When we think about the importance of California State Parks and the need to ensure their future, one of the best examples that comes to mind for us at Audubon California is Big Basin Rewoods State Park. This particular park is a great example of why our organization supports the State Parks Initiative (Prop. 21 on the Nov. ballot). Established in 1902, Big Basin State Park in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains holds the distinction of being our oldest state park – and it's also one of the most spectacular and popular parks in the system. It is also a place of particular importance to one of North America’s most threatened and mysterious birds.

For nearly 200 years, one of the greatest mysteries confronting ornithologists was the breeding habits of a seabird called the Marbled Murrelet. There were theories that this seabird that spent most of its life over the ocean went ashore to breed, but no one had ever actually seen a nest. Then, in 1974, a worker at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, found the first Marbled Murrelet nest high in the redwood canopy. Subsequent research has found that this unique seabird flies up to 50 or 60 miles inland to build its nests, usually in old growth forests.

The Marbled Murrelet has been particularly vulnerable to human activity, which has carved away at its breeding habitat. The California, Oregon and Washington populations of the bird are currently listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It is also an Audubon Watchlist bird. A push by logging interests to eliminate this protected status in 2009 was fought by Audubon California and other conservation organizations, and thankfully the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service left the status unchanged.

Here’s where Big Basin Redwoods State Park is so important. As habitat in the Santa Cruz basin has been chopped up by development and other pressures, the small population of Marbled Murrelets have struggled to survive. California State Parks, as a government agency, is obliged to safeguard threatened species on its properties, so park staff take great care to protect the old growth canopy at the park and keep people away from nesting sites. One of the biggest threats to nests are crows and other corvids that are encouraged by trash and food left behind by park visitors. If the park's budget is slashed, who will keep this trash (and, thus, the crows) under control? With park budgets being slashed in recent years, bird advocates have been concerned that the vital public education, restoration, and maintenance at Big Basin will be jeopardized – and that this will affect the Marbled Murrelet.

There are a lot of other reasons for vote for Prop. 21, but this is the one a Marbled Murrelet will give you.