Redwoods updates

This is old news by now but it is something that I recently found out about. Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park, home of the Owen R Cheatham Grove where the speeder bike chase sequence was filmed in ROTJ, came close to being shutdown and is still in jeopardy for the future.

On January 10, 2008 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released the proposed FY 08-09 state budget that proposed to close 48 state parks. You can read more about it at the California State Parks Foundation.

The parks were saved from the chopping block later in the year as seen reported on the Save Our State Parks Campaign website and The Times-Standard of Eureka, CA.
”The Legislature's passage of a final state budget avoids the closure of California's state parks - at least for this year... . But the story isn't over. Unfortunately, this budget leaves our parks vulnerable to another uncertain fate next year.”

In other more positive news, Kelley Atherton at The Daily Triplicate wrote an excellent 3 part series about the filming that took place at the Smith River location.

In Focus: Episode I: Movie making
'Jedi' memories: Episode II: Locals look back
Location, location, Episode III: Promoting ourselves