Celebrating the 50th Anniversary Year of The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park

A benefit for Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, picnic and behind the scenes tour with Historian Sandy Lydon, "The History Dude."

Enjoy lunch (and birthday cake) under the redwoods as we take a leisurely stroll through the wondrous mix of second and old-growth redwood forest that straddles one of Santa Cruz County's most beautiful creeks.  Sandy will bring to life the people who played a part in the Forest’s history from the early lumbermen who shipped the Aptos Canyon's "red gold" throughout the Pacific, to the Chinese railroad workers who risked life and limb to punch a standard-gauge railroad into the forbidding canyon.  He will show you how to "read" the forest, to see the almost invisible signs of those who passed through this magical forest in regeneration.  Candelabra trees, huge old-growth redwoods, and twisted trees all symbolize this dynamic and ever-changing landscape that was the home of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.  And along the way he'll show you a recently-discovered albino redwood.  Surprise guests and history-makers will join in the conversation.  We will walk from between two and three miles with a few manageable steep sections. 

This day will itself be an historic event as it will bring together many of those responsible for shepherding and guiding the Forest of Nisene Marks into public hands.

Chose your level of support - $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000

For more info. contact: Peg Danielson at:

831-429-1840, Peg@ThatsMyPark.org,

In the early 1960’s Herman, Agnes, and Andrew Marks began working with The Nature Conservancy to donate 9,000 acres of family-owned land to the State of California to be named in honor of their mother, Nisene. An option to purchase the property was secured in 1962. In 1963 the land was transferred to California State Parks and became the Forest of Nisene Marks. Friends will be commemorating these historic events from 2012 - 2013.