

Trione-Annadel State Park in Sonoma County, and Robert Lewis Stevenson State Park in Napa are closed because of due to active fires, Sandoval said.

“We don’t have exact figures yet, but a lot of Trione-Annadel has burned, and I know that at least half of Robert Lewis Stevenson has burned,” Sandoval said.

No fires are reported at Sonoma State Historic Park and Bothe-Napa Valley and Bale Grist Mill State Parks, but all have been closed. As with Sugarloaf and Jack London, items of cultural significance have been removed from Sonoma State Historic Park, Sandoval said. Buildings also have been treated with Thermo-Gel.

“The situation remains active, change has been and may remain rapid, and we haven’t had the opportunity for full assessments,” said Sandoval, explaining the closures. “Right now our focus remains on public safety and the safety of our employees.”

Sonoma County maintains more than 50 regional parks and public recreational properties, and some have been severely affected by the fires. Particularly hard hit are Shiloh Ranch Regional Park in Windsor and Hood Mountain Regional Park in Santa Rosa, said Melanie Parker, the natural resource manager, interim parks manager and deputy director for the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department.

Bill Myers, who regularly leads hikes at Hood Mountain Regional Park, reported that fires burned close to the historic William Hood Mansion, but that the structure was not harmed.

Fires also have burned some portions of Maxwell Farms Regional Park and Larson Park in Sonoma, and North Sonoma Mountain Park on Sonoma Mountain Road near Santa Rosa, said Parker.

“Fire went all the way across Sonoma Valley Regional Park in Glen Ellen, burning grassland and oak savanna,” said Parker. “Grasslands and understory also burned at Crane Creek Regional Park.”

Despite extensive burning in Trione-Annadel State Park, Santa Rosa’s adjacent and highly popular Spring Lake Regional Park escaped the flames, Parker said. In all cases, Parker emphasized, park district staffers remain in emergency response mode. The parks will be reopened to the public once assessments are completed, roads are cleared of downed trees and other hazards, and general public safety is assured.

Parker emphasized the blazes are a disaster for human beings, but noted that fire is a critical component in the wildland ecology of much of California, including the North Bay. Periodic low-level fires keep woodland floors free of dangerous accumulations of fuels, return nutrients to the soil in the form of ashes, and control insect pests. Further, some tree and chaparral species are “serotinous” –– they require fire to release their seeds.

“These are fire-adapted landscapes,” Parker said. “From a human point of view, the North Bay fires are a catastrophe. But from the sole perspective of (the flora) they support, fire isn’t always damaging. It’s essential for forest health and resilience.”

Intrinsic to public use and enjoyment of Sonoma County parks is an extensive trail network. Over the past several years, maintenance of the county’s park trails has fallen almost exclusively to the Sonoma County Trails Council, a group of hard-working volunteers well-versed in the use of shovels, chainsaws and mattocks. The North Bay fires will assure plenty of work for the council’s crews in coming months and years, said Ken Wells, the organization’s executive director.

“We’re hoping most of the burning will be restricted to the grass and brush, that the forest canopies will have been left largely intact,” said Wells. “But no matter what, we expect lots of trees and limbs blown down by the winds. There’s going to be a tremendous amount of clean-up.”

Wells is taking the long view on the fires. Like all county residents, he mourns the loss of human life and property destruction. But he’s hopeful the incident will help focus attention on the inevitability of wildfire and the necessary accommodations that must be made with it.

“I think these fires are going to constitute a really big exclamation point in our regional natural history,” Wells said. “People want to –– need to –– be outdoors, and our public parks are essential to our well-being. But we need to understand things like basic fire behavior, the necessity for controlled burns, and the way interface affects public safety.”