History

The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is in the unceded homelands of the Awaswas-speaking Ohlone Tribe known as the Aptos, who stewarded these lands since time immemorial. Centuries of colonial violence led to the removal and displacement of the Aptos. Today, their descendants continue their stewardship and presence here, in partnership with State Parks.

The park’s name honors Nisene Marks, the nature-loving mother of the Salinas farm family that bought the land in the 1950s. Her children donated almost 9,700 acres to the state in 1963 with the provision that the land never be developed.

Two Mexican land grants to the Castro family in 1833 and 1844 partially form the boundaries of today’s park. In the 1880s, the Southern Pacific Railway (SP) arrived in nearby Monterey. SP financed the purchase of tree-filled Upper Aptos Canyon, the Loma Prieta Lumber Company and the Loma Prieta Railway. Chinese laborers cut and graded the rail line seven miles up the canyon. By 1883, standard-gauge railway tracks had been built to haul the huge redwood logs to mills.

The 1880s cost of building this railroad, part of today’s main Fire Road, was estimated at $50,000 per mile. At one time, the Loma Prieta Mill became the largest in the 19th-century Santa Cruz Mountains, processing an estimated 140 million board feet of redwood. until disastrous landslides during San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake paused logging efforts. Reforestation began when the lumber company planted 50 acres of redwood and non-native eucalyptus seedlings. Logging continued from 1909 until 1924.

Today, the park showcases a forest in recovery, with rugged canyons and remnants of its once-bustling railroad and logging industry. A grove of ancient old-growth redwood trees near the Pourroy picnic area was preserved under private ownership and added to the park in recent years.

Three earthquake faults—San Andreas, San Gregorio and Zayante— influence the park’s geology. The San Gregorio Fault runs slightly southeast of park boundaries. The Zayante Fault crosses the park’s Aptos Creek Canyon while the San Andreas Fault, extending nearly the entire length of the state, parallels the park’s northeastern border below Santa Rosalia Ridge.

The San Andreas Fault’s devastating 6.9 magnitude earthquake caused upheaval throughout Northern California in 1989. That quake was named after Loma Prieta (“dark hill”), the mountain near the quake’s epicenter in the park. Ancient sea floor sedimentary rocks —mostly sandstone, chert and siltstone with embedded marine fossils — are found in the Aptos and Bridge creekbeds. For most of the park’s history, it was a shallow inland sea. The park’s unstable sandy and loamy soil is susceptible to landslides. Visitors can hike to the epicenter of the Loma Prieta Earthquake by taking Aptos Creek Fire Road to the Epicenter Trail.