‘O Rew — the Yurok name for this place — is a former lumber-mill site in Humboldt County that is being transformed into a landmark gateway to Redwood National and State Parks. The 125-acre site sits at the confluence of Prairie Creek and Redwood Creek, at the edge of the North Coast Redwood Region. For decades, the derelict mill and acres of asphalt marked a painful chapter in the area’s history — a reminder of ecological destruction and cultural loss on ancestral Yurok land. Today, it is becoming a site of healing.
Led by Save the Redwoods League in close collaboration with the Yurok Tribe, National Park Service, and California State Parks, the project is restoring ecological health while establishing new infrastructure for public access and cultural engagement. In the first phases of work, the Yurok Tribe Construction Crew removed the equivalent of ten football fields of asphalt, restoring a heavily degraded section of Prairie Creek and its surrounding floodplain to support salmon, steelhead, and native wildlife.
As the project’s landscape architects and prime consultant, our team designed the future Visitor Center site and produced construction documents for the Trails Gateway — the first phase of public-access infrastructure. The design includes restored habitats, trail connections to old-growth forests, a segment of the California Coastal Trail, and visitor amenities. Extensive regrading work is reestablishing floodplain connectivity while creating zones safe for public use.
In March 2024, Save the Redwoods League and project partners signed a historic agreement committing to transfer the property to the Yurok Tribe by 2026. Upon conveyance, the Tribe will co-manage the land with Redwood National and State Parks — making this the first Indigenous-owned visitor gateway to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This collaboration across agencies, tribes, and conservation organizations represents a model for how ecological restoration, cultural sovereignty, and public recreation can move forward together.
Size
±15 acres
Client
Save the Redwood League
Team
JNRA
(Landscape Architect)
SHN Engineers
(Civil Engineers)
NHE (Hydrology)
AldrichPears Associates
(Interpretive Designers)
Scope
Schematic Design to Construction Documents
‘O Rew — the Yurok name for this place — is a former lumber-mill site in Humboldt County that is being transformed into a landmark gateway to Redwood National and State Parks. The 125-acre site sits at the confluence of Prairie Creek and Redwood Creek, at the edge of the North Coast Redwood Region. For decades, the derelict mill and acres of asphalt marked a painful chapter in the area’s history — a reminder of ecological destruction and cultural loss on ancestral Yurok land. Today, it is becoming a site of healing.
Led by Save the Redwoods League in close collaboration with the Yurok Tribe, National Park Service, and California State Parks, the project is restoring ecological health while establishing new infrastructure for public access and cultural engagement. In the first phases of work, the Yurok Tribe Construction Crew removed the equivalent of ten football fields of asphalt, restoring a heavily degraded section of Prairie Creek and its surrounding floodplain to support salmon, steelhead, and native wildlife.
As the project’s landscape architects and prime consultant, our team designed the future Visitor Center site and produced construction documents for the Trails Gateway — the first phase of public-access infrastructure. The design includes restored habitats, trail connections to old-growth forests, a segment of the California Coastal Trail, and visitor amenities. Extensive regrading work is reestablishing floodplain connectivity while creating zones safe for public use.
In March 2024, Save the Redwoods League and project partners signed a historic agreement committing to transfer the property to the Yurok Tribe by 2026. Upon conveyance, the Tribe will co-manage the land with Redwood National and State Parks — making this the first Indigenous-owned visitor gateway to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This collaboration across agencies, tribes, and conservation organizations represents a model for how ecological restoration, cultural sovereignty, and public recreation can move forward together.
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