California’s deadliest and most destructive fire, the Camp Fire, tore through the town of Paradise in late 2018. It killed 85 people, destroyed 19,000 homes, other structures, and much of the natural landscape. Now, in the wake of the disaster, a very resilient group of community leaders are reimagining Paradise as a place residents and visitors seek out for ample sustainable recreation opportunities and beautiful outdoor spaces.
With help from a Proposition 68 grant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), the Paradise Recreation and Park District (PRPD) recently acquired two strategically located parcels in the post-Camp Fire landscape. One of these parcels will expand the existing Noble Park, and the other will create the new Oak Creek Park, opening up public access to previously landlocked PRPD lands. As community members rebuild and reimagine the future of the devastated town, the newly acquired land will create opportunities for sustainable recreation, resource and community protection, community engagement, tourism, and workforce development.
SNC aids acquisition inspiring endless possibilities
After the Camp Fire, PRPD manager Dan Efseaff and his staff recognized the urgent need to fortify existing park properties and provide additional layers of protection against future wildfire. They identified and prioritized acquisition of available parcels adjacent to PRPD lands as a means of expanding the wildfire buffer around the Paradise community. The Oak Creek and Noble Park parcels, both of which burned in the Camp Fire, were at a critical juncture. They were facing the possibility of being sold to private developers when PRPD, with financial and technical support from SNC, stepped in to acquire them and ensure their stewardship for the benefit of the public and the environment in perpetuity.
These properties, along with a few other newly acquired parcels and existing parks throughout Paradise, are all a part of a vision for a restored, improved, and reimagined Paradise Recreation and Park District. “The new park provides a great opportunity to demonstrate responsible land management within the town limit”, says Dan Esfseaff. “We will be performing fuel management work to create a shaded fuel break, provide riparian habitat, and restore the forest to a healthy state, all while creating a greater wildfire buffer and improved recreation for the community.”
“I left thinking, ‘Oh wow, they have some wonderful and ambitious vision for what these parks could look like,’” stated SNC Area Representative Kristy Hoffman following a site visit to the Noble and Oak Creek Park properties with PRPD. “[Dan] could see beyond the burned landscape to the potential of these spaces and even has plans to connect them to the existing trail network.”
On the southeast side of Paradise, the 2.6-acre Oak Creek Park is adjacent to and opens up public access to an additional 17.4 acres of otherwise landlocked PRPD lands. The PRPD and partners will create a trailhead with a parking lot and other amenities, as well as a looping trail system, which will ultimately provide the community with 20 acres of new hiking, biking, and walking opportunities, picnic areas, and educational kiosks.
There is also forest restoration and ecological thinning underway at Oak Creek Park. This work provides multiple benefits, including protection from wildfire, enhancement of riparian habitat, and a healthy, resilient forest. Following initial treatments, PRPD staff have observed black oak sprouting in several areas that burned in the Camp Fire. They are hopeful that the massive living root complex will enable accelerated maturation of oak woodlands, which provide valuable habitat for wildlife, food resources such as acorns, and significant cultural value.
Park expansion brings community together
On the northeast end of town, a nearly nine-acre acquisition expands the existing Noble Park and adds an ecologically diverse wet meadow. This park is named after the local Noble Orchards, and the design for the space harkens back to its own roots as an orchard. There are plans to build a barn-like structure, which will serve as a multi-use community center hosting farmers markets and other community events. There are also plans to expand the trail network, create a meadow overlook, and install kiosks to facilitate learning about fire, restoration, and healthy ecosystems.
Fully realizing PRPD’s vision for the park will take time and additional funding, but the district has secured the resources needed to expand the parking lot and trail system. The PRPD has also commenced forest-fuels treatment and vegetative debris removal in preparation for the park development. The fuels treatment work is being done by the Northern California Indian Development Council, providing a unique workforce development opportunity in the forest-health sector.
In the meantime, the PRPD has already begun hosting events in the space. They recently held a tree-planting weekend attended by over 200 community members and co-hosted workshops in which hundreds of community members learned how to make ecologically beneficial biochar, which they can apply to their land to jumpstart regeneration of flora and fauna on the post-fire landscape.
The future is bright in Paradise
Oak Creek and Noble parks are just the beginning steps in PRPD’s vision for the future. The district is hard at work expanding trail systems, rebuilding the community center, developing a mountain bike skills course, creating outdoor education programming, and much more. While there is still work ahead, Dan Efseaff is encouraged by the progress thus far: “All together, with beautiful views, well-managed forests, paddling on lovely little lakes that don’t have power boats, Paradise is becoming an exceedingly compelling place for outside visitors and residents alike.”
These new parks illustrate what is possible when the vision and passion of community leaders like PRPD receive technical expertise from SNC staff and vital resources from the state like Proposition 68 funding. This project has brought more recreation, healthier forests, and new economic opportunities to Paradise. Perhaps even more importantly, it has brought hope to a fire-devastated Sierra Nevada community.
“SNC’s mission aligns with PRPD values and goals of meeting the serious needs that exist in rural California mountain communities,” Efseaff said. “These are underserved and underprivileged communities, and we have the opportunity to transform them into positive assets verses liabilities.”