‘It will be beautiful again’: how California’s redwood forest is recovering after last year’s wildfires

Big Basin state park, scorched last August in the CZU Complex fire, is showing signs of rebirth in its majestic redwood trees

There are spots inside Big Basin Redwoods state park that appear to be frozen in time.

Roughly 10 months after the CZU Complex fire burned 97% of California's oldest park, some trees still smoke and smolder. An open champagne bottle sits untouched atop a scorched picnic table alongside cooking utensils that are melted and singed together. Contents from a toppled cooler, left agape, have begun to blend into the forest duff. The skeletons of burnt cars and trucks are still parked in front of once-iconic headquarters, now reduced to rubble.