Naturalists At Large - Sites by Region: North Coast

Sites by Region

North Coast

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park was set aside in the early 1920s by the forethought of the people of California and the generosity of the Save-the-Redwoods League. Adjacent to Redwood National Park, Prairie Creek is a 14,000 acre sanctuary of old growth coast redwood.
Prairie Creek Rewoods State Park also offers hiking, nature study, wildlife viewing, beachcombing, picnicking, a visitor center with exhibits and a nature store.

Salt Point State Park — Located about 90 miles north of San Francisco. The Park has 6000 acres of fascinating and diverse habitats for the study of forest, grassland and coastal land forms. This large coastal park offers a rich variety of botanical, geological, marine and historical topics for your students and faculty to explore. The rugged coastline of the Park varies dramatically from protected sandy beach coves to sharp bluffs and sheer sandstone cliffs that plunge straight to the sea. Several rocky beaches provide excellent opportunities to study the inter-tidal zone. For more information on Salt Point State Park, please read about our outdoor learning program sites. See the site description!

The Kruse Rhododendron Reserve is adjacent to Salt Point State Park. Several rocky beaches provide the opportunity to study the tidal pools and the inter-tidal zone. Animal life is abundant and bird life is plentiful and varied. Between December and March, California gray whales pass close to shore during their yearly migration.

Fort Ross State Park is also near to Salt Point State Park.

Founded in 1812 by the Russian-American Company, Fort Ross was a trading and fur trapping firm whose primary shareholders were members of the Czarist family. As a commercial venture, it was a failure because the Russians overexploited the sea mammal population which declined rapidly in the late 1810s and 1820s. The colony's history as an experiment in multi-ethnic cohabitation is an interesting facet of its history.